tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post7303785175641157115..comments2024-03-25T17:14:03.066-07:00Comments on The New Theological Movement: After the Pharisee left the temple area, according to Flannery O’ConnorFather Ryan Erlenbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07557817305024750902noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-82854541592084747242010-10-30T09:01:30.747-07:002010-10-30T09:01:30.747-07:00Thanks. In these sense that we are speaking of she...Thanks. In these sense that we are speaking of she is much like another prolific author, the Episcopalian Madeline L'Engle (who died three years ago after a long career) however Flannery was not ambiguous on moral issues related to a culture of life whereas L'Engle, especially in her later years was very grey.owenswainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540186205959897960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-53960150012393665942010-10-29T14:47:39.437-07:002010-10-29T14:47:39.437-07:00@Owen,
I love the drawing! I had never noticed the...@Owen,<br />I love the drawing! I had never noticed the similarity between the real Therese and Flannery...your picture reminds me that St. Therese also wrote that she never liked talking with the other children about the saints, because everyone used it as an opportunity to 'show off' all their knowledge and piety...perhaps Flannery has a similar spirit in her writing -- she seems to almost never talk about Catholics or priests or saints, yet she conveys the truth in a most powerful way!<br />Blessings!Father Ryan Erlenbushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07557817305024750902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-42136850461703647662010-10-29T14:45:12.752-07:002010-10-29T14:45:12.752-07:00Cordelia, I completely agree with your point about...Cordelia, I completely agree with your point about the fact that Flannery's stories are about much more than "doctrinal content"...she herself has said (I believe in Mystery and Manners, as you pointed out) that it bothered her when people would ask, "What is the point of this story?" She wanted to say, "If I could have made my point in any clearer and more concise way, I would have!" I think she means that the whole story is itself the "point" and that we must avoid the tendency to try to boil down her stories to mere doctrinal statements -- JoAnna at CatholicPhoenix wrote something on this in early October, "Catholic Poetry is not Catholic Doctrine".<br /><br />Again, I completely agree that Flannery is doing much more than simply re-telling the Gospel parable...she is taking us to a new opportunity of grace, one which is not really present in the particular Gospel account itself.<br /><br />Blessings and peace to you! Please feel free to comment often!Father Ryan Erlenbushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07557817305024750902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-10057603533874008642010-10-29T13:10:19.927-07:002010-10-29T13:10:19.927-07:00Well before I converted Flannery was one of my fav...Well before I converted Flannery was one of my favourite authors. I have that volume you mention and have read it many times. Waiting for me on the shelf is The Habit of Being, selected letters and I am currently reading a recent biography published by St.Benedict Press/TAN<br /><br />Here's my little tribute to the great author <a href="http://owenswain.com/drawntocatholicism/archives/722" rel="nofollow">here</a> by way of a drawingowenswainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540186205959897960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-40367274640942145822010-10-29T10:55:44.353-07:002010-10-29T10:55:44.353-07:00Father, yesterday, I took another dip in the refre...Father, yesterday, I took another dip in the refreshing pool of Flannery O’Connor’s writings—“Mystery and Manners”( Occasional Prose, selected and edited by Sally and Robert Fitzgerald). I was inspired by the discussion going on over at Catholic Phoenix about science fiction. One of the things I commented about over there had to do with the value of science fiction as a genre and how what Flannery O’Connor said about the nature and aim of fiction is relevant to the discussion. <br /><br />If you read the selection in “Mystery and Manners” entitled, “The Nature and Aim of Fiction”, you will see that Flannery thinks that good fiction is first and foremost about the art of writing and not about content. (She also says more revealing things about good fiction and in other selections—in fact, in several places throughout the whole book.) “Actually, a work of art exists without its author from the moment the words are on paper, and the more complete the work, the less important it is who wrote it or why.”(-Flannery O’Connor, “The Teaching of Literature” in “Mystery and Manners”) She has said that she writes the way she does because she is Catholic. But, she also has said that she thinks that a good story should not have a preconceived moral with an imaginative story written or contrived around it—in other words, she doesn’t write a story around a specific parable as if to retell it in an imaginative way, but she wrote about what she “saw” in her country at her time and place in history through the eyes of a Catholic—maybe you could say, through the eyes of the wisdom obtained by meditating on a specific parable.<br /><br />I think that you are correct to see parallels between the parable in Luke 18:9-4 and O’Connor’s short story “Revelation”. She was probably inspired by that parable but maybe she was also writing to express other levels of truth associated with that parable—I don’t know. I have found that her story’s have different levels of meaning: they are mysterious and meaty like “Parker’s Back” for example. I read “Revelation” a long time ago when I was in college but I missed seeing your insight. I am inspired to reread it and gnaw on it for a while. <br /><br />Thank you so much for writing this post. I thoroughly enjoyed it and don’t you just love Flannery’s wit! (I laughed out loud reading the excerpts you chose to quote.)Cordelia at Catholic Phoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04781343757689670170noreply@blogger.com