Conversations with Flannery O'Connor (Literary Conversations) [Hardcover]

Rosemary M. Magee (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1987 | Series: Literary Conversations

As this collection of interviews shows, Flannery O'Connor's fiction, though bound to a particular time and place, embodies and reveals universal ideas. O'Connor's curiosity about human nature and its various manifestations compelled her to explore mysterious places in the mind and heart. Despite her short life and prolonged illness, O'Connor was interviewed in a variety of times and locations. The circumstances of the interviews did not seem to matter much to O'Connor; her approach and demeanor remained consistent. Her self-knowledge was always apparent, in her confidence in herself, in her enterprise as a writer, and in her beliefs. She could penetrate the surfaces; she could see things in depth. Her perceptions were wide-ranging and insightful. Her interviews, given sparingly but with careful reflection and precision, make a unique contribution to an understanding of her fiction and to the evolving narrative of her short but influential life. Dr. Rosemary M. Magee is Vice President and Secretary of the University at Emory University.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 118 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (February 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087805264X
• ISBN-13: 978-0878052646
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,383,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925, the only child of Catholic parents. In 1945 she enrolled at the Georgia State College for Women. After earning her degree she continued her studies on the University of Iowa's writing program, and her first published story, 'The Geranium', was written while she was still a student. Her writing is best-known for its explorations of religious themes and southern racial issues, and for combining the comic with the tragic. After university, she moved to New York where she continued to write. In 1952 she learned that she was dying of lupus, a disease which had afflicted her father. For the rest of her life, she and her mother lived on the family dairy farm, Andalusia, outside Millidgeville, Georgia. For pleasure she raised peacocks, pheasants, swans, geese, chickens and Muscovy ducks. She was a good amateur painter. She died in the summer of 1964.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful original data, August 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Conversations with Flannery O'Connor (Literary Conversations) (Paperback)

This text was not what I expected. Only the brief introduction is a narrative, while the text itself is a collection of the transcriptions from seminars, articles about O'Connor's life, and her answers to questions at various symposia. That is not to suggest that the book was not useful; instead, I gained valuable data that would have otherwise taken me hours to find in a library - all between the covers of this short book. (Some readers may be interested to know that some of the interviews may be recognized as those mocked by O'Connor in her letters in The Habit of Being.) It is interesting to observe her behavior as she participates in a panel discussion, and her responses are classic O'Connor.

I would recommend this book to those looking for data sources for research and those hoping for unfiltered insight into the person of Flannery O'Connor.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gathers together twenty-two interviews and other "conversations" with Flannery O'Connor..., August 3, 2008

By 

R. Neil Scott "Writer, Professor & User Servi... (Murfreesboro, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Conversations with Flannery O'Connor (Literary Conversations) (Paperback)

Rosemary Magee has gathered together for readers a compilation of twenty-two "conversations" with Flannery O'Connor -- interviews that originally appeared in a variety of newspapers, magazines and journals.

Her introduction describes O'Connor's responses to her interviewers and suggests that these responses illustrate and reflect her personality and interaction with others. Outlines O'Connor's varied approaches in dealing with reporters, participants of literary discussions, panels, and literary critics. Includes a chronology and index.

Interviewers include: Harvey Breit, Celestine Sibley, Betsy Lochridge, Margaret Turner, Robert Donner, Richard Gilman, Katherine Fugin, Faye Rivard, Margaret Sieh, Betsy Fancher, Granville Hicks, Joel Wells, Frank Daniel, Richard P. Frisbie, Gerard E. Sherry, and C. Ross Mullins, Jr.

Reader's may also be interested in reading Magee's discussion of the "preacher figure" in works by O'Connor, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, William Faulker, William Styron and Carson McCullers in her dissertation, "'Ambassador of God': The Preacher in Twentieth-Century Southern Fiction," completed at Emory University in 1982.

R. Neil Scott / Middle Tennessee State University