A Guide Who Has At Heart Your Getting Lost

The title lines are from the poem "Directive" in which Frost's persona asks the reader to "Let a guide direct you/who only has at heart your getting lost." I think that is what Flannery O'Connor does in her stories--she allows characters to get so lost that they find God and themselves.

And many readers seem to enjoy or appreciate this technique as evidenced by some startling statistics from the new UT PRESS book entitled Flannery O'Connor in the Age of Terrorism:

"Flannery O'Connor now ranks as the seventh greatest twentieth-century American writer; fourth greatest twentieth-century writer in the United States; top American writer (after that other regional anchorite, Emily Dickinson); twelfth greatest American writer of all times; the eighth greatest writer of all time." (This from The Literary 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Novelists, Playwrights, and Poets of All Time. NY:Checkmark, 2001.)

Also, I forgot to mention in class that O'Connor did not know that Manley Pointer was going to steal Hulga's leg until about 8-12 lines before she wrote it. As a writer myself, I am always fascinated with how writers compose and where/how they get their ideas. I know that when I get an idea, it does feel like God breathing on me.

Last, here is another important comment that David Gayk made the other night after class:

"I was thinking about my (and maybe others) problem with Flannery O'Connor using figures like the Misfit and Manley Pointer as Christ figures - assuming they are such and I think the Flannery O'Connor's Catholic perspective makes all the difference in the world. It would seem to me that Catholics often look to see Jesus in all they meet, while Protestants seem to single out Jesus as a one of a kind and thus we have an unflawed, sinless man-God that could never take on such characteristics. By limiting ourselves (protestants) to that perspective we often fail to see the Christ in our fellow man, no matter how good or evil he or she might be. At least that helps me out."

More pictures of Flannery O'Connor's characters and ideas are available from Anita Horton's website: http://www.anitahorton.com/hulga.html.

Hope I didn't lose you too much in this post--it's a little disjointed. HAH.
Peace!