That Toddlin' Town

With the Flannery O'Connor Conference at Loyola University just around the corner, Craig and I will be jetting up to Chicago next Wednesday to participate in this symposium that focuses on the theological and philosophical influences in Flannery O'Connor's writings. Having a background in theology myself, I am particularly looking forward to Revelation and Convergence: Flannery O'Connor Among the Philosophers and Theologians. The conference runs from October 6-8. For more information click http://www.loyolaoconnorconference2011.com/ If you're planning to attend, stop by the Andalusia table and say hi. We look forward to seeing you.
- Mark

Flannery's Stud

No, this post is not going to be about Erik Langkjaer, the Danish textbook salesman that stole Flannery's heart. In fact, the admirer I'm referring to never even met O'Connor. Their differences couldn't have been greater. Unlike Flannery, he hailed from the North, was as Chicago as deep-dish pizza, and an agnostic (or a "cowardly atheist," as he deprecatingly called himself). And yet, for all their differences, the legendary disk jockey, actor, and oral historian Studs Terkel was a big fan of Flannery O'Connor. In his autobiography, Touch and Go, Terkel cites O'Connor's writings as being a major influence in his life and work. Having recently finished this book, I was surprised by the number of times Terkel mentions O'Connor. Specifically, it was her short story "The River" that was something of an epiphany for him. In the story the main character is a little boy named Harry/Bevel who is ignored and neglected by parents who could have come right out of a Tennessee Williams play. One day he is taken by his babysitter to a religious revival down by a red, muddy river. He decides to be baptized and is told by the preacher that now he counts. Terkel kept coming back to this story because he thought that this is what every human being wants most: to count. Of course, he and O'Connor would disagree on how that goal is achieved (O'Connor emphasizes sacramental grace), but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that, without Flannery O'Connor, we might not have such classics as Working and Hard Times, where the real-life stories of little guys struggling to count are recalled in the memorable prose of Studs Terkel.
- Mark

Perennial Bestseller

Paul Elie's excellent four-subject biography, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, came out eight years ago, and it remains one of our best-selling books in the Andalusia gift shop. Elie, a senior editor at Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, tells the story of four twentieth-century Catholic writers - Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor - whose lives rarely intersected and yet all shared a common vocation to holiness. According to a review in Publishers Weekly, these authors, whose work was steeped in their shared Catholic faith, "come together in this masterful interplay of biography and literary criticism. Elie...lays open the lives and writings of the monk Thomas Merton, Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day, and novelists Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy. Drawing comparisons between their backgrounds, temperaments, circumstances and words, he reveals 'four like-minded writers' whose work took the shape of a movement. Though they produced no manifesto, ... they were unified as pilgrims moving toward the same destination while taking different paths. As they sought truth through their writing, he observes, they provided 'patterns of experience' that future pilgrims could read into their lives. This volume (the title is taken from a short story of the same name by O'Connor) is an ambitious undertaking and one that could easily have become ponderous, but Elie's presentation of the material is engaging and thoughtful, inspiring reflection and further study. Beginning with four separate figures joined only by their Catholicism and their work as writers, he deftly connects them, using their correspondence, travels, places of residence, their religious experiences and their responses to the tumultuous events of their times." On a personal note, I can only concur with the PW reviewer. After finishing Elie's book, I was inspired to read Dorothy Day's The Long Loneliness and since then have been re-reading many of Merton's works that have been sitting on my bookshelf for decades.
- Mark

Pea-cocktails

I may have mentioned before on this blog that Flannery O'Connor used to give each child who visited Andalusia a peacock feather as a souvenir. We get visitors from time to time who came out here when they were youngsters and still have the feathers Flannery game them. While we wish we could do the same for our visitors today, we just don't have enough birds to make it possible for us to hand out peacock feathers. Remember, Flannery had as many as fifty birds out here at one time, and we have only three. However, since many people have told us they would like to have one, we are now pleased to offer for sale a limited number of feathers from our own peacock, Manley Pointer. These iridescent pinions are only $5.00 each and make a wonderful remembrance of your visit to Andalusia. Speaking of visiting Andalusia, now would be a perfect time to do so. The summer heat is behind us and the last few days have been absolutely delightful. The weather is so nice today that we were able to turn off the air conditioners and keep the front door open.
- Mark

Book Blast

There are two sure signs fall is on the way - hay bales in the front pasture at Andalusia and the Decatur Book Festival this weekend. As in the past two years, Craig will be setting up a booth at the fair tomorrow morning. He is bringing with him lots of Andalusia souvenirs such as our new and very popular Murder, Mayhem, and Misfits t-shirts. There will also be stuff for the children including the Andalusia coloring book. If you're planning to go, stop by booth 509 and say hi. Sharing the booth with Craig will be Bruce Gentry, editor of the Flannery O'Connor Review and the Flannery O'Connor scholar at Georgia College. Bruce will have copies of the Review for sale as well as other GCSU publications. In addition to these two luminaries, The Decatur Book Festival will be featuring folks like Roy Blount Jr., Terry Brooks, Charles Frazier, Kinky Friedman and Natasha Tretheway. Finally, I need to put in a plug for my friend, Carl McColman, who will be speaking Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at City Hall Stage. Carl is the author of twelve books exploring spirituality from a variety of perspectives. He will be talking about his most recent book, the aptly titled, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. For more information on the Decatur Book Festival, check out their website www.decaturbookfestival.com.
- Mark

Nevermore?

According to a recent article in the New York Times, the Baltimore home where author Edgar Allan Poe lived from 1833 to 1835 is in peril. The house museum sits in the middle of a housing project far off the usual tourist path. Due to budget cuts, the city last year completely eliminated financial support. Since then, the Poe house has been operating on reserve funds which are projected to dry up by early next summer. The city of Baltimore has hired consultants to help the Poe house come up with a business plan to make the museum financially self-sufficient. Ideas on the table include updating exhibits to attract more visitors (the Poe house and museum currently gets about 5,000 visitors per year). What does all this have to do with Flannery O'Connor and Andalusia? A lot! For one thing, Edgar Allan Poe was such a huge influence on O'Connor. It is truly heartbreaking to contemplate the possible closure of his home. God forbid that we might face a similar dilemma at Andalusia. And yet, one cannot help but be concerned because of the similarities between the two writers' residences. Like Poe's home, Andalusia sits well off the beaten track, perhaps even more so, and we get about the same number of visitors per year as they do. Fortunately, we are not reliant upon government funding to stay afloat and have so far managed to weather the tough economic downturn of the last three years through the generosity of our Friends.

It is imperative, however, that we expand this base of support if we are to remain viable in the future. Unlike Poe's home in Baltimore (or that of practically any other author you can think of ), Andalusia presents us with a unique set of challenges. Not only do we have the main house where the author lived to preserve, but all the other structures that sit on this 544 acre tract as well, some of which will collapse if more funding cannot be procured to restore them. And it is vital that we do so because Andalusia is a very special place. Not only was it where Flannery O'Connor lived and wrote, but it was the very source of her inspiration. This farm and daily life out hereso fueled O'Connor's imagination that it is impossible to read a great number of her stories and not picture Andalusia. Your continued financial support of our work is vital if we are to preserve this major literary landmark for future generations.
- Mark

Hot off the Press!

Good news for our visitors who have been asking when the latest issue of the Flannery O'Connor Review is coming out. It's here! Yesterday afternoon, editor Bruce Gentry brought over ten new copies of this, the longest-running journal dedicated exclusively to the work of a female writer. This attractive and lavishly illustrated magazine features articles on O'Connor's ecological vision, an interview with Milledgeville native and big-time author, Pete Dexter, as well as an essay by William Walsh on Wise Blood, the novel and its film adaptation by John Huston. The photographs accompanying this essay of the filming of Wise Blood are worth the price of the Review. There are also book reviews by noted O'Connor scholars Margaret Earley Whitt, Gary Ciuba, Robert Donahoo, Avis Hewitt, and the indefatigable Bruce Gentry. As suggested above, supplies are limited, so if you are interested in obtaining a copy of the 2011 Flannery O'Connor Review, please visit our gift shop or call us at 478-454-4029.
- Mark

Falling Feathers

It's that time of year when our peafowl are molting. This morning I filled a wheelbarrow with feathers, mostly from the male, Manley Pointer. He looks pretty scraggly right now with his remaining feathers jutting out from his body at odd angles. On Wednesday while I was at the dentist's office, I happened to pick up a National Geographic (Feb. 2011) that featured a story on birds and their plumage. Accompanying this story was a picture of a peacock in full feather. The caption said that the peacock was the one bird that confounded British naturalist, Charles Darwin (pictured at right). He couldn't understand for the life of him how the bird evolved the way it did. What could possibly be the purpose of something so impractical as the long train of feathers on the male of the species? Darwin could see no utilitarian purpose. In fact, they are less than useless in that they inhibit quick flight from predators. If Darwin's theory of natural selection is true, the peacock's showy feathers should have disappeared eons ago or else the species would have disappeared. Perhaps unwilling to consider the possibility that the Creator made the species simply out of sheer delight in its beauty, Darwin appeased his curiosity with the rather pedestrian conclusion that the male has kept his plumage over time as a way of propagating the species. From my personal observation of our birds at Andalusia, I think Darwin is pushing it a little bit. Many times have I seen Manly with his shimmering feathers fanned the width of the aviary and the females pay him absolutely no attention.
- Mark

The Last Letter

Yesterday marked the 47th anniversary of Flannery O'Connor's death. Ever the faithful letter writer, Flannery continued to correspond with her friends almost up to the end. According to Sally Fitzgerald, O'Connor's last letters are deceptively light, even playful, in tone (see The Habit of Being, p. 560). Most correspondents didn't realize just how sick she was. Yet her chief concern throughout these final letters was finishing work on her second collection of short stories, Everything That Rises Must Converge. Nevertheless, as O'Connor penned these words to her friends, there is an undercurrent of sorrow over the inevitable separation that would occur. On July 28, 1964, Flannery wrote her last letter. This note to Maryat Lee, written in a "shaky, nearly illegible hand" (Brad Gooch, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor, p. 367) is in response to an anonymous crank call Lee received and reveals O'Connor's deep concern for her friend's well being:
Cowards can be just as vicious as those who declare themselves - more so. Dont take any romantic attitude toward that call. Be properly scared and go on doing what you have to do, but take the necessary precautions. And call the police. That might be a lead for them. Dont know when I'll send those stories. I've felt too bad to type them. Cheers, Tarfunk
(The Habit of Being, p. 596)
- Mark

Sizzling Summer Sale

Come on out, folks, to our sizzling summer sale! Several of our books have been drastically reduced for clearance. If you've been waiting to get your copy of Writers of the American South now is your chance to get this book regularly priced at $35 for just $25. The ever popular guide book to writers' homes, Novel Destinations, is now on sale for the ridiculously low price of $9.95. And if that weren't enough, we've slashed the price of the beautifully photographed Georgia Icons: 50 Classic Views of the Peach State to the unheard of price of $12.95. While you're shopping, don't forget bumper stickers. These are among the most popular items in our gift shop and sell for $4 each or two for $7. How do we do it, you ask? Volume, volume, volume. So, friends, hurry on out to the Andalusia gift shop where our prices are as hot as the weather.
- Mark

"...the worst book I have ever read."

In a letter to her friend, Betty Hester, written fifty years ago today, Flannery O'Connor mentions that Houghton Mifflin had sent her the galley to the soon-to-be published novel, Clock Without Hands, by Carson McCullers (pictured at right). With tongue firmly in cheek, O'Connor remarks that "this long-awaited-by-the-faithful book will come out in September." She goes on to say that "it is the worst book I have ever read. It is incredible. If you want to read it, I will send it to you. It must signal the complete disintegration of this woman's talent. I have forgotten how the other three were, but they were at least respectable from the writing standpoint." (The Habit of Being, p. 445-446). This is classic O'Connor. If she loved something she praised it to the hilt. If she didn't care for a piece of writing it was the worst thing ever. There was no in-between. Also, Flannery had a tendency to castigate writers she grudgingly admired or was influenced by (e.g. Erskine Caldwell). Finally, it is worth pointing out as we suffer through one of the hottest summers on record, that in this letter (as in most of her correspondence), Flannery doesn't complain about the weather or even her health. What really irks her is bad writing, or what she perceives to be bad writing.
- Mark

Beat the Heat

The cartoon at the right pretty much captures what it's felt like around here for, say, the last two months. The massive heat wave reached its apex on Wednesday with a heat index of 110. As luck would have it, this was the same day novelist Ann Napolitano came to give a reading from her new book, A Good Hard Look. In order to make the house as comfortable as possible for her and our guests, we drew the window shades and shut off lights in the afternoon to try to conserve whatever coolness we could. Undaunted by the sauna-like conditions, 22 intrepid souls showed up at 7:00 to hear Ms. Napolitano's delightfully engaging presentation, which she cut a bit short due to the sweltering conditions in the dining room. After a brief Q&A session, visitors were treated to ice-cold lemonade and delicious home-baked cookies from one of our dedicated volunteers. Ms. Napolitano graciously stayed to sign books and chat with the folks. We've all been staggered by the heat, even the peafowl. Since the species is from India they normally withstand the heat better than the rest of us. Today it is cloudy and mercifully cooler so our birds are a lot happier. And so are we!
- Mark

Living with Lupus

Anyone familiar with Flannery O'Connor's life knows that the author was stricken with the disease lupus erythematosus when she was 25 years old, eventually succumbing fourteen years later. Many visitors to Andalusia ask us about the nature of this disease, how if affected O'Connor, and the medicine she took to combat it. While neither Craig nor I claim to have expertise in this field, we tell folks that lupus is an auto-immune disease that is hereditary (Flannery's father died of lupus at the age of 44, just two years after being diagnosed) and is still, to this day, incurable. One might think of it as being the opposite of HIV, where the body's immune system shuts down altogether. According to webmd.com, "Lupus ... is a disease of the immune system. Normally, the immune system protects the body from infection. In lupus, however, the immune system inappropriately attacks tissues in various parts of the body. This abnormal activity leads to tissue damage and illness." For O'Connor the damaged tissue was her hip joints which made walking very difficult. As the photo to the right shows, she needed crutches to get around. It was due to the physical limitations imposed by the disease that Flannery and her mother moved to Andalusia in the first place. The family farm made it possible for them to set up housekeeping on the first floor to accommodate Flannery with her physical disabilities. Originally diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, O'Connor lived with lupus much longer than anyone expected. She managed to stay alive with daily, high dose injections of ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone, derived from the pituitary glands of pigs) and cortisone. Notwithstanding, she lived with quite a bit of pain. Yet one of the most remarkable features of her letters is how little she says about her personal suffering. Indeed, in typical Flannery fashion, she makes self-deprecating quips about her illness and the painful treatments she was undergoing, as in this letter to her friend, Maryat Lee: "I owe my existence and cheerful countenance to the pituitary glands of thousands of pigs butchered daily in Chicago, Illinois at the Armour packing plant. If pigs wore garments I wouldn't be worthy to kiss the hems of them." (Brad Gooch: Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor, p. 193; photo credit: Joe McTyre)
- Mark

A Good Hard Look

On July 13th, author Ann Napolitano pictured to the right (photo credit: Nicola Dove) will be at Andalusia to read from her soon-to-be published novel, A Good Hard Look, and will sign copies afterwards. All are invited to attend this reading, which will take place at 7 p.m. As implied by the title, Ms. Napolitano's book has direct relevance to, and was inspired by, the life and work of Flannery O'Connor. In fact, O'Connor is a character in the novel. Flannery O'Connor was such a fascinating individual that it's not surprising that she has been fictionalized by other authors. Those who attended our February lecture series in 2010 may recall Michael Bishop reading from his fanciful short story, "The Road Leads Back," in which even O'Connor's crutches take on a life of their own. Who knows what surprises lay in store for readers of A Good Hard Look. We look forward to welcoming Ms. Napolitano to Andalusia and hope we'll have a good turnout for her reading. For more information about this event and the author please visit our website http://andalusiafarm.org/news_events/napolitano_visit.html
- Mark

Good-bye, Dr. Leland

Tomorrow morning, Andalusia will be losing a good friend when Dr. Dorothy Leland leaves to begin her tenure as chancellor of the University of California - Merced. During her seven years at the helm of Georgia College, Dr. Leland has been a strong supporter of the work of the Flannery O'Connor - Andalusia Foundation, not to mention a voice of wisdom and reason on our Board of Directors. Unlike some college presidents for whom being on a board such as ours would simply be an honorary position, Dr. Leland took an active role as one of the Foundation's directors. She worked tirelessly to strengthen ties between the university and Andalusia, and was a strong proponent of O'Connor studies and research at the school. Emblematic of this commitment was the publication by Georgia College this year of a book of Flannery O'Connor's cartoons. The January release of this book marked the first time since 1979 that there has been a full-length monograph of original work by O'Connor. Without Dr. Leland's leadership, this book may never have seen the light of day. And so, as she leaves us, we wish her well and thank her for all she has done for us. We say to her, as Flannery herself might have, "when in Merced do as you done in Milledgeville."
- Mark

"Lord Flannery O'Connor"

Just before Memorial Day I posted a blog entry about Flannery O'Connor's father that focused on his distinguished military service. With Father's Day coming up this Sunday, I thought I would say a bit more about Edward O'Connor and the close relationship he had with his daughter. When one looks at photographs of Flannery O'Connor, one is immediately struck by her physical resemblance to her father. In the photo on the right, taken when Mary Flannery was seven years old on her First Communion, she is the spitting image of Edward O'Connor. Wearing a white dress trimmed in lace, with her short brown hair combed to the side, she peers into the camera with her father's clear-eyed gaze. The affinity Flannery had for her father was more than skin-deep. Edward O'Connor adored his daughter and, according to Brad Gooch, his pride in her "could amount to infatuation." (Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor, p. 27). He participated in her world of childhood fantasy and would send her notes signed, "King of Siam." He enjoyed playing made-up games with little Flannery in which she she dubbed herself "Lord Flannery O'Connor." At the breakfast table, the elder O'Connor would sometimes find little poems or drawings from his daughter hiding under a plate or tucked in his napkin. He would then carefully put these little tokens of affection into his billfold and show them off to colleagues during the day. One cannot overstate the importance of Edward O'Connor in Flannery's life, and it is my hope that future biographers will amplify the relationship between Flannery and her father, whom she affectionately called "Ed."
- Mark

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

One of Flannery O'Connor's treasured friendships was with Louise Abbot, a housewife and aspiring writer who met O'Connor for the first time in the spring of 1957. Abbot, her lawyer-husband, and their small children lived in Louisville, Georgia, a small town just 60 miles outside of Milledgeville. O'Connor's and Abbot's friendship began when Abbot wrote a letter of introduction. Since she had already published a piece in Mademoiselle magazine, Abbot mulled over representing herself as a journalist in order to set up an initial meeting with the famous author. Fortunately, she decided not to follow through with this ruse and just be herself. Flannery wrote back that she would be delighted to meet Abbot, grateful that she did not pose as a journalist because, as Flannery confessed, she was "deathly afraid of the tribe." (The Habit of Being p. 205). And so on a wet Thursday afternoon in April, Louise Abbot drove up the long red clay driveway leading to Andalusia. Abbot was surprised to find Flannery standing on the porch dressed in blue jeans, an untucked plaid shirt, and loafers. Abbot was immediately struck by this down-home lack of pretension, not to mention O'Connor's "very expressive" blue eyes (Brad Gooch, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor, p. 291). Abbot also picked up on some tension between Flannery and her mother, but other than that, the two new friends enjoyed their time together chatting in the high-backed rocking chairs on the front porch. They talked about religion (Abbot came from a family of reformed Presbyterians and was surprised to learn O'Connor was Catholic), writing, and their common girlhoods in 1930s Savannah. As Abbot was getting ready to leave that day, Flannery invited her to "come back as often as you can." (Gooch, p. 292)

Louise Abbot is a lovely lady who still lives in Louisville, Georgia. She graciously allowed the young cinematographer, Rob Yates, to interview her earlier this spring. We are fortunate to have this fascinating footage on our website. To view the clip, follow this link http://andalusiafarm.org/news_events/abbot_video.html
- Mark

Pondering the Pond

For most of the past week temperatures in middle Georgia have been hovering in the triple digit range. On Wednesday, we tied a record for the day set in 1953 of 100 degrees. It's hard to imagine how people survived such heat in those days before air conditioning. Remarkably, there is no mention of the heat wave in O'Connor's letters from 1953 (though the entries from that year in The Habit of Being are relatively few). What I did come across that indirectly relates to all of this are two letters the author wrote to her friends Robert and Sally Fitzgerald where she talks about her mother's decision to construct a pond for the cattle, the one visitors to Andalusia see today. In the first letter (undated: Summer 1953, p. 59-60), Flannery mentions that her mother decided to build a pond for the "cows to lie down in and cool off in the summertime." She goes on to say that the government requirements are such that the pond "has to go down two feet straight to keep from breeding mosquitoes but she don't want it that way for fear the cows will break their legs getting in." It seems Regina O'Connor was quite a worrier. In the second letter (undated: 1953, p. 61) Flannery mentions that the the pond is finished, but her mother "says she's not going to have but four feet of water in it because if anybody drowns she wants to be able to go in and get them out without draining it. Practical."
- Mark

An American Patriot

With Memorial Day just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to say a few words today about Flannery O'Connor's father, Edward. Besides being the loving and devoted father of the author, O'Connor was an American patriot who served our country with distinction in France during the First World War. He was born in Savannah and educated at Benedictine College, a military prep school in the city. Following graduation from St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, he enlisted in the armed forces of the United States. Between May of 1916 and August, 1917, O'Connor served in the Georgia National Guard, patrolling the New Mexico border under the command of General John J. Pershing. Between April 1918 and May 1919, O'Connor was stationed overseas as a member of the 82nd Division of the American Expeditionary Force, the famed "All Americans" out of Camp Gordon, Georgia. For his valor in combat, Lieutenant Edward O'Connor was awarded a World War I Victory Medal and Victory Button. Following his stint in the service, O'Connor became highly involved in the American Legion, serving as commander of Chatham Post 36 and chairman of the Veterans Council of Administration. As Commander of the American Legion for the entire state of Georgia, Edward O'Connor traveled a great deal and made speeches, which made his daughter's heart swell with pride. The feeling was mutual. When O'Connor would go on speaking engagements, he carried in his billfold some of Flannery's early artistic creations, usually drawings of chickens, which he showed off to his colleagues in the American Legion. For more detailed biographical information on Edward O'Connor, check out Brad Gooch's biography, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor as well as Sarah Gordon's A Literary Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Georgia. Finally, please note that Andalusia will be closed on Monday, May 30th, for Memorial Day. Have a safe and restful holiday.
- Mark

PODS in Place

Since work will soon begin on the restoration of the Hill house, it is necessary for us to remove all the furnishings and store them on site temporarily during the construction phase of the project. Next Wednesday, a team from Allen Construction Co. will move the contents of the house into these PODS storage units that were delivered to the farm a few days ago. Architects from the firm of Lord, Aeck, and Sargent were also here this week to survey the house in preparation for the restoration work that will take place. If you are visiting the farm this summer, please be assured that visitor services will not be disrupted during construction.
- Mark