Approaches to Teaching the Works of Flannery O’Connor
- Editors: Robert Donahoo, Marshall Bruce Gentry
- Pages: 272
- Published: 2019
- ISBN: 9781603294065 (Paperback)
- ISBN: 9781603294638 (Hardcover)
“[This book] fills a critical need and will help even seasoned teachers refine their pedagogical approaches to O’Connor.”
—Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, Wheaton College
Known for her violent, startling stories that culminate in moments of grace, Flannery O’Connor depicted the postwar segregated South from a unique perspective. This volume proposes strategies for introducing students to her Roman Catholic aesthetic, which draws on concepts such as incarnation and original sin, and offers alternative contexts for reading her work.
Part 1, “Materials,” describes resources that provide a grounding in O’Connor’s work and life. The essays in part 2, “Approaches,” discuss her beliefs about writing and her distinctive approach to fiction and religion; introduce fresh perspectives, including those of race, class, gender, and interdisciplinary approaches; highlight her craft as a creative writer; and suggest pairings of her works with other texts. Alice Walker’s short story “Convergence” is included as an appendix.
Acknowledgments (ix)
Introduction: Teaching on the Borders (1)
PART ONE: MATERIALS
Robert Donahoo and Marshall Bruce Gentry
Editions (11)
Reference Works (14)
Background Studies (18)
Critical Commentaries (20)
Audiovisual Aids (23)
Manuscript Collections (24)
O’Connor’s Childhood Home and Andalusia (25)
PART TWO: APPROACHES
Introduction to the Essays (29)
The Author as Teacher: O’Connor as Self-Critic
On Her Own Work (34)
O’Connor through Her Letters (40)
O’Connor and Religion
Of Whales and Warthogs: Jonah as Biblical Paradigm for Teaching O’Connor (48)
Hillbilly Thomist: Understanding O’Connor’s Catholic Literary Aesthetics in “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” (56)
Incarnation and Original Sin: Teaching O’Connor as a Christian Writer (66)
Contexts: Race, History, Film, and Science
Race and Grace in O’Connor’s Fiction (74)
O’Connor and Whiteness Studies (81)
Teaching O’Connor in Context: Modernism as Historical Artifact (88)
Restoring Connections: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Wise Blood (100)
Teaching O’Connor with Science and Technology Studies (106)
Eternal “Greenleaf ”: O’Connor’s Environmental Imagination (113)
O’Connor and Other Authors
O’Connor in the Company of Dubliners (121)
Teaching O’Connor in Conversation with William Faulkner (130)
The Physical and Psychological Violence of Race Relations in Ann Petry and O’Connor (143)
Teaching O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge” and Alice Walker’s “Convergence” in the Twenty-First-Century South (150)
Language, Class, and Social Power: Teaching O’Connor and Junot Díaz at City Tech (159)
Teaching O’Connor and Toni Morrison from a Nonsecular Space (173)
O’Connor in Popular Music (183)
Specialized Perspectives
Feminism and Identity Politics in a Critical Close Reading of “Good Country People” (194)
Teaching the Body in O’Connor (200)
Teaching O’Connor’s Narrative Style through “The River” (206)
Short Story
Convergence: The Duped Shall Enter Last: But They Shall Enter (212)
Notes on Contributors (225)
Survey Participants (229)
Works Cited (233)
Index of O’Connor’s Works (253)
Index of Names (255)
