The first chronological overview of O'Connor criticism from the publication of her first novel, Wise Blood, in 1952 to the present.

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.

Daniel Moran explains how O'Connor attained that status, and how she felt about it, by examining the development of her literary reputation from the perspectives of critics, publishers, agents, adapters for other media, and contemporary readers.

Contributions by Lindsay Alexander, Alison Arant, Alicia Matheny Beeson, Eric Bennett, Gina Caison, Jordan Cofer, Doug Davis, Doreen Fowler, Marshall Bruce Gentry, Bruce Henderson, Monica C. Miller, William Murray, Carol Shloss, Alison Staudinger, and Rachel Watson The National Endowment for the Humanities has funded two Summer Institutes titled "Reconsidering Flannery O’Connor," which invited scholars to rethink approaches to Flannery O’Connor’s work. Drawing largely on research that started as part of the 2014 NEH Institute, this collection shares its title and its mission. Featuring fourteen new essays, Reconsidering Flannery O’Connor disrupts a few commonplace assumptions of O’Connor studies while also circling back to some old questions that are due for new attention. The volume opens with “New Methodologies,” which features theoretical approaches not typically associated with O’Connor’s fiction in order to gain new insights into her work. The second section, “New Contexts,” stretches expectations on literary genre, on popular archetypes in her stories, and on how we should interpret her work. The third section, lovingly called “Strange Bedfellows,” puts O’Connor in dialogue with overlooked or neglected conversation partners, while the final section, “O’Connor’s Legacy,” reconsiders her personal views on creative writing and her wishes regarding the handling of her estate upon death. With these final essays, the collection comes full circle, attesting to the hazards that come from overly relying on O’Connor’s interpretation of her own work but also from ignoring her views and desires. Through these reconsiderations, some of which draw on previously unpublished archival material, the collection attests to and promotes the vitality of scholarship on Flannery O’Connor.

My research examines some ways in which various audiences have contributed pieces to what Robert Giroux called the "total mosaic" of Flannery O'Connor's reputation. Beginning with the 1952 publication of Wise Blood , I examine O'Connor's critical reception among readers whose assumptions about the South and Catholicism informed (and misinformed) their initial response to an author who defied easy categorizing. O'Connor's thematic concerns and artistic performance provoked great critical unease, an unease evidenced by what critics decided to emphasize about her art. Drawing on the work of Peter J. Rabinowitz, I describe the two general audiences--one "genuine" and the other "ironic"--that shaped O'Connor's reputation. However, I also examine the effects of people such as Robert and Sally Fitzgerald, who helped to foster some parts of O'Connor's reputation that readers now take for granted. Further, I examine the ways in which adaptations of O'Connor's work for stage and screen--especially John Huston's Wise Blood --influence and reflect the course of O'Connor's reputation and her increased acceptance as an outsider entering the mainstream of American letters. My study closes with an inventory and analysis of how O'Connor is seen by over 4,000 reviewers on Goodreads.com, as a way to gage O'Connor's current reputation reflected in the reviews of common readers. My study ultimately suggests that O'Connor's status has, of course, something to do with her subject matter, but is also a function of how she has been presented to the public by reviewers, editors, publishers, filmmakers, and thousands of readers who post their opinions online. I examine the contingencies of literary reputation and identify the moments in which a reputation was created. This is a work of book history; my aim is not to explicate O'Connor's work but to examine the ways in which it has been edited, marketed, read, and received. Drawing extensively on hundreds of reviews and the Farrar, Straus and Giroux Archives, my book tells the story of the understanding and misunderstanding, the reading and misreading, the attacks and eventual canonization of Flannery O'Connor.

Presents a collection of critical essays on the works of Flannery O'Connor.