Leftovers

What you see in Tupperware containers at the right is what many of us will be having for dinner the next few days. I love leftovers, maybe even more than the Thanksgiving dinner itself. So today I thought I'd serve up some leftovers from a previous blog. A couple weeks ago I mentioned that during my two plus years working at Andalusia I've become more keenly aware of how death is the engine of life and that all of us - whether we care to admit it or not - are dependent upon the death of another creature for our existence. This pertains as much to the life of the spirit as to our physical lives. As Craig once told a group visiting the farm, in Flannery O'Connor's novels and stories there is no redemption without violence (think of the grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find or Ruby Turpin in Revelation). I would take that even further and assert that in O'Connor's fiction there is no life without death, even if it is a metaphoric dying to self and rising to new life. Again, think of Ruby Turpin or O.E. Parker in Parker's Back where, at the end of the story, the title character is splayed cruciform on a pecan tree. Now this blog is not the place for literary criticism or theological musings. My purpose here is simply to evoke a sense of life as it is presently being lived at Andalusia and as it was, as they say, "back in the day." However, as a Catholic thoroughly steeped in the Christian narrative and from what she observed almost daily on the farm, Flannery O'Connor had an acute awareness of the dependency of life upon death, and this is certainly reflected in her art.
- Mark

Gobblers' Grove

To get you in the spirit things, I thought I'd post a picture Craig took out here several years ago. Sights like this are not uncommon at Andalusia during the late fall. Turkeys must know that they are safe on our front lawn. If I were a turkey, this is where I'd want to be, too. Lots of acorns on the ground and not a hunter in sight. Whether you're having turkey or tofu, we wish you and those you love a fabulous Thanksgiving feast.
- Mark

Such Sights Colder

Just when I thought the fall couldn't get any prettier, my drive into work today from Macon was simply breathtaking. The burnished beauty of the Georgia woods in early-mid November is something to behold. Most people justifiably marvel at the beauty of springtime in the midstate, but I happen to think that fall is our prettiest time of the year. As I neared the farm with the sun shining off the hickories, maples, and tulip poplars, I thought of Gerard Manley Hopkins' elegiac poem, Spring and Fall. Hopkins, by the way, was one of Flannery's favorite poets, and she no doubt resonated with this verse as she looked out her bedroom window:

"Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

Alas, amidst the beauty that surrounds us here, life on this farm is a constant reminder of death. In the short time I've been at Andalusia I've become more keenly aware how death is the engine of life. All creatures, ourselves included, are dependent upon the death of another, for our survival (even if we're vegans). Last week, we lost one of our guineas to a hungry fox or a coyote. The night before last the same fate befell another hen. We are down to three birds now and are doing what we can to keep them safe. Admittedly, our options are limited.
- Mark

They're Back!

Redline Express, one of the hottest bluegrass bands in this area, will again be performing tomorrow at Andalusia from 5:00-8:00 p.m. Pack a picnic basket, bring a lawn chair, and come on out and enjoy some fantastic music. Don't want all the fuss? No problem. Hamburgers and hot dogs fresh off the grill will be available for a small charge. For those who want to soak up a little literary culture, the main house will be open and, prior to the concert, there will be a guided tour of the nature trail at 4:00 led by environmentalist Louis Kaduk. This is the seventh year we have hosted a bluegrass concert at Andalusia, and it remains one of our most popular fundraising events. If you are in the area - or even if you're not - I hope you'll think about coming out for a toe-tapping good time. At the same time you'll be supporting the restoration and preservation work we're doing here at the farm.
- Mark

Kindling Creativity

This morning we are hosting a group of middle school students enrolled in Georgia College's "Early College," a program designed by the university to serve at-risk children in Baldwin County. As I write, 51 youngsters have already toured the house and are now exploring the Andalusia property. They have been tasked by university student leaders with creative writing projects. One leader asked her students to write a short essay imagining what Andalusia will look like in 100 years. How will this place have changed if you were to visit the farm in 2111? It is a beautiful fall day, and the children seem excited to be here. After enjoying a snack on the grounds, they will soon be going back to Georgia College for lunch. This is the third year we have been involved with GCSU's "Early College," and we are happy to participate as it is entirely consistent with the foundation's mission of educational outreach. We hope that our "Early College" learners had a positive experience here and that they will be inspired to do more reading and writing.
- Mark

Guinea Gambol

As you can see in the picture to the right, our guinea fowl are getting used to their new environs at Andalusia. On Monday, we released the birds from their temporary pen. The first day they explored the farm, spending a good bit of the afternoon outside our office window munching berries. Later in the day we went outside to see what they were up to and were surprised to discover that they had wandered back into the pen on their own. We decided that maybe they were telling us something and that they needed to spend the night in the safety of the shelter. Tuesday morning we let them out again, and they have been outside the enclosure ever since. While they gobble up the cracked corn I strew on the ground, the guineas also enjoy foraging in the grass for insects and other tasty treats. So far, our little flock of five has stayed together, and this is reassuring to us as there is safety in numbers. Besides roaming around the perimeter of the main house, the birds have also checked out the the roof. They've flown up there only once that I am aware of, and it was a bit of an adventure for them. When they landed on the slanted metal roof they couldn't keep their footing and slid down it like it was a ski slope. Nevertheless, it was good to see them fly, for it gives us a tad more confidence that they will be able to evade potential predators. Hopefully, their gambol outside the pen this week will not prove to have been too much of a gamble on our part.
- Mark

Flannery in the White City

What a wonderful time we had at the Flannery O'Connor conference in Chicago last week! The conference at Loyola University featured some of the heavy-weights in Flannery O'Connor studies, and it was a pleasure to get to meet some of these scholars. The four days we were in Chicago were an absolute delight. The weather was sunny and warm, affording us the opportunity to take in Windy City sights such as the Art Institute, Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, and a good many other iconic buildings in this city renowned for its architecture. The site of the conference - Loyola University's Water Tower campus on Michigan Ave. (pictured to the left of the water tower) - provided magnificent vistas of the Chicago skyline. From our perch atop the 17th floor of Lewis Towers, we could see the John Hancock Building in the near distance as well as the other landmarks dotting the "Magnificent Mile." No trip to Chicago would be complete without sampling some of the city's gastronomic delicacies. We had some fabulous meals there, including a lunch of classic Chicago hot dogs on the last day. As much fun as all this was, the purpose of our being there was to promote Andalusia and further our understanding of the philosophical and theological influences in Flannery O'Connor's work. To that end, the Loyola conference was a success. While most of the presentations were first rate, the plenary address by Susan Srigley on Flannery O'Connor and Martin Buber was outstanding. What I enjoyed most, however, was meeting new friends who enthusiastically shared with us their love for Flannery O'Connor. Last and certainly not least, I would be remiss if I did not thank the Flannery O'Connor-Andalusia Foundation for making this trip possible.
- Mark

We Did It!

For the last month or so Craig and I have been keeping careful track of attendance figures, as it looked like there was a possibility we could set a record for 2011. And yesterday it happened when, for the first time in the foundation's history, we topped 5,000 visitors for a fiscal year! It is truly a remarkable feat when you consider the state of the nation's economy and the fact that this past summer - normally one of our busiest times - was the hottest in Georgia's history. Thanks to all of you, the more than 27,000 folks who have visited Andalusia since we opened to the public and who continue to support us in so many ways.
- Mark

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