Michael Patrick Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333527
- eISBN:
- 9780199868896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333527.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Chapter 3 focuses on Balthasar's theological aesthetics as a well‐articulated critical methodology. Balthasar's fusion of aesthetics with history forges both a Christology and an analogy of being ...
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Chapter 3 focuses on Balthasar's theological aesthetics as a well‐articulated critical methodology. Balthasar's fusion of aesthetics with history forges both a Christology and an analogy of being that is developed in light of that Christology. Balthasar urges us to “see the form [of Christ]” in all manner of being and experience—human activities, natural phenomena, and especially human works of art. “Seeing the form” becomes a central critical and theological hermeneutic; and the chapter cultivates a parallel between “seeing the form” and interpreting, broadly, the “word(s)” of narrative art. The first three sections of the chapter develop an aesthetics of a representative word (in this case, the term “hierarchy”); the last section is an application of what is gleaned from the first three upon Flannery O'Connor's “Revelation.” While a close reading of O'Connor's text serves as a literary exemplum of a Catholic imagination, other poets and authors who demonstrate a similar theological aesthetic are considered in order round out the discussion.Less
Chapter 3 focuses on Balthasar's theological aesthetics as a well‐articulated critical methodology. Balthasar's fusion of aesthetics with history forges both a Christology and an analogy of being that is developed in light of that Christology. Balthasar urges us to “see the form [of Christ]” in all manner of being and experience—human activities, natural phenomena, and especially human works of art. “Seeing the form” becomes a central critical and theological hermeneutic; and the chapter cultivates a parallel between “seeing the form” and interpreting, broadly, the “word(s)” of narrative art. The first three sections of the chapter develop an aesthetics of a representative word (in this case, the term “hierarchy”); the last section is an application of what is gleaned from the first three upon Flannery O'Connor's “Revelation.” While a close reading of O'Connor's text serves as a literary exemplum of a Catholic imagination, other poets and authors who demonstrate a similar theological aesthetic are considered in order round out the discussion.
Michael P. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333527
- eISBN:
- 9780199868896
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333527.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The turn of the millennium has brought with it a vigorous revival in the interdisciplinary study of theology and art. The notion of a Catholic imagination, however, as a specific category of ...
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The turn of the millennium has brought with it a vigorous revival in the interdisciplinary study of theology and art. The notion of a Catholic imagination, however, as a specific category of aesthetics, lacks thematic and theological coherence. More often, the idea of a Catholic imagination functions at this time as a deeply felt intuition about the organic connections that exist among theological insights, cultural background, and literary expression. The book explores the many ways that the theological work of Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) provides the model, content, and optic for demonstrating the credibility and range of a Catholic imagination. Since Balthasar views arts and literatures precisely as theologies, the book surveys a broad array of poetry, drama, fiction, and film and sets these readings against the central aspects of Balthasar's theological program. A major consequence of this study is the recovery of the legitimate place of a distinct “theological imagination” in the critical study of literary and narrative art. The book also argues that Balthasar's voice both complements and challenges contemporary critical theory and contends that postmodern interpretive methodology, with its careful critique of entrenched philosophical assumptions and reiterated codes of meaning, is not the threat to theological meaning that many fear. On the contrary, postmodernism can provide both literary critics and theologians alike with the tools that assess, challenge, and celebrate the theological imagination as it is depicted in literary art today.Less
The turn of the millennium has brought with it a vigorous revival in the interdisciplinary study of theology and art. The notion of a Catholic imagination, however, as a specific category of aesthetics, lacks thematic and theological coherence. More often, the idea of a Catholic imagination functions at this time as a deeply felt intuition about the organic connections that exist among theological insights, cultural background, and literary expression. The book explores the many ways that the theological work of Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) provides the model, content, and optic for demonstrating the credibility and range of a Catholic imagination. Since Balthasar views arts and literatures precisely as theologies, the book surveys a broad array of poetry, drama, fiction, and film and sets these readings against the central aspects of Balthasar's theological program. A major consequence of this study is the recovery of the legitimate place of a distinct “theological imagination” in the critical study of literary and narrative art. The book also argues that Balthasar's voice both complements and challenges contemporary critical theory and contends that postmodern interpretive methodology, with its careful critique of entrenched philosophical assumptions and reiterated codes of meaning, is not the threat to theological meaning that many fear. On the contrary, postmodernism can provide both literary critics and theologians alike with the tools that assess, challenge, and celebrate the theological imagination as it is depicted in literary art today.
Mary Lowe-Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032856
- eISBN:
- 9780813038643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032856.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter compares the Catholic nostalgia in the works of James Joyce and American author Flannery O'Connor. It explains that though O'Connor once boasted of having a Catholic background and ...
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This chapter compares the Catholic nostalgia in the works of James Joyce and American author Flannery O'Connor. It explains that though O'Connor once boasted of having a Catholic background and inclinations, her fiction does not exude Catholicism as does Joyce's. It also suggests that O'Connor's works are decidedly contrary to the Catholic philosophy of love, mercy, and forgiveness and that she typically does not overtly refer to Catholic dogma and ritual as Joyce does. It also discusses her penchant for designing violent epiphanies through which her characters are spiritually enlightened at the point of death.Less
This chapter compares the Catholic nostalgia in the works of James Joyce and American author Flannery O'Connor. It explains that though O'Connor once boasted of having a Catholic background and inclinations, her fiction does not exude Catholicism as does Joyce's. It also suggests that O'Connor's works are decidedly contrary to the Catholic philosophy of love, mercy, and forgiveness and that she typically does not overtly refer to Catholic dogma and ritual as Joyce does. It also discusses her penchant for designing violent epiphanies through which her characters are spiritually enlightened at the point of death.
Michael LeMahieu
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199890408
- eISBN:
- 9780199369652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199890408.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
Flannery O’Connor identified logical positivism with atheism and nihilism in its denial of objective status to moral values or religious beliefs. Yet to read her work as a straightforward exercise in ...
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Flannery O’Connor identified logical positivism with atheism and nihilism in its denial of objective status to moral values or religious beliefs. Yet to read her work as a straightforward exercise in Christian apologetics is to miss the ways that her aesthetic strategy flirts with the very positivism and nihilism that it seeks to combat. O’Connor’s references to logical positivism and the fact/value problem conform to a larger “crisis of belief” in post-1945 fiction, represented in works by Allen Tate, Wallace Stevens, Mary McCarthy, Ronald Sukenick, Philip Roth, Iris Murdoch, Walker Percy, and John Updike. What O’Connor describes as the “negative appearance” of her work results from her refusal to represent a positivist aesthetic or religious view of the world. O’Connor’s aesthetic strategy focuses the readers attention on what is there in order to represent what is not; her aesthetic negativism insists, with Wittgenstien, that what we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.Less
Flannery O’Connor identified logical positivism with atheism and nihilism in its denial of objective status to moral values or religious beliefs. Yet to read her work as a straightforward exercise in Christian apologetics is to miss the ways that her aesthetic strategy flirts with the very positivism and nihilism that it seeks to combat. O’Connor’s references to logical positivism and the fact/value problem conform to a larger “crisis of belief” in post-1945 fiction, represented in works by Allen Tate, Wallace Stevens, Mary McCarthy, Ronald Sukenick, Philip Roth, Iris Murdoch, Walker Percy, and John Updike. What O’Connor describes as the “negative appearance” of her work results from her refusal to represent a positivist aesthetic or religious view of the world. O’Connor’s aesthetic strategy focuses the readers attention on what is there in order to represent what is not; her aesthetic negativism insists, with Wittgenstien, that what we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.
Bradley J. Birzer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813166186
- eISBN:
- 9780813166643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813166186.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines Kirk’s friendships with Robert Nisbet, Leo Strauss, Flannery O’Connor, Eric Voegelin, and Ray Bradbury. It also tells the disastrous story of Kirk’s creation and editing of a ...
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This chapter examines Kirk’s friendships with Robert Nisbet, Leo Strauss, Flannery O’Connor, Eric Voegelin, and Ray Bradbury. It also tells the disastrous story of Kirk’s creation and editing of a nonideological journal of thought and scholarship, Modern Age, only to be thwarted by bigotry and editorial disagreements with the publisher.Less
This chapter examines Kirk’s friendships with Robert Nisbet, Leo Strauss, Flannery O’Connor, Eric Voegelin, and Ray Bradbury. It also tells the disastrous story of Kirk’s creation and editing of a nonideological journal of thought and scholarship, Modern Age, only to be thwarted by bigotry and editorial disagreements with the publisher.
Michael Patrick Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333527
- eISBN:
- 9780199868896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333527.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The chapter serves both as a brief biography of Balthasar and a protracted bibliography of his work. The consideration of Balthasar's monumental opus (The Glory of the Lord, Theo‐drama, and ...
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The chapter serves both as a brief biography of Balthasar and a protracted bibliography of his work. The consideration of Balthasar's monumental opus (The Glory of the Lord, Theo‐drama, and Theo‐logic) provides a critical “system” in which to read texts and begins to illustrate Balthasar's unique contribution to current discussions about the intersection between theology, history, philosophy, and narrative art. The chapter demonstrates that not only is Balthasar one of the most important Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, but also his work has practical contributions to make to discourses in critical theory. Like critical theory, Balthasar's work is theological, literary, anthropological, philosophical, psychological, political, and historical, which are critical theory's main components. In the spirit of the ressourcement theology that shaped him, Balthasar is primarily interested in renewing attention to older sources in order to critique the idealistic excesses of modernity. In this sense, Balthasar reveals a postmodern temperament: he too is concerned with issues of language and difference, with aporia, with plurality, with surplus, and with horizons of meaning, to name a few. The difference between Balthasar and the majority of critical theorists resides in ontological and theological orientation: it is therefore a difference of imagination and of grammar. The chapter elaborates on these and other dynamic relationships.Less
The chapter serves both as a brief biography of Balthasar and a protracted bibliography of his work. The consideration of Balthasar's monumental opus (The Glory of the Lord, Theo‐drama, and Theo‐logic) provides a critical “system” in which to read texts and begins to illustrate Balthasar's unique contribution to current discussions about the intersection between theology, history, philosophy, and narrative art. The chapter demonstrates that not only is Balthasar one of the most important Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, but also his work has practical contributions to make to discourses in critical theory. Like critical theory, Balthasar's work is theological, literary, anthropological, philosophical, psychological, political, and historical, which are critical theory's main components. In the spirit of the ressourcement theology that shaped him, Balthasar is primarily interested in renewing attention to older sources in order to critique the idealistic excesses of modernity. In this sense, Balthasar reveals a postmodern temperament: he too is concerned with issues of language and difference, with aporia, with plurality, with surplus, and with horizons of meaning, to name a few. The difference between Balthasar and the majority of critical theorists resides in ontological and theological orientation: it is therefore a difference of imagination and of grammar. The chapter elaborates on these and other dynamic relationships.
Michael Patrick Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333527
- eISBN:
- 9780199868896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333527.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
In addition to laying out a general groundwork for the Catholic imagination as a critical lens—and suggesting a variety of ways that the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar aids critics in articulating ...
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In addition to laying out a general groundwork for the Catholic imagination as a critical lens—and suggesting a variety of ways that the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar aids critics in articulating such a theological vision—the chapter also attempts to locate the particular phenomena of postmodernism and deconstruction within the intersection of theology and narrative art. Balthasar anticipates the tendency of current critical theory to privilege and emphasize the amorphous breadth of both linguistic and cultural expression; and he anticipates the critical tension between those who read Catholicism as theological truth and those that might read Catholicism as a “fluctuating signifier,” as a cultural and/or literary text. Under this general theme, a dialog is opened with such diverse critics as William Lynch, Paul Giles, Michel De Certeau, and Jacques Derrida. Like them, Balthasar's theology plots a route for appreciating the aesthetic complexity and theological possibility of a broadly canvassed intertextuality and interdisciplinarity. However, Balthasar's program also defends the critical uniqueness of certain theological commitments (e.g., the transcendentals, the Incarnation, and the trinitarian structure of being) and looks to the arts to demonstrate the formal expression and aesthetic span of these phenomena. The chapter concludes with the proposition that it is the recognition of these essential questions that both challenge and aid the articulation of a Catholic imagination and that a turn to representative work in literature, poetry, and film will aid in such an articulation.Less
In addition to laying out a general groundwork for the Catholic imagination as a critical lens—and suggesting a variety of ways that the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar aids critics in articulating such a theological vision—the chapter also attempts to locate the particular phenomena of postmodernism and deconstruction within the intersection of theology and narrative art. Balthasar anticipates the tendency of current critical theory to privilege and emphasize the amorphous breadth of both linguistic and cultural expression; and he anticipates the critical tension between those who read Catholicism as theological truth and those that might read Catholicism as a “fluctuating signifier,” as a cultural and/or literary text. Under this general theme, a dialog is opened with such diverse critics as William Lynch, Paul Giles, Michel De Certeau, and Jacques Derrida. Like them, Balthasar's theology plots a route for appreciating the aesthetic complexity and theological possibility of a broadly canvassed intertextuality and interdisciplinarity. However, Balthasar's program also defends the critical uniqueness of certain theological commitments (e.g., the transcendentals, the Incarnation, and the trinitarian structure of being) and looks to the arts to demonstrate the formal expression and aesthetic span of these phenomena. The chapter concludes with the proposition that it is the recognition of these essential questions that both challenge and aid the articulation of a Catholic imagination and that a turn to representative work in literature, poetry, and film will aid in such an articulation.
Merve Emre
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226473833
- eISBN:
- 9780226474021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226474021.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
"We have all heard it said that one picture is worth a thousand words,” wrote Walter Ong, "Yet, if this statement is true, why does it have to be a saying?” The historical connection between ...
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"We have all heard it said that one picture is worth a thousand words,” wrote Walter Ong, "Yet, if this statement is true, why does it have to be a saying?” The historical connection between photographic aesthetics and non-syntactical communications forms the backbone of this chapter, which shows how institutions of photojournalism helped Americans cultivate a practice of “sight reading”: using visual cues to activate a sense of ethnographic knowledge that was explicitly opposed to literary interpretation. A prime example is the National Geographic magazine, whose editors and photographers enjoyed intimate organizational and technological relationships with the military-scientific industry in the US. By arranging photographs and texts to simulate for readers the experience of virtual communication, the magazine’s sight reading practices offer a necessary context to understand the literary writings of spies-turned-editors, such as Beverley Bowie (Operation Bughouse), Ilia Tolstoy, and Curtis LeMay. They also reveal how more critical subscribers—Flannery O’Connor (The Displaced Person), Elizabeth Bishop (Questions of Travel), and Walter Abish (Alphabetical Africa)—crafted fiction that questioned the experience of sight as a source of cultural knowledge. For subscribers and spies alike, the imagination of knowing others is deeply bound to the practice of sight reading.Less
"We have all heard it said that one picture is worth a thousand words,” wrote Walter Ong, "Yet, if this statement is true, why does it have to be a saying?” The historical connection between photographic aesthetics and non-syntactical communications forms the backbone of this chapter, which shows how institutions of photojournalism helped Americans cultivate a practice of “sight reading”: using visual cues to activate a sense of ethnographic knowledge that was explicitly opposed to literary interpretation. A prime example is the National Geographic magazine, whose editors and photographers enjoyed intimate organizational and technological relationships with the military-scientific industry in the US. By arranging photographs and texts to simulate for readers the experience of virtual communication, the magazine’s sight reading practices offer a necessary context to understand the literary writings of spies-turned-editors, such as Beverley Bowie (Operation Bughouse), Ilia Tolstoy, and Curtis LeMay. They also reveal how more critical subscribers—Flannery O’Connor (The Displaced Person), Elizabeth Bishop (Questions of Travel), and Walter Abish (Alphabetical Africa)—crafted fiction that questioned the experience of sight as a source of cultural knowledge. For subscribers and spies alike, the imagination of knowing others is deeply bound to the practice of sight reading.
John C. Waldmeir
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230600
- eISBN:
- 9780823236923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230600.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter examines the influence of Vatican II on the works of American writer Mary Gordon. It states that Gordon was influenced by pre-Vatican II writer Flannery O'Connor and that she did not ...
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This chapter examines the influence of Vatican II on the works of American writer Mary Gordon. It states that Gordon was influenced by pre-Vatican II writer Flannery O'Connor and that she did not diverge from the path taken by O'Connor on the issue regarding the Catholic Church. Though Gordon shares O'Connor's purpose and methodological incongruity, her terms are different for she writes almost exclusively about Catholics. Vatican II has made it possible for Gordon to use Catholicism both as the subject she hopes to illuminate and as the light she uses to bring out its features.Less
This chapter examines the influence of Vatican II on the works of American writer Mary Gordon. It states that Gordon was influenced by pre-Vatican II writer Flannery O'Connor and that she did not diverge from the path taken by O'Connor on the issue regarding the Catholic Church. Though Gordon shares O'Connor's purpose and methodological incongruity, her terms are different for she writes almost exclusively about Catholics. Vatican II has made it possible for Gordon to use Catholicism both as the subject she hopes to illuminate and as the light she uses to bring out its features.
Michael Patrick Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333527
- eISBN:
- 9780199868896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333527.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Chapter 5 presents a reading of David Lodge's novel Therapy (1995) in light of Balthasar's Theo‐logic. Lodge does well to illustrate that the erasure of God that preoccupies postmodern consciousness ...
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Chapter 5 presents a reading of David Lodge's novel Therapy (1995) in light of Balthasar's Theo‐logic. Lodge does well to illustrate that the erasure of God that preoccupies postmodern consciousness significantly affects contemporary conceptions about “subject formation” and “people in relation.” Lodge develops these themes by constructing a narrative that mirrors both the theological trajectory of Balthasar's tripartite program and the existential progression identified by the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard—namely, the aesthetic, ethical, and religious “stages” of human experience. Importantly, a close consideration of Kierkegaard's stages reveals a direct analogy with the transcendentals, which, in turn, illuminates one of the many reasons why Balthasar admired Kierkegaard and why Lodge's novel is a fertile literary example of Balthasar's Theologic. By a close consideration of the triadic structure of being presented by a variety of sources, the chapter begins to discern how God's logic—how human logic—exists in a trinitarian dynamic.Less
Chapter 5 presents a reading of David Lodge's novel Therapy (1995) in light of Balthasar's Theo‐logic. Lodge does well to illustrate that the erasure of God that preoccupies postmodern consciousness significantly affects contemporary conceptions about “subject formation” and “people in relation.” Lodge develops these themes by constructing a narrative that mirrors both the theological trajectory of Balthasar's tripartite program and the existential progression identified by the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard—namely, the aesthetic, ethical, and religious “stages” of human experience. Importantly, a close consideration of Kierkegaard's stages reveals a direct analogy with the transcendentals, which, in turn, illuminates one of the many reasons why Balthasar admired Kierkegaard and why Lodge's novel is a fertile literary example of Balthasar's Theologic. By a close consideration of the triadic structure of being presented by a variety of sources, the chapter begins to discern how God's logic—how human logic—exists in a trinitarian dynamic.
Michael Bliss
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813178141
- eISBN:
- 9780813178134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813178141.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Michael Bliss’s essay explores the mythic and Christian aspects of The Wild Bunch, paying particular attention to what he considers its key sequences: the scenes in Angel’s village and those that ...
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Michael Bliss’s essay explores the mythic and Christian aspects of The Wild Bunch, paying particular attention to what he considers its key sequences: the scenes in Angel’s village and those that follow the shootout there. Drawing on the criticism of Northrop Frye and Flannery O’Connor, Bliss argues that in light of the film’s use of violence as a metaphor as well as its radically conceived multiple endings, which result in the Bunch being first apotheosized and then absorbed into nature, The Wild Bunch qualifies as a religious work of art.Less
Michael Bliss’s essay explores the mythic and Christian aspects of The Wild Bunch, paying particular attention to what he considers its key sequences: the scenes in Angel’s village and those that follow the shootout there. Drawing on the criticism of Northrop Frye and Flannery O’Connor, Bliss argues that in light of the film’s use of violence as a metaphor as well as its radically conceived multiple endings, which result in the Bunch being first apotheosized and then absorbed into nature, The Wild Bunch qualifies as a religious work of art.
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780823288243
- eISBN:
- 9780823290420
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823288243.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O’Connor is the first book-length study of O’Connor’s attitude toward race in her fiction and correspondence and is the first study to include controversial ...
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Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O’Connor is the first book-length study of O’Connor’s attitude toward race in her fiction and correspondence and is the first study to include controversial material from unpublished letters that reveals the complex and troubling nature of her thoughts on the subject. O’Connor lived and wrote in her native Georgia during the tumultuous years of the Civil Rights movement. In one of her letters, O’Connor frankly expresses her double-mindedness regarding the social and political upheaval taking place in the U.S.: “I hope that to be of two minds about some things is not to be neutral.” This double-mindedness also manifests itself in O’Connor’s fiction. Drawing on critical whiteness studies, this study analyzes the ways in which O’Connor critiques the unjust racial practices of the South in her stories and other writings yet unconsciously upholds them; explores O’Connor’s ambivalence with regard to contemporary politics; considers the influence of theology and the Catholic Church on O’Connor’s attitudes; examines the complex role played by “Africanist” presence in the construction of white consciousness in O’Connor’s stories; and explores the theme of thwarted communion between the races in her fiction and correspondence. The study concludes that O’Connor’s race-haunted writing serves as the literary incarnation of her uncertainty about the great question of her era and of her urgent need, despite considerable reluctance, to address the fraught relationship between the races.Less
Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O’Connor is the first book-length study of O’Connor’s attitude toward race in her fiction and correspondence and is the first study to include controversial material from unpublished letters that reveals the complex and troubling nature of her thoughts on the subject. O’Connor lived and wrote in her native Georgia during the tumultuous years of the Civil Rights movement. In one of her letters, O’Connor frankly expresses her double-mindedness regarding the social and political upheaval taking place in the U.S.: “I hope that to be of two minds about some things is not to be neutral.” This double-mindedness also manifests itself in O’Connor’s fiction. Drawing on critical whiteness studies, this study analyzes the ways in which O’Connor critiques the unjust racial practices of the South in her stories and other writings yet unconsciously upholds them; explores O’Connor’s ambivalence with regard to contemporary politics; considers the influence of theology and the Catholic Church on O’Connor’s attitudes; examines the complex role played by “Africanist” presence in the construction of white consciousness in O’Connor’s stories; and explores the theme of thwarted communion between the races in her fiction and correspondence. The study concludes that O’Connor’s race-haunted writing serves as the literary incarnation of her uncertainty about the great question of her era and of her urgent need, despite considerable reluctance, to address the fraught relationship between the races.
Mary Lowe-Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032856
- eISBN:
- 9780813038643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032856.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the influence of Catholic nostalgia on the works of Irish author James Joyce. This book identifies the specific Catholic ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the influence of Catholic nostalgia on the works of Irish author James Joyce. This book identifies the specific Catholic rituals and devotions that caused a nostalgic reaction in Joyce and suggests that his depiction of Catholic issues in his work has inspired in his readers an enduring admiration for institutional Catholicism. It also explores the influence of Joyce on subsequent writers, including Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the influence of Catholic nostalgia on the works of Irish author James Joyce. This book identifies the specific Catholic rituals and devotions that caused a nostalgic reaction in Joyce and suggests that his depiction of Catholic issues in his work has inspired in his readers an enduring admiration for institutional Catholicism. It also explores the influence of Joyce on subsequent writers, including Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton.
JAMES T. FISHER and MARGARET M. MCGUINNESS
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823234103
- eISBN:
- 9780823240906
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823234103.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
What are some hallmarks of Catholic vision that might allow readers to identify a Catholic imagination at work when they encounter one? Is it possible to identify lines of continuity among writers ...
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What are some hallmarks of Catholic vision that might allow readers to identify a Catholic imagination at work when they encounter one? Is it possible to identify lines of continuity among writers whose work is original and entirely unique to that person? And, finally, in what way can seeing—and representing—the world Catholicly bear the stamp of truth for non-Catholics as well as Catholics? This chapter deals with sacramental qualities and themes found among poets and novelists whose works constitute a kind of canon of the Catholic literary imagination. From the nineteenth-century English Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins to the mid-twentieth-century French novelist Georges Bernanos and American writer Flannery O'Connor, the chapter examines a spiritual aesthetic best conveyed perhaps in the words of a character dying young in Bernanos's celebrated novel The Diary of a Country Priest. The chapter is particularly attuned to the subtle interplay of language and spirit.Less
What are some hallmarks of Catholic vision that might allow readers to identify a Catholic imagination at work when they encounter one? Is it possible to identify lines of continuity among writers whose work is original and entirely unique to that person? And, finally, in what way can seeing—and representing—the world Catholicly bear the stamp of truth for non-Catholics as well as Catholics? This chapter deals with sacramental qualities and themes found among poets and novelists whose works constitute a kind of canon of the Catholic literary imagination. From the nineteenth-century English Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins to the mid-twentieth-century French novelist Georges Bernanos and American writer Flannery O'Connor, the chapter examines a spiritual aesthetic best conveyed perhaps in the words of a character dying young in Bernanos's celebrated novel The Diary of a Country Priest. The chapter is particularly attuned to the subtle interplay of language and spirit.
Frank McGuinness
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526100566
- eISBN:
- 9781526132321
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526100566.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter looks in close detail at two stories, written by authors of very different background: ‘The Beginning of an Idea’ by John McGahern, a chronicler of mid to late 20th century rural ...
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This chapter looks in close detail at two stories, written by authors of very different background: ‘The Beginning of an Idea’ by John McGahern, a chronicler of mid to late 20th century rural Ireland, and ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ by Flannery O’Connor, a chronicler of the American South. The chapter traces what correspondence there might arise between these writers from Catholic backgrounds, and the impact faith has on their comprehension of male violence - rape in the Mc Gahern story, and murder in O’Connor’s. The chapter emphasizes what, spiritually and socially, connects and disconnects both authors, and shows how the two stories, diverse in style and approach, but sharing an underlying sense of brutality, illustrate their respective authors’ interest in human inclination for violence and evil.
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This chapter looks in close detail at two stories, written by authors of very different background: ‘The Beginning of an Idea’ by John McGahern, a chronicler of mid to late 20th century rural Ireland, and ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ by Flannery O’Connor, a chronicler of the American South. The chapter traces what correspondence there might arise between these writers from Catholic backgrounds, and the impact faith has on their comprehension of male violence - rape in the Mc Gahern story, and murder in O’Connor’s. The chapter emphasizes what, spiritually and socially, connects and disconnects both authors, and shows how the two stories, diverse in style and approach, but sharing an underlying sense of brutality, illustrate their respective authors’ interest in human inclination for violence and evil.
Mary Lowe-Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032856
- eISBN:
- 9780813038643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032856.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the influence of Catholic nostalgia on the works of James Joyce. It highlights the differences between Joyce's depiction of Catholic ...
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This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the influence of Catholic nostalgia on the works of James Joyce. It highlights the differences between Joyce's depiction of Catholic rituals and iconography in his works and those of several other writers including Thomas Merton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Flannery O'Connor. It also describes the influence of Marian devotion on these writers, all having experienced a so-called Marian era which lasted from the 1850s to the 1960s.Less
This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the influence of Catholic nostalgia on the works of James Joyce. It highlights the differences between Joyce's depiction of Catholic rituals and iconography in his works and those of several other writers including Thomas Merton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Flannery O'Connor. It also describes the influence of Marian devotion on these writers, all having experienced a so-called Marian era which lasted from the 1850s to the 1960s.
Jean W. Cash
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604739800
- eISBN:
- 9781604739862
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604739800.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
Larry Brown was unique among writers who started their careers in the late twentieth century. Unlike most of them—his friends Clyde Edgerton, Jill McCorkle, Rick Bass, Kaye Gibbons, among others—he ...
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Larry Brown was unique among writers who started their careers in the late twentieth century. Unlike most of them—his friends Clyde Edgerton, Jill McCorkle, Rick Bass, Kaye Gibbons, among others—he was neither a product of a writing program, nor did he teach at one. In fact, he did not even attend college. His innate talent, his immersion in the life of north Mississippi, and his determination led him to national success. Drawing on excerpts from numerous letters and material from interviews with family members and friends, this book is a biography of a landmark southern writer. It explores the cultural milieu of Oxford, Mississippi, and the writers who influenced Brown, including William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Harry Crews, and Cormac McCarthy. The book covers Brown’s history in Mississippi, the troubled family in which he grew up, and his boyhood in Tula and Yocona, Mississippi, and in Memphis, Tennessee. It relates stories from Brown’s time in the Marines, his early married life—which included sixteen years as an Oxford fireman—and what he called his “apprenticeship” period, the eight years during which he was teaching himself to write publishable fiction. The book examines Brown’s years as a writer: the stories and novels he wrote, his struggles to acclimate himself to the fame his writing brought him, and his many trips outside Yocona, where he spent the last thirty years of his life. It concludes with a discussion of A Miracle of Catfish.Less
Larry Brown was unique among writers who started their careers in the late twentieth century. Unlike most of them—his friends Clyde Edgerton, Jill McCorkle, Rick Bass, Kaye Gibbons, among others—he was neither a product of a writing program, nor did he teach at one. In fact, he did not even attend college. His innate talent, his immersion in the life of north Mississippi, and his determination led him to national success. Drawing on excerpts from numerous letters and material from interviews with family members and friends, this book is a biography of a landmark southern writer. It explores the cultural milieu of Oxford, Mississippi, and the writers who influenced Brown, including William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Harry Crews, and Cormac McCarthy. The book covers Brown’s history in Mississippi, the troubled family in which he grew up, and his boyhood in Tula and Yocona, Mississippi, and in Memphis, Tennessee. It relates stories from Brown’s time in the Marines, his early married life—which included sixteen years as an Oxford fireman—and what he called his “apprenticeship” period, the eight years during which he was teaching himself to write publishable fiction. The book examines Brown’s years as a writer: the stories and novels he wrote, his struggles to acclimate himself to the fame his writing brought him, and his many trips outside Yocona, where he spent the last thirty years of his life. It concludes with a discussion of A Miracle of Catfish.
Alan Nade
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748620111
- eISBN:
- 9780748651863
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748620111.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter examines the similarities between Disneyland and the fiction of Cold War culture. It shows that both the theme park and the television show divided ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ into ...
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This chapter examines the similarities between Disneyland and the fiction of Cold War culture. It shows that both the theme park and the television show divided ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ into four ‘lands’, which spatialised and temporalised national identity based on the principles of cinematic representation. The chapter explains how Disneyland became the figurative home of Tom Rath, the protagonist of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. It also takes a look at Disneyland in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Sun and Flannery O'Connor's The Coney Island of the Mind, to name a few.Less
This chapter examines the similarities between Disneyland and the fiction of Cold War culture. It shows that both the theme park and the television show divided ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ into four ‘lands’, which spatialised and temporalised national identity based on the principles of cinematic representation. The chapter explains how Disneyland became the figurative home of Tom Rath, the protagonist of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. It also takes a look at Disneyland in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Sun and Flannery O'Connor's The Coney Island of the Mind, to name a few.
Benjamin Mangrum
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190909376
- eISBN:
- 9780190909406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190909376.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
Southern writers Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor present the collusion of the American welfare state and a consumer economy as a source of existential alienation. This chapter considers their ...
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Southern writers Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor present the collusion of the American welfare state and a consumer economy as a source of existential alienation. This chapter considers their objections to the social-democratic institutions created during the New Deal era. Percy and O’Connor present versions of Christian existentialism as an alternative to bureaucratic politics. In addition to joining the concert of intellectual challenges to the legacy of reform established during the New Deal, their related responses represent the splintering of American existentialism in the 1960s. The political vocabulary of the New Left represents a competing faction of American politics informed by existentialism. These differing responses share a common valorization of private judgments of value. Both responses are related to another phenomenon, which political scientists call the rise of an “independence regime,” or partisan disaffiliation, in the American electorate.Less
Southern writers Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor present the collusion of the American welfare state and a consumer economy as a source of existential alienation. This chapter considers their objections to the social-democratic institutions created during the New Deal era. Percy and O’Connor present versions of Christian existentialism as an alternative to bureaucratic politics. In addition to joining the concert of intellectual challenges to the legacy of reform established during the New Deal, their related responses represent the splintering of American existentialism in the 1960s. The political vocabulary of the New Left represents a competing faction of American politics informed by existentialism. These differing responses share a common valorization of private judgments of value. Both responses are related to another phenomenon, which political scientists call the rise of an “independence regime,” or partisan disaffiliation, in the American electorate.
Una M. Cadegan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451126
- eISBN:
- 9780801468988
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451126.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Until the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the stance of the Roman Catholic Church toward the social, cultural, economic, and political developments of the twentieth century was largely ...
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Until the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the stance of the Roman Catholic Church toward the social, cultural, economic, and political developments of the twentieth century was largely antagonistic. Yet, in and through the period from World War I to Vatican II, the Church did engage with, react to, and even accommodate various aspects of modernity. This book shows how the Church's official position on literary culture developed over this crucial period. The Catholic Church in the United States maintained an Index of Forbidden Books and the Legion of Decency (founded in 1933) lobbied Hollywood to edit or ban movies, pulp magazines, and comic books that were morally suspect. These regulations posed an obstacle for the self-understanding of Catholic American readers, writers, and scholars. But Catholics developed a rationale by which they could both respect the laws of the Church as it sought to protect the integrity of doctrine and also engage the culture of artistic and commercial freedom in which they operated as Americans. Catholic literary figures including Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton are important to the book's argument, particularly as their careers and the reception of their work demonstrate shifts in the relationship between Catholicism and literary culture.Less
Until the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the stance of the Roman Catholic Church toward the social, cultural, economic, and political developments of the twentieth century was largely antagonistic. Yet, in and through the period from World War I to Vatican II, the Church did engage with, react to, and even accommodate various aspects of modernity. This book shows how the Church's official position on literary culture developed over this crucial period. The Catholic Church in the United States maintained an Index of Forbidden Books and the Legion of Decency (founded in 1933) lobbied Hollywood to edit or ban movies, pulp magazines, and comic books that were morally suspect. These regulations posed an obstacle for the self-understanding of Catholic American readers, writers, and scholars. But Catholics developed a rationale by which they could both respect the laws of the Church as it sought to protect the integrity of doctrine and also engage the culture of artistic and commercial freedom in which they operated as Americans. Catholic literary figures including Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton are important to the book's argument, particularly as their careers and the reception of their work demonstrate shifts in the relationship between Catholicism and literary culture.