A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories

by Flannery O'Connor

ONE OF THE GREATEST AMERICAN SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

In 1955, with this short story collection, Flannery O'Connor firmly laid claim to her place as one of the most original and provocative writers of her generation. Steeped in a Southern Gothic tradition that would become synonymous with her name, these stories show O'Connor's unique, grotesque view of life-- infused with religious symbolism, haunted by apocalyptic possibility, sustained by the tragic comedy of human behavior, confronted by the necessity of salvation.

With these classic stories-- including The Life You Save May Be Your Own, Good Country People, The Displaced Person, and seven other acclaimed tales-- O'Connor earned a permanent place in the hearts of American readers.

Much savagery, compassion, farce, art, and truth have gone into these stories. O'Connor's characters are wholeheartedly horrible, and almost better than life. I find it hard to think of a funnier or more frightening writer. -- Robert Lowell

In these stories the rural South is, for the first time, viewed by a writer who orthodoxy matches her talent. The results are revolutionary. -- The New York Times Book Review

Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) was born in Savannah, Georgia. She earned her M.F.A. at the University of Iowa, but lived most of her life in the South, where she became an anomaly among post-World War II authors-- a Roman Catholic woman whose stated purpose was to reveal the mystery of God's grace in everyday life. Her work-- novels, short stories, letters, and criticism-- received a number of awards, including the National Book Award.

• ISBN10: 0156364654
• ISBN13: 9780156364652
• Publish Date: 22 October 1982 (first published 1 August 1977)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 10 July 2012
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Imprint: Thomson Learning
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 251
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

First things first, O’Connor did exactly what she intended to do here. It’s not a failure by any stretch (if, at times, close-cropped and uneven). Whatever she’s doing, cruel and unusual, she’s good at it. But dear God, it just happens to be the exact kind of thing that revolts something deep down in my gut. I’m usually all on board with the creepy, crazy, what-have-you, but the difference here is that nobody is even alive before they’re dead.

“Bleak,” “oppressive,” “macabre,” all of that applies, but I’ve seen it applied to Cormac McCarthy too and there I have the opposite visceral reaction. So what gives? For me, it’s not about death and the close tangle with it or the darkly funny nihilism. That’s not bleak to me. It’s refreshing, invigorating, valuable. The difference is, McCarthy likes his people. They’re alive. Shit happens, yeah, and the world is a rough rough place, but it has real human people and whatever it is we call a soul, it’s there. And it’s worth fighting for. It may have a good enough dose of evil but it’s not shrunk down with hate.

There was this other review that said O’Connor believes in God but not so much in people, and all things considered that’s exactly it. The thing is, I need the opposite. I need it the other way around.