The Fiction and the Aesthetic Principles of Flannery O’Connor: A Study in Theory and Practice
Flannery O'Connor, a recent Southern writer, gives evidence in her fiction and in her statements on aesthetics that she has a message vital to modern man. This message, a faith-oriented interpretation of the meaning of man, is conveyed through three basic concepts: Reality, Redemption, and Shook. An understanding of Miss O'Connor's work must focus around this Southern writer's perspective on these key concepts and their treatment in her works. It is the purpose of this paper to clarify and to explain the meaning of these concepts and to show how they function in her work in order that Miss O'Connor's intuition1 of Reality, Redemption, and Shock may stand revealed. Reality and Redemption are the what or matter of her fiction, while Shock is the how or method of her writing.
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