Read in the New Yorker an excerpt from religious journal f o'c kept in the 40s (?) when she was a grad student at Iowa and it's guaranteed to be unique among grad student journals not filled w poetic jottings and laments about lost loves and social snubs but is addressed to god each entry a small prayer. This oddness - a 20 something pursuing a career as a writer of serious fiction being so overtly devout - brings up an issue about O'Connor that I have raised in other posts - would we comment so assiduously on the religious themes in her work has we not known how important her church was to her life? I think not - I would not have thought had you given me her stories unsigned that the author of the artificial nigger and a good man is hard to find was a devout catholic. Rather she seems to be satirical about faith and even cynical about human behavior and fate. There is no obvious salvation or redemption in her work; the characters just seem to suffer - each in his or her uniquely grotesque way. No I would think of her as a cynic or an agnostic and was surprised years ago to learn more about her. Her religious journal of course is being published only Bcz of the success she earned as a writer. Lit fans prob won't find much revelation in it other than a hint that she did have some sexual drive - but the book has a chance to sell v well I think in the religious faith market.
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