"I have come to think that the true likeness of Flannery O'Connor will be painted by herself, a self-portrait in words, to be found in her letters . . . There she stands, a phoenix risen from her own words: calm, slow, funny, courteous, both modest and very sure of herself, intense, sharply penetrating, devout but never pietistic, downright, occasionally fierce, and honest in a way that restores honor to the word."—Sally Fitzgerald, from the Introduction
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Special Award
Table of Contents
Introduction by Sally Fitzgerald
Part I: Up North and Getting Home
1948-1952
Part II: Day In and Day Out
1953-1958
Part III: "The Violent Bear It Away"
1959-1963
Part IV: The Last Year
1964
Index
Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1925. When she died at the age of thirty-nine, America lost one of its most gifted writers at the height of her powers. Her work was infused with her Catholic faith - a thread whcih ran through all her novels, essays and letters.