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Dec 08, 2011

Jeremy added it

The first few sections in this are really killer. O'Connor has this down to earth, conversational way of talking about fiction and how it works. Her voice comes through in a lot of these pieces just as strongly as it does in her fiction. And what's more, she compellingly offers an idea of why fiction (or at least good fiction), with its willingness to present us with the profundities of human action instead of cheap, sentimental, reductive crap, is an essential form of expression. Unfortunately, More...

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Nov 03, 2011

Taka rated it:

In reading Flannery O’Connor’s Mystery and Manners, I was inspired and found so many things relevant to my situation as a writer and teacher. I will respond to her book in two parts, first from the standpoint of a teacher and second from that of a fiction writer.

One of the tips that may be useful in teaching creative writing is her insistence that fiction must, before all else, be concrete and appeal to the senses. One of my students likes to write abstractly because, he says, it will More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Cheri rated it:

One of the most startling things about this posthumous collection of lectures and essays is to realize just how young Flannery O'Conner was when she died. Before age 39 she possessed more brazen confidence and piercing understanding of literary craft than I ever hope to achieve. Plus, her writing is full of style and personality, wit and a no-nonsense attitude.

If I tried to sum up O'Conner's take on how to write well, it might go like this: soak yourself in the "manners"--the More...

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Mar 12, 2010

Matthew rated it:

O'Connor averred that she wrote as she did because she was Catholic, and that, as a Catholic, she couldn't write any other way. She may have most readily identified herself as a Catholic, but this collection is proof positive that she was first and foremost a writer. As a critic, she was an apostle of Henry James, deeply unsentimental (indeed, a hilariously unapologetic misopedist), an enemy of excess, a believer in humility ("the first product of self-knowledge"), and, above all, glor More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Stephen rated it:

O'Connor breaks down the art of fiction writing. Lots of wit and insight, but for me, the religious stuff drags a bit.

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Jul 05, 2011

Angela rated it:

How is it I've lived almost four decades and haven't read this book yet? I've always loved O'Connor's short fiction and recognized her genius, but these collected essays--all written (or, in the case of speeches, delivered) when she was younger than I am now--simply thrilled me with their insight, humor, and piercing vision. The last few sections of the book that focused on writing as a Catholic were particularly valuable: I saw so many parallels between the Catholic writing community, as well a More...

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Feb 15, 2010

Craig rated it:

We should never be lured into the trap of accepting ONLY what an author has to say about the interpretation of her work. At the same time, we should pay special attention to such commentary as it reveals as much about the writer as it does about the art. As an orthodox Roman Catholic living in the South, O'Connor has much to tell us in this collection of essays about displacement, isolation, discipline, faith, craftsmanship, and the vocation of writing. Some of the most memorable quotes from More...

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Jun 11, 2010

Lorrie rated it:

O'Connor says, "I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil. I have also found that what I write is read by an audience which puts little stock in either grace or the devil." (118)

These lectures and essays allow us to hear her voice and her heart.

I think "Total Effect and the Eighth Grade" is brilliant. I would love to use it as a springboard for dis More...

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Nov 03, 2009

Cassy rated it:

This is a collection of essays and speeches complied after O’Connor’s death. It is divided into six parts. I thought I’d organize my review accordingly.

I. A Short Story – very entertaining. I am glad the editors included this story among all the essays. I had never read any of her short stories or novels. This established my respect for her talent.

II. Southern Literature – fairly interesting, although maybe obsolete. I had not really realized that there was such a genre, More...

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Sep 29, 2008

Heather rated it:

Who knew an isolated lupus-suffering hyper-religious Catholic in the smack middle of Georgia could be so hot damn funny!

Seriously, a victory.

I think what makes Flannery O'Connor's aesthetic so brilliant is its combination of two themes: what she calls the "violent" and the "comic." Her literature, like her essays, is both funny and deeply, unabashedly brutal. For O'Connor writing, like reading, isn't a science or an exercise in sentimentality. We do More...

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May 06, 2008

Steven rated it:

So much great advice in these essays, and O'Connor is so quotable. Much easier to quote than to emulate. On this reading I took the time to read the four essays—which I'd previously skipped—relating to the writer and religion and was surprised to find embedded in there some otherwise sound advice that even a non-catholic writer could put to use. For the most part, though, those four essays seemed to be aimed at critics of her religious bent, or at writers such as Sartre and Camus, as in this bit More...

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Dec 19, 2007

Felicity rated it:

This is an excellent book about fiction, why (in one practitioner's opinion) to write it, read it, and value it. Flannery O'Connor has a matter-of-fact approach to big topics like the philosophy of art, and suffers neither fools nor mediocrity. This collection of her lectures and essays is so pithy that I was often moved to jot down quotes for later use. Some of these follow my review.

The last part of the volume, which concerns being a Catholic writer, writing the Catholic novel, et More...

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Feb 18, 2011

Amy rated it:

Indispensable. Flannery O'Connor's post-humously collected essays and discussions on Southern writers, the Catholic writer, and her own work has taught me more about writing than all the craft books I've read of late. Her candid attitude toward theory and meaning, namely, that if the writer has direction, has motive, the meaning will reveal itself in the story with no need for theory (or academia).

For lovers of O'Connor's work, this collection sheds much light on where the writer was More...

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Jun 06, 2010

Kaylee rated it:

I love Flannery O'Connor's fiction, so when I discovered I still hadn't read this book six years after I bought it for a class as "supplementary material", I got excited.

Turns out I should have only been partly excited. O'Connor is predictably opinionated about all the topics within this book. For the most part, that wasn't a problem for me. I like her no-false-modesty stance on why she wrote ("because I'm good at it"); I like her annoyance at the idea that wri More...

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Sep 30, 2008

Mary rated it:

I have long been a fan of Flannery O'Connor's fiction but I had not read her non-fiction or essays until two months ago. She may have died over 40 years ago, but her take on the writing scene and the nature of writing is accurate--it as though she wrote it recently. As a former Catholic, I do understand her religious and spiritual references. If those give pause to some readers, I would still recommend the book for its clear-eyed, non-sentimental look at the education in America and why the w More...

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Sep 27, 2009

Seán rated it:

For the kids:

Most of us have learned to be dispassionate about evil, to look it in the face and find, as often as not, our own grinning reflections with which we do not argue, but good is another matter. Few have stared at that long enough to accept the fact that its face too is grotesque, that in us the good is something under construction. The modes of good have to be satisfied with a cliche or a smoothing-down that will soften their real look.

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Apr 01, 2009

Mary rated it:

I love this book. It's Flannery O'Connor at her best, her nonfiction best, that is: wry, funny, and razor sharp. I can't believe she died when she was 39; or, more specifically, I can't believe she could write all she did, know all she did and live it all before age 40. Remarkable. God had a hold on her.

This book is a collection of O'Connor's speeches, some excerpts from letters and essays she wrote. She's relentless in her commentary/critique of bad--sentimental--art and laziness More...

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Dec 04, 2010

Barry rated it:

2/27 - I actually finished this Wednesday but I've been busy since then (thankfully).

The essays in the middle are the best, while I did enjoy the last few cuz of my recent interest in Catholocism, I'm sot sure if they say anything not already better-said in the previous ones. The beginnings one were sorta whatever to me, I should re-read her stuff that I am (think I am?) a Real Reader

2/20 - she's pretty cranky! i like it!!!

2/18 - I skimmed/skipped most of the More...

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Nov 24, 2010

Ashley rated it:

Outstanding. It's a rich little how-to on writing believable fiction, in the words of the "writers' writer" herself. I'd never actually read any of O'Connor's fiction before reading this book - so this prepared the way, and when I started in on her short stories and reached some of her notorious grotesque characters/elements/plot twists, I could say, "Oh, I see what she's doing there."

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Aug 03, 2011

TBV rated it:

This book was a mixed bag for me. Although I enjoyed it, there were chapters that did not interest me, and I labored through them. This book is a nice collection of O'Connor's essays and prose about writing, novelists, how religion (namely, Christianity/Catholics) plays it role in writing, and the act of writing. She covers a lot of ground in the work, which means in this collection she can reach a number of interested reads.

I did enjoy the section of banning books and how schools can More...

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Sep 23, 2010

Chrissy rated it:

I liked the first half of the book much better than the second half. That is, I very much enjoyed O'Connor's biting wit, sarcastic tone, and reflections on being a writer, and how being a writer from the South influenced her writing and her life. I lost interest when she wrote about being a Catholic writer, and all the ways that Catholicism influenced her writing and her life.

Overall, a good book for those writers who wonder who location and religion affect their work. Personally, I More...

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Jul 16, 2010

Emily rated it:

I picked up this book after one of Justin's professors had quoted something she had to say about short stories. It was definitely a worthwhile read, and even made me want to write. She did have a lot to say about being an author who is both Catholic and Southern, those parts I skimmed over.

Evidently it was also recently featured on NPR's You Must read this just a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...

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Jun 30, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

Wonderful collection of essays on writing, valuable for any author. Her advice on the art o short story writing (mystery and manner) is invaluable. I also particularly loved her comments on being a Catholic writer. She said that, as Catholic writers, we are obligated to write truthfully -- which sometimes makes our writing unacceptable to Catholic readers. Point well-taken.

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Oct 08, 2008

Beth rated it:

This book, about writing, was published after O'Connor's death. It is compiled from unpublished essays, lectures, and letters and carefully edited by several close friends. In it, O'Connor addresses her Catholicism (not the average run-of-the mill type) and her location as a southern writer. She must have been a terrifying teacher since she doesn't pull her punches about what she considers good and bad writing (most of it is bad as far as she's concerned). Nor does she believe in pandering t More...

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Nov 20, 2011

Eric rated it:

Flannery O'Connor sure knew what the heck she was doing when she wrote fiction. Her musings on how it's done are illuminating and absorbing. The essays on the Catholic novel are a little tedious, but she still managed to say really smart things about novels and short stories. All in all, her writing about how to write fiction is as good or better than Gardner's (sp?) oft-read and oft-recommended book.

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Oct 27, 2011

Annie rated it:

This book is a collection of essays and writings by Flannery O'Connor and - in my opinion - a must-read for aspiring short fiction authors and novelists. Flannery was a brilliant writer and provides not only insight into her own works but also invaluable advice into the art of writing good fiction.

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Jan 16, 2011

Josh rated it:

If I could recommend one book for writers of faith, this is it. Her essays on religion and fiction propelled forward my thinking about writing, and her arguments against dualism changed my thinking about what it means to be a writer of so-called "Christian fiction."

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Jan 29, 2008

Mia rated it:

Re-read old girl cuz I'm (oddly enough) teaching fiction this semester (including her story, "Parker's Back"). Recalled that she's a badass.

“It is the business of fiction to embody mystery through manners, and mystery is a great embarrassment to the modern mind. About the turn of the century, Henry James wrote that the young woman of the future, though she would be taken out for airings in a flying-machine, would know nothing of mystery or manners. James had no business t More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Clint rated it:

This was a joy to read. Flannery wit, cleverness and outstanding moral conviction shine through in her prose, particularly in her essays o what it means to be a novelist in the south and the artifice of literature as a Catholic. I think the world of her.

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Sep 17, 2009

Tim rated it:

O'Connor does a wonderful job of addressing perceptions of the "Southern" writer and Southern writers. She also lucidates the leitmotif of the "genre" of sourthern literature by providing a backdrop for the recurrence of the grotesque in Southern literature.

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