1. Flannery O’Connor
“Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.”

2. Biography
In 1925, Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of a Catholic family.
O'Connor's father, Edward F. O'Connor, was a realtor owner. He worked later for a construction company and died in Her mother, Regina L. (Cline) O'Connor, came from a prominent family in the state.
When she was 12, her family moved to Milledgeville Ga.
Attended Georgia State College for Women, where she edited the college magazine and graduated in 1945 with an A.B. She received a master’s degree in 1947.
At 21 she published her first short story, 'The Geranium', in Accent.
In 1950 O'Connor suffered her first attack from disseminated lupus, a debilitating blood disease that had killed her father.
She returned to Milledgeville from New York, where she lived with her mother on her dairy farm. In spite of the illness, O'Connor continued to write and occasionally she lectured about creative writing in colleges. "I write every day for at least two hours," she said in an interview in 1952, "and I spend the rest of my time largely in the society of ducks."
From around 1955 O'Connor was forced to use crutches. An abdominal operation reactivated the lupus and O'Connor died on August 3, 1964, at the age of 39.
Held no job; lived solely on grants, fellowships and royalties from her writing. O’Connor had no known love affairs.

3. Major Themes in O’Connor’s Work
The decaying “Christ-haunted” South.
Racial relations
Religion, spirituality and redemption amid the alienation of post WWII America
Rural life
Guilt and sin
Good vs. Evil
Brutality

4. Major Works
Wise Blood (1952) A novel that examines the bizarre relationship between a licentious young girl, a conniving widow and a young man who deliberately blinds himself after failing to establish the 'Church of Truth Without Jesus Christ Crucified.'
The Violent Bear It Away (1960) A young boy is raised to be a prophet by his fanatical uncle, but the boy rejects his calling after the bizarre death of the controlling man. The boy goes to town where he flirts with humanistic rationalism under the guidance of his well-meaning guardian until a vision forces the boy to accept his calling at last.
A Good Man is Hard to Find (1960) A white southern family, led by their religious and supercilious matriarch, turns down a side road looking for an old southern mansion. They encounter an escaped convict who the matriarch preaches to about how hard it is to find a good man. The encounter leads to tragedy for all concerned.

5. Other Selected Works
Wise Blood, film 1979, dir. by John Huston, starring Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton. - "Odd story, not easy to like but with many impressive moments." (Halliwell's Film & Video Guide 2001, 2000)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find, and Other Stories, 1955 (published in England as The Artificial Nigger)
The Violent Bear It Away, 1960
A Memoir of Mary Ann (ed., published in England as Death of a Child)
Three by Flannery O'Connor, 1964
Everything That Rises Must Converge, 1965 (with an introduction by Robert Fitzgerald)
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose, 1969 (ed. by Sally Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzgerald)
The Complete Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor, the National Book Award
The Habit of Being: Letters, 1979 (ed. by Sally Fitzgerald)
The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews, 1983 (ed. by Carter W. Martin)
The Correspondence of Flannery O'Connor and the Brainars Cheneys, 1986 (edited by C. Ralph Stephens)
Collected Works, 1988 (ed. by Sally Fitzgerald)

6. Awards and Achievements
Kenyon Review fellowship in fiction, 1953
National Institute of Arts and Letters grant in literature, 1957
First Prize, O. Henry Memorial Awards "Greenleaf," "Everything That Rises Must Converge," "Revelation," 1965
Litt. D., St. Mary's College, 1962
Litt. D., Smith College, 1963
Henry H. Bellaman Foundation special award, 1964
National Book Award for The Complete Short Stories, 1972
Board Award, National Critics Circle; "Notable Book" citation, Library Journal; Bowdoin College Award; Christopher Award; all for The Habit of Being: Letters, 1980