Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)

Mary Flannery O’Connor (March 25 1925 – August 3 1964) was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O’Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a Southern Gothic style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters. O’Connor’s writing also reflected her own Roman Catholic faith, and frequently examined questions of morality and ethics. From 1956 through 1964, O’Connor wrote more than one hundred book reviews for two Catholic diocesan newspapers in Georgia: The Bulletin, and The Southern Cross. According to fellow reviewer Joe Zuber, the wide range of books O’Connor chose to review demonstrate that she was profoundly intellectual. Her reviews consistently confront theological and ethical themes in books written by the most serious and demanding theologians of her time. Professor of English, Carter Martin, an authority on O’Connor’s writings, notes simply that her “book reviews are at one with her religious life” as a Roman Catholic.

(Adapted from Wikipedia)