Synopsis: This book attempts a close reading of the fiction of
Flannery O'Connor, story by story, with one eye on her use of the
Bible, and her view of the Bible in relation to her own work. After
introductory chapters on O'Connor's markings in her own Roman
Catholic Bible, her book reviews in diocesan newspapers, and her
impatience with her wayward readers, Michaels looks first at her
two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, and then at
seventeen of her short stories from her two collections, A Good Man
Is Hard to Find and Everything That Rises Must Converge. Michaels
takes notice of O'Connor's explicit references to the Bible (or
Bibles) in her stories, and looks more particularly to the ways in
which the stories are driven at least in part by specific biblical
texts. Among the themes that emerge are alienation or displacement,
what it means to be "good," the relation between body and spirit
and between the Old Testament and the New, issues of race and
gender, and above all what O'Connor once called "the action of
grace in territory held largely by the devil." Endorsements: "For
those who know the Bible well but not literature, J. Ramsey
Michaels introduces the wonders of Flannery O'Connor, whose
creative stance toward the Bible produced the greatest religious
fiction of the twentieth century. For readers of O'Connor searching
to better understand where the religiosity is, Michaels is a fine
guide. For O'Connor scholars, Michaels reveals the subtleties and
complexities of O'Connor's use of various Bible translations."
--Marshall Bruce Gentry, Georgia College "With deft allusion to
O'Connor's biblically informed vision, Michaels offers a
pleasurable and informative approach to O'Connor's fiction. The
sheer fun of reading O'Connor is enhanced by the lucidly inviting
work of this prolific and wise biblical scholar. Connecting like
stories, as in the chapter 'Two Gentlemen Callers, ' is among the
felicities that will get you reading and rethinking the work of an
American great. A marvelous achievement " --Paul Borgman, Gordon
College Author Biography: J. Ramsey Michaels, Professor of
Religious Studies Emeritus at Missouri State University in
Springfield, now lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He has written
extensively in New Testament studies, including commentaries on
First Peter, Revelation, and Hebrews, and most recently a major
work on the Gospel of John. Currently he is preoccupied with
Flannery O'Connor, and a commentary of a very different sort.
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