Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, and the Aesthetic of Revelation

209 Pages·2007·0.69 MB·English

by  John D. Sykes Jr.

Flannery O’Connor,
Walker Percy,
and the
Aesthetic of Revelation
u

Flannery O’Connor,
Walker Percy,
and the
Aesthetic of Revelation
u
John D. Sykes, Jr.
University of Missouri Press
Columbia and London
Copyright © 2007 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press,Columbia,Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sykes, John,1952–
Flannery O’Connor,Walker Percy,and the aesthetics of revelation /
John D.Sykes, Jr.
p. cm.
Summary:“Examining the writings of Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy
against the background of the Southern Renaissance from which they emerged,
Sykes explores how the writers shared a distinctly Christian notion of art that
led them to see fiction as revelatory but adopted different theological
emphases and rhetorical strategies”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8262-1757-8 (alk.paper)
1. O’Connor,Flannery—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Percy,Walker,
1916–1990—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Revelation in literature.
4. American literature—Southern States—History and criticism.
5. Christianity and literature—United States—History—20th century. I. Title.
PS3565.C57Z88 2007
813(cid:2).54—dc22
2007016711
ø™ This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials,Z39.48,1984.
Designer:Stephanie Foley
Typesetter:The Composing Room of Michigan,Inc.
Printer and binder:Thomson-Shore,Inc.
Typeface:Bembo
For Ralph Wood
mentor,friend,fellow pilgrim

Contents
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Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1. O’Connor and New Criticism 9
2. Romantic Symbol and the Catholic Revival 26
3. O’Connor and the Body:
Incarnation,Redemptive Suffering,and Evil 39
4. O’Connor on Divine Self-Disclosure:
Eucharist as Revelation 70
5. Helen Keller and the Message in the Bottle:
Percy on Language 86
6. Percy’s Novelistic Quest for Faith 111
7. Surviving Apocalypse through Hope and Love 136
8. Southern Strangers and the Sacramental Community 153
Bibliography 173
Index 181
vii

Acknowledgments
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W
hen does a book begin? I trace the genesis of this one to a
Jan Term course on Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy
that I took at Wake Forest University in 1973.One of the
two instructors was Tom Gossett,whose name is known to O’Connor
enthusiasts from the letters Flannery wrote to him and his scholar-wife,
Louise,after the three had struck up a friendship while the Gossetts lived
and taught in Georgia.Through the good offices of Professor Gossett,our
class was treated to a reception in the historic Cline-O’Connor house in
Milledgeville hosted by Mrs.Regina O’Connor,Flannery’s vigorous and
gracious mother.Equally memorable was an excursion to Andalusia,the
family farm where Flannery wrote most of her stories and where de-
scendants of her peafowl still ruled the roost.Accompanying us on the
visit was Sarah Gordon,a young faculty member at Georgia College and
State University,who was assuming growing responsibility for O’Con-
nor’s literary legacy.But most significant for the future of this book was
the presence of the junior member of the Wake Forest teaching team.
Ralph Wood,a Texan only a couple of years away from graduate school
at the University of Chicago,had given me my first dose of O’Connor
in a previous course and was now introducing me to Walker Percy,whose
work Ralph was just getting to know himself.No doubt Ralph grew tired
of my frequent taps on his office door in Wingate Hall,but he never let
on.He unfailingly welcomed me,shaggy and callow though I was.Those
visits marked the beginning of conversation about these two authors that
continues to this day.The novelist Pat Conroy calls the cartoonist Doug
Marlette his conversational caffeine. For thirty-five years, I have relied
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