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Original Essays | December 12, 2009

Alexander McCall Smith: IMG The Courage of Others



I have recently written a novel about life in England during the Second World War. I felt some concern before I tackled this theme — the War... Continue »
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    La's Orchestra Saves the World

    Alexander McCall Smith

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Wise Blood (62 Edition)

by Flannery Oconnor

Wise Blood (62 Edition) Cover
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Staff Pick

O'Connor is arguably one of the greatest Southern fiction writers of all time, if not the greatest. Wise Blood, her first book, would give the world a taste of the literary genius to come. Both an allegory and a fable about sin and redemption, it is about a man's denial of his identity, the suffering that arises from that denial, and the salvation eventually found.
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Synopses & Reviews

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Publisher Comments:

Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel, is a classic of twentieth-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a "blind" street preacher names Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter, Lily Sabbath. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawks, Hazel Motes founds the The Church Without Christ, but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God. He meets Enoch Emery, a young man with "wise blood," who leads him to a mummified holy child, and whose crazy maneuvers are a manifestation of Hazel's existential struggles. This tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindness, blindings, and wisdom gives us one of the most consuming characters in modern fiction.

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.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Indira, July 3, 2006 (view all comments by Indira)
This is a difficult novel, but worth the effort. No one writes like O'Connor. No one saw the South quite like her.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780374505844
Subtitle:
A Novel
Author:
O'Connor, Flannery
Author:
O'Connor, Flannery
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Religion
Subject:
American fiction (fictional works by one author)
Subject:
American fiction (fictional works by one auth
Edition Number:
2nd ed.
Series Volume:
1953
Publication Date:
19620101
Binding:
TP
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
232
Dimensions:
8.40x5.42x.65 in. .49 lbs.

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