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Original Essays | November 5, 2009

John Buntin: IMG Notes from the (Bibliographic) Underground

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For more than 60 years, Los Angeles's origins, its underbelly, and (yes) its blondes have fueled the imagination of writers and directors from... Continue »
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The Complete Stories

by Flannery O'Connor

The Complete Stories Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Winner of the National Book AwardThe publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established Flannery O'Connor's monumental contribution to American fiction. There are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear in the only two story collections O'Connor put together in her short lifetime--Everything That Rises Must Converge and A Good Man Is Hard to Find. O'Connor published her first story, "The Geranium," in 1946, while she was working on her master's degree at the University of Iowa. Arranged chronologically, this collection shows that her last story, "Judgement Day"--sent to her publisher shortly before her death—is a brilliantly rewritten and transfigured version of "The Geranium." Taken together, these stories reveal a lively, penetrating talent that has given us some of the most powerful and disturbing fiction of the twentieth century. Also included is an introduction by O'Connor's longtime editor and friend, Robert Giroux.

Review:

"She could put everything about a character into a single look, everything she had and knew into a single story...For her, people were complete in their radical weakness, their necessarily human incompleteness. Each story was complete, sentence by sentence. And each sentence was a hard, straight, altogether complete version of her subject: human deficiency, sin, error — ugliness taking a physical form." Alfred Kazin New York Times Book Review, 11/28/71

Review:

"One of the greatest writers of our time." Toni Morrison

Review:

"What we lost when she died is bitter. What we have is astonishing: the stories burn brighter than ever, and strike deeper." Walter Clemons, Newsweek

Review:

"[S]he expressed something secret about America, called 'the South,' with that transcendent gift for expressing the real spirit of a culture..." New York Times Book Review
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About the Author

Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1925. When she died at the age of thirty-nine, America lost one of its most gifted writers at the height of her powers.
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Table of Contents

Introduction by Robert Giroux The Geranium The Barber WildcatThe CropThe TurkeyThe TrainThe PeelerThe Heart of the ParkA Stroke of Good FortuneEnoch and the GorillaA Good Man Is Hard to FindA Late Encounter with the EnemyThe Life You Save May Be Your OwnThe RiverA Circle in the FireThe Displaced PersonA Temple of the Holy GhostThe Artificial NiggerGood Country PeopleYou Can't Be Any Poorer Than DeadGreenleafA View of the WoodsThe Enduring ChillThe Comforts of HomeEverything That Rises Must ConvergeThe Partridge Festival The Lame Shall Enter FirstWhy Do the Heathen Rage?RevelationParker's BackJudgement Day

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
megcampbell3, March 11, 2008 (view all comments by megcampbell3)
This read is like walking through rooms of a labyrinthine southern mansion, alone and unnoticed by its inhabitants, witnessing random bits of random lives at what turn out to be pivotal moments. By the time the last paragraph of "Greenleaf" is taken in (the 21st of 31 stories), Flannery O'Connor is some kind of writer's goddess, and the present world is colored by these stories which are somehow equally representative of a projected idea of the 1950's and 1960's in the southern United States, as well as Flannery O'Connor's interior life, famously short-lived. Amazing, disturbing stories.
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christi, November 5, 2006 (view all comments by christi)
If you have an aspiring writer in your family or group of friends, please buy them this book. They will thank you a million times. This is by far one of the very best in American writing. Flannery O'Connor wrote with the most perfect sense of humanity and humility. As an Iowan, I take special pride that she spent some of her very short life on our "shores" at the Writer's Workshop. As an American, I'm proud that she spent some of her days writing these beautiful stories. A must buy.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780374515362
Author:
O'Connor, Flannery
Publisher:
Noonday Press
Introduction:
Giroux, Robert
Author:
Giroux, Robert
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Social life and customs
Subject:
Wine and wine making
Subject:
Short Stories (single author)
Subject:
American fiction (fictional works by one author)
Subject:
Short stories
Subject:
Collections and anthologies
Subject:
Southern states
Subject:
Brewing
Subject:
Short stories, American
Subject:
Beverages
Subject:
Beverages -- Amateurs' manuals.
Subject:
Stories (single author)
Copyright:
1996
Series Volume:
14
Publication Date:
January 1971
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
555
Dimensions:
8.28x5.44x1.44 in. 1.13 lbs.
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