Mystery and manners
First published 1969 · English · 237 pages
- Novels
- Essays and criticism
This collection gathers O'Connor's occasional prose, edited by her friends Sally and Robert Fitzgerald after her death. It contains lectures, essays and talks she gave on writing, fiction and faith. She discusses the craft of the short story, the place of the Southern writer, and the problems of writing about belief for a modern, often sceptical audience.
She also explains her use of grotesque characters and why she believed that fiction should rest on concrete detail and manners. Clear, witty and direct, the pieces are an excellent guide to her own stories and a thoughtful introduction to how a serious writer thinks about her work.
Quotes
There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored. ("Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction")
The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location. ("The Regional Writer")
I feel that discussing story-writing in terms of plot, character, and theme is like trying to describe the expression on a face by saying where the eyes, nose, and mouth are. ("Writing Short Stories")
...to know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against Truth, and not the other way around. The first product of self-knowledge is humility, and this is not a virtue conspicuous in any national character. ("The Fiction Writer & His Country")