Buzz
Renowned for her mastery of violence, grotesque storytelling, and sharp irony, Flannery O’Connor stood out as one of the most influential Southern writers of the 20th century. Over her career, she released two novels and 32 short stories, often exploring themes of religion and Southern culture. Her contributions significantly reshaped the landscape of Southern literature.
BORN | DIED | NOTABLE WORKS |
|---|---|---|
March 25, 1925, Savannah, Georgia | August 3, 1964, Milledgeville, Georgia | Wise Blood (1952), “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (1953) |
A deeply introverted and eccentric figure, O’Connor impulsively purchased a family of peacocks and penned over 600 letters to her mother during her youth, occasionally mentioning her fondness for mayonnaise. However, her legacy is also marked by controversial racial views during the civil rights era. As the biopic Wildcat prepares to debut, here are key details about Flannery O’Connor’s life.
Before becoming a literary icon, Flannery O’Connor aspired to pursue a career as a professional cartoonist.
Before becoming a celebrated 20th-century author, Flannery O’Connor initially pursued a career in art. She created clever cartoons for her high school and college publications. Kelly Gerald, editor of Flannery O’Connor: The Cartoons, noted that O’Connor viewed art as a foundational tool for storytelling. In a conversation with Publisher’s Weekly, Gerald highlighted that O’Connor believed, “A story isn’t about telling the reader something. A story is about showing. To succeed, a fiction writer needed to master the skills of a graphic artist.”
According to Gerald, O’Connor’s enthusiasm for drawing was eventually “integrated” into her writing, though she continued to paint later in life.
She was remarkably reserved.
Paul Engle, who led the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop in 1945, remembered O’Connor as extremely shy, to the point where he had to read her work aloud during workshops. A classmate noted that she rarely shared her thoughts in discussions. Another writer once described her as “a quiet, puritanical convent girl from the rugged regions of Canada.”
O’Connor held racist views.
Exploring the personal lives of historical writers often reveals prejudices and narrow-mindedness, and O’Connor is no exception. Her letters to friends frequently included the n-word, and she expressed disdain at the thought of meeting James Baldwin in Georgia. In May 1964, she wrote to playwright Maryat Lee, stating, “You know, I’m an integrationist in principle but a segregationist by preference. I don’t like negroes. They all irritate me, and the more I see, the less I like them, especially the modern type.” In another letter, she added, “Regarding Negroes, the kind I dislike are the philosophical, preachy, pontificating types like James Baldwin. Very ignorant but never quiet. Baldwin can explain what it means to be a Negro in Harlem, but he insists on explaining everything else too. ... My question is usually whether this person would be tolerable if white. If Baldwin were white, no one would tolerate him for a moment.”
She had an intense passion for mayonnaise.
While living in Iowa City, O’Connor wrote daily letters to her mother, often expressing her longing for mayonnaise, which was nearly impossible to find near her school. As detailed in David A. Davis’s essay “A Good Mayonnaise is Hard to Find” in The Southern Quarterly [PDF], O’Connor “used mayonnaise as her go-to condiment for both sweet and savory dishes.” Eventually, her mother sent her a jar of the creamy, pale-yellow spread, though it wasn’t the homemade version O’Connor had hoped for—it was just a store-bought jar.
O’Connor outlived her doctors’ expectations.
After being diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus in 1949—the same illness that claimed her father’s life during her teenage years—O’Connor’s doctors predicted she had only five years to live. The disease caused chronic inflammation, forcing her to leave her friends from the Iowa workshop and return to her family’s home in Georgia to live with her mother. Despite her deteriorating health, O’Connor remained dedicated to her craft, completing two novels and 32 short stories while battling lupus. She defied expectations, living for 14 more years before passing away at age 39 on August 3, 1964.
She had a diverse collection of birds.
At just five years old, O’Connor had a pet chicken that she taught to walk backward. The chicken became so famous locally that it was featured in a Pathé newsreel, which also included a young O’Connor. As an adult, she cared for a variety of birds, including geese, turkeys, mallard ducks, Japanese bantams, hens, and pheasants. In her later years, she developed a particular fascination with peacocks: Estimates suggest she had over 100 peacocks at Andalusia, the Georgia estate she called home from 1951 until her death in 1964. She wrote two essays about her experiences and even mailed shed feathers to her closest friends.
O’Connor wrote over 100 book reviews.
Throughout her career, O’Connor remained a passionate reader. Despite the challenges posed by lupus, she continued to contribute reviews to Catholic diocesan newspapers like The Bulletin and The Southern Cross. Her incisive critiques covered not only novels but also the works of prominent theologians. David A. King argues that she wrote for The Bulletin audience to “cultivate not just their faith, but also their intellect, sense of beauty, and ability to defend their beliefs.” Her reviews were later compiled in the 1983 publication The Presence of Grace and Other Reviews, edited by Carter W. Martin.
She was the focus of a biopic directed by Ethan Hawke.
O’Connor was featured in the 2019 documentary Flannery, and in 2024, her life was adapted into a biopic titled Wildcat. The film, set to release in May, chronicles O’Connor’s journey to publish her novel while interweaving her stories into the narrative. Directed and co-written by Ethan Hawke, the project was initiated by his daughter Maya, who also plays a leading role.
Maya first encountered O’Connor’s writing in 10th grade and even performed a monologue from one of the author’s works for her Juilliard audition, which secured her admission. In a Variety interview, Maya and Ethan discussed whether they should proceed with the film, considering O’Connor’s racist views. They concluded that creating movies about flawed individuals who “are worth studying to understand the nation’s history,” as Maya put it, was important.
An incomplete Flannery O’Connor novel was published in 2024.
During her lifetime, O’Connor released numerous short stories and two novels, Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960). A third novel, Why Do the Heathen Rage?, remained unfinished at her death. Scholars initially deemed it unpublishable, with one describing it as “a chaotic mix of ideas, false starts, repeated scenes, unrelated imagery, and only one fully fleshed-out character.”
This changed when Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson took on the project. Wilson dedicated over a decade to organizing and analyzing O’Connor’s drafts, culminating in the 2024 publication of Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress. Wilson explained, “My version combines sentences and paragraphs from the drafts, making editorial decisions about what to include or omit, aiming to present the best of what was left incomplete.” Out of 378 manuscript pages, Wilson published around 60, highlighting the extensive editorial effort required, as noted by Christianity Today.
