The Fiction of Truth: Intergenerational Conflict in the Life and Works of Flannery O\u27Connor

Aside from the fact that most of Flannery O\u27Connor\u27s works are set in the South where she lived nearly her entire life, her idiosyncratic characters and the consistently horrifying fates that they meet could not seem further removed from the widely accepted image of the author herself.l This image, instigated by her loved ones and perpetuated by critics, is of a witty, intelligent, and above all else devout Catholic who was stoic in the face of a crippling disease that cut her life short. Despite the limits placed upon her by illness. O\u27Connor is described as having been socially receptive while living a fairly retired life with her beloved mother, Regina Cline O\u27Connor, on their dairy farm where she raised scores of peacocks and other fowl as a hobby. The main determinant of O\u27Connor\u27s literary personality and the most influential force affecting her writing has almost universally been acknowledged to be her staunch Catholicism. Much criticism of O\u27Connor\u27s work reinforces this notion to such a degree that one might infer any study not dealing with O\u27Connor\u27s Christian perspective to be inherently lacking