A Literary Guide to Flannery O’Connor’s Georgia

A Literary Guide to Flannery O’Connor’s Georgia was a helpful and fascinating guide to pair with her writing. Her work has such a strong sense of place that it’s useful to learn more about those settings. It was especially interesting to me since I live in Georgia and grew up in the Bible Belt of the South.

What I Liked

I liked how the book went in depth on here relationships and the environment that she grew up in. I did not realize that she lived in Savannah and Atlanta before settling down in Milledgeville. I also did not know about the full extent of her disease – and how she overcame the effect on her work with simple consistency (2 hours of writing every day).

The images, maps, and photographs were especially useful in providing context for much of her work. Even though her work is obviously fictional, it has a strong sense of place and each scene was inspired, if not by an actual place, by the sense of an actual place.

What I Did Not Like

Not a whole lot. The book is incredibly specific, though. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve also read & enjoyed lots of her work.

Takeaways

No one exists in a vacuum. Every one of us is deeply influenced by our surroundings, relationships, upbringing, and the context of everyone that we come in contact with. Flannery O’Connor’s work may have universal themes, but it is very much of a specific place & specific time.