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Acclaimed author and Catholic thinker Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) penned two novels, two collections of short stories, various essays, and numerous book reviews over the course of her life. Her work continues to fascinate, perplex, and inspire new generations of readers and poses important questions about human nature, ethics, social change, equality, and justice. Although political philosophy was not O'Connor's pursuit, her writings frequently address themes that are not only crucial to American life and culture, but also offer valuable insight into the interplay between fiction and politics. A Political Companion to Flannery O'Connor explores the author's fiction, prose, and correspondence to reveal her central ideas about political thought in America. The contributors address topics such as O'Connor's affinity with writers and philosophers including Eric Voegelin, Edith Stein, Russell Kirk, and the Agrarians; her attitudes toward the civil rights movement; and her thoughts on controversies over eugenics. Other essays in the volume focus on O'Connor's influences, the principles underlying her fiction, and the value of her work for understanding contemporary intellectual life and culture. Examining the political context of O'Connor's life and her responses to the critical events and controversies of her time, this collection offers meaningful interpretations of the political significance of this influential writer's work Introduction / Henry T. Edmondson III -- part I. O'Connor's Politics -- 1. Flannery O'Connor and the agrarians : authentic religion and Southern identity / John D. Sykes Jr. -- 2. "These Jesuits work fast" : O'Connor's elusive politics / Benjamin B. Alexander -- 3. Desegregation and the silent character in O'Connor's "Everything that rises must converge" / Michael L. Schroeder -- 4. The pivotal year, 1963 : Flannery O'Connor and the civil rights movement / Margaret Earley Whitt -- part II. Kindred spirits -- 5. Flannery O'Connor, Friedrich von H{uml}ugel, and "this modernist business" / George Piggford, C.S.C. -- 6. Flannery O'Connor, the left-wing mystic, and the German Jew : a reconsideration / Sarah Gordon -- 7. Sacramental suffering : the friendship of Flannery O'Connor and Elizabeth Hester / Ralph C. Wood -- 8. Flannery O'Connor as Baroque artist : theological and literary strategies / Mark Bosco, S.J. -- part III. O'Connor and modernity -- 9. O'Connor and the rhetoric of eugenics : misfits, the "unfit," and us / Farrell O'Gorman -- 10. "School for sanctity" : O'Connor, Illich, and the politics of benevolence / Gary M. Ciuba -- 11. "He thinks he's Jesus Christ!" : Flannery O'Connor, Russell Kirk, and the problem of misguided humanitarianism / Henry T. Edmondson III -- 12. Flannery O'Connor and political community in "the displaced person" / John Roos -- 13. Future Flannery, or, how a hillbilly Thomist can help us navigate the politics of personhood in the twenty-first century / Christina Bieber Lake -- IV. Beyond politics -- 14. In defense of being : Flannery O'Connor and the politics of art / John F. Desmond -- 15. Flannery O'Connor, Eric Voegelin, and the question that lies between them / Marion Montgomery
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