≫ [PDF] The Complete Stories FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor 9780374515362 Books

The Complete Stories FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor 9780374515362 Books

Download As PDF : The Complete Stories FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor 9780374515362 Books

The Complete Stories FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor 9780374515362 Books

Either you adore her work or you hate it. For me, she is the favorite of all favorites. Dark and bizarre but at the same time hilariously funny. There is no author I have re-read as much. As weird as the characters are, I can see myself in most of them.


Tags : The Complete Stories (FSG Classics) [Flannery O'Connor] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>Winner of the National Book Award</b> The publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established Flannery O'Connor's monumental contribution to American fiction. There are thirty-one stories here in all,Flannery O'Connor,The Complete Stories (FSG Classics),Farrar, Straus and Giroux,0374515360,FIC029000,Short Stories (Single Author),Short stories,Southern States,Southern States - Social life and customs,Southern States;Social life and customs;Fiction.,010102 FSG Paper,FICTION Short Stories (single author),Fiction,Literary,Literature - Classics Criticism,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),O'connor, Flannery, 1925-1964,Social life and customs,classic books; literature classics; award winning books; famous authors; best short stories; short story collection; short fiction; american literature; american authors; southern gothic; southern writers; women writers; grotesque; flannery oconner; 20th century american fiction

The Complete Stories FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor 9780374515362 Books Reviews

So . . . how am I going to summarize over 30 short stories in one volume that run the gamut (what is a gamut anyway) of highly disturbing to deeply inspiring to truly annoying? Since Flannery O'Connor is in that "classic" category and I am not a literary critic, here is my advice to fellow "regular guy (or girl)" readers

You can't make it through this volume without taking breaks away from this book. I plowed through half of it and that was too much. I had to go to Colorado and drive back home to New Jersey with my family to get it out of my head. So I would suggest alternating these stories with lighter fare, or trips to Colorado if you can.

The second half was easier for me . . . I think maybe because Flannery doesn't seem to kill off all of her characters in the second half . . .

The single story "Revelation" was worth all of the time I spent on this book. My second favorite was . . . oops . . . won't let me print the title . . .

I got this book out of my interest in Southern history and culture. What I got from it was incredibly deep, affecting, surreal yet crudely realistic portrayals of people in all of their hypocritical, self deceptive, self destructive, self righteous, vulgar, and funny ways. I didn't know people could write like this . . . or this well.
Ever since I came upon "The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor" (while serving in the military overseas) this collection has been an integral part of my life. All of the stories have something of value in them, even the weaker ones; but an attentive reading of the best ones will leave an indelible impression for example, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", "Good Country People", "A View of the Woods", "The Enduring Chill", "Revelation". Some readers find O'Connor's fiction depressing but I do not. I never have. I enjoy these stories, savor them and return to them again and again. An important point to consider is that O'Connor's characters are usually damnable but are rarely, if ever, actually damned. A theology of hope-for-all permeates her fiction.

Of all these stories, I think it's "The Displaced Person" that pleases me most. Its length is less than a novel but it has about it the moral, historical and spiritual proportions of a great epic. Its ironic rendering of human folly and ignorance comes across with patient objectivity and humor, and so free of contempt as to seem miraculous. It's a rare writer who can portray such rustic or insufferable characters so believably on the one hand; but on the other, free of the taint of hatred or even condescension.
The greatest accomplishment of O'Connor's writing is that she makes you think. She begs you to look inside yourself as you read her stories and ask yourself hard questions IF you dare or are brave enough. Am I like that? Have I done that or said that or thought like that??? Then she asks you to destroy that wrong thinking. A great author with a deeply intellectual and spiritual mind that shows so clearly in these Simple Stories about life.
This is an excellent, wide ranging collection of short stories. There are so many really excellent and entertaining short stories in this work, I hardly know where to begin. It amazes me that Flannery O'Connor is not placed among the very top of American authors. But in truth, i almost never hear anyone mention her name.

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I was unfamiliar with Flannery O'Connor until the last few years. I attribute this to the fact that she is not discussed contemporaneously with other American iconic authors. I first heard of her when I was studying a book on literature by Harold Bloom and he discussed her work. I had begun reading work by William Faulkner and at first was unsettled by his style. Slowly I have begun to gain an appreciation the genre of "Southern Gothic". Flannery O'Connor has her own style which includes, but is not limited to Southern Gothic.

Flannery O'Connor has a wry sense of ironic humor which manifests itself throughout her work and can suddenly emerge out of nowhere and surprise the reader. An example of this is the short story "The Crop". At the same time some of her short stories stun me with their violence. Sometimes the two combine as at the end of "A Good Man is Hard to Find". I am not learned enough to know where to place Flannery O'Connor compared to other Southern Gothic authors, but she may be my favorite, with Harper Lee and Carson McCullers close behind.
It would be easy to write stories about self-righteous, bigoted, condescending, self-assured people getting what we think they deserve. But then, by taking pleasure in those stories we would become the thing we hate.

Flannery does something much more difficult. She writes stories about self-righteous people getting what they least deserve and least believe they need divine mercy.

Her best stories are not so much about justice for the oppressed as about mercy for the oppressors. She understands that the same divine movement that brings justice for the oppressed also offers mercy to their oppressors. Her God is, in the Thomistic sense, simple. His justice is his mercy.

Finally, I think an honest reading of Flannery will reveal that most of us are like her characters -- we least deserve what we most need.
Either you adore her work or you hate it. For me, she is the favorite of all favorites. Dark and bizarre but at the same time hilariously funny. There is no author I have re-read as much. As weird as the characters are, I can see myself in most of them.