Subject: RE: Famous Folks/Flannery O'Connor Salinger's Short Story equal?
From: Micaela (mbombard@middlebury.edu)
Date: Sun May 05 2002 - 18:55:00 EDT
Famous Folks/Flannery O'Connor Salinger's Short StoryHello Will,
Yes, I agree with you that there is a certain something about O'Connor and
Salinger, and I would even add Sherwood Anderson and perhaps even Raymond
Carver to this list. Does anyone else notice these vague connections? I
think there is a certain frankness about them all. I am currently studying
O'Connor and have finished reading a few of her essays that she wrote about
her own work. She says that the pivotal point in all of her stories is what
she terms the "moment of grace." She defines this moment as a shift in a
character's perspective that is unexpected yet inevitable (roughly defined).
For example, in "A Good Man is Hard to Find", she says that the moment of
grace is when the grandmother, who is only nominally religious but thinks
herself a holy roller, tells the Misfit "you are my son"...this is a moment
of a grace in light of her religious superficiality, but in a moment of
realization, she sees that all humans are connected. I guess what I'm
trying to say (rather inarticulately) is that all of these writers seem to
concentrate on moments of epiphany (like James Joyce, too). Yet some of
these epiphanies are much more subtle than others (again, like James Joyce
and Carver too, perhaps). Example: Everyone is Seymour's fat lady. The
fat lady is a kind of Jesus/religious figure. Alright, I'm digressing...
About the famous folks...very interesting. I never realized Doc Ruth was so
short. I wonder if she takes her own advice...how do you think her sex life
is? (Umm...you don't have to answer that)
It's nice to "meet" you, and thanks for the thought-provoking post...because
actually I've been thinking about this same connection for a few weeks.
-Micaela
[wishing i had famous names to drop]
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-bananafish@roughdraft.org
[mailto:owner-bananafish@roughdraft.org]On Behalf Of Will Hochman
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2002 6:08 PM
To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
Subject: Famous Folks/Flannery O'Connor Salinger's Short Story equal?
It's amazing what a tuxedo can do...last night, I was among two thousand
or so "folks" at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. I got
to talk briefly with Colin Powell, Ron Page, Al Gore's campaign manager( Ms
Brazil?) and a few other swells in the crowd. I met Ozzie Osborne and he
signed my invitation, and I got pictures of Walter Cronkite and Dr. Ruth who
actually gave my wife advice when she was getting fitted for her wedding
dress almost exactly 13 years ago. Dr. Ruth didn't remember my wife (and she
didn't remember the advice!) but Dr. Ruth still uses the same dress maker
(her hems must eternally be shortened...she's not an inch over four feet
tall but her smile illuminates like a tall lighthouse!).
This wonderful little train trip to Washington even included finding a
first edition of Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories which I think is
the only single author collection of short stories equal to Salinger's Nine.
I probably paid too much and had to plead "anniversary present" to my wife
to get it, but her stories really mean a great deal to me...I'm not exactly
sure how they connect with Salingers' stories and why I think both O'Connor
and JDS are the best masters of short story writing in their time...I'm
gonna work on that one... but for now the book goes in the same special book
cabinet with my best Salinger volumes. It's good to be home, will
--
Will Hochman
Associate Professor of English
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515
203 392 5024
http://www.southernct.edu/~hochman/willz.html
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