Abbess of Andalusia

Last updated on: September 4, 2010 at 7:04 am by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Abbess of Andalusia 2010-09-04T07:04:00-05:00 Fr. Dwight Longenecker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

‘Flannery O’Connor’s Spiritual Journey’ is the sub title of this excellent book by Lorraine V Murray. Murray is married to artist Jeff Murray who contributes to Joseph Pearce’s StAR Magazine–St Austin Review. I met Lorraine and Jeff at Joseph’s house for dinner a year or so ago, and we were discussing this book, so it is a joy to see it in print. St Benedict Press have done a great job on the design and layout of the book. St Benedict Press is a new publishing house just up the road in Charlotte NC. The whole production is a happy fruit of what might be called the New Southern Catholicism. Lorraine is a convert who lives in Georgia, St Benedict Press is part of the dynamic Catholic life in and around Charlotte which includes Belmont Abbey College, St Matthew’s Parish, the Catholic Company, Camps Kahdalea and Chosatonga–and all this just up the road from Greenville where Steve Wood lives and runs his Family Life Ministries, where Joseph Pearce lives nine months of the year, artist and illustrator Chris Pelicano lives here, mosaicist and iconographer Ruth Ballard lives here, and it is also the home of St Joseph’s Catholic School. Georgia and the Carolinas are a a good place to be Catholic. Y’all come!

Anyway, this post was meant to be a book review, not a plug for Catholic Carolinas. Lorraine has taken a radical step for a literary biography and charted Flannery O’Connor’s life from the perspective of her spiritual pilgrimage rather than a simple chronological plan. What emerges is a life that is truly monastic in it’s discipline. O’Connor goes out into the wide world from her Georgia farm to study at college and live in New York, then when she falls ill with lupus she retires back to the farm to live with her mother. There she writes every day for two hours. She occupies a simply furnished room (you can visit the farm as it was when she lived there in Milledgeville) Her stories and novels are produced in a painstaking manner–written and re-written and revised and edited and re-written again.

Murray shows how, at the same time, O’Connor takes time to write to friends about the faith. It comes as no surprise that O’Connor understands her Catholic faith thoroughly and steers her friends through choppy waters with a sure wisdom and confident advice. Through her letters and comments we discover a strong willed, intelligent, witty and eccentric woman. She likes birds, especially peacocks and she never flinches from her vision of God’s grace channeled through the grotesque and alarming characters of the deep South. O’Connor doesn’t mind poking fun at pompous priests, sentimental Catholic devotions, shallow hypocrisy and silly respectability. At the same time she exhibits a deep faith and genuine affection and respect for the nuns from the nearby convent and the monks at nearby Conyers. Lorraine Murray has given us a portrait of the artist which is realistic, solid, objective. We have an honest discussion of her private life without going into sordid speculations and faux Freudian wisdom. Like all good biographers, Murray does not impose her own views and personality. She quietly paints a portrait which reveals the artist, then she herself steps back.

Lorraine is also the author of ‘Confessions of an Ex-Feminist’. That she should produce a biography of one of America’s most important modern female authors is perfect. Without preaching a sermon about it, Lorraine shows Flannery to be a sort of answer to the strident, insecure and angry feminist who is trying so hard to accomplish something and usually only succeeds in stomping around in a huff. Flannery gets on with the job. She works quietly and confidently. She cuts down foolishness with her mixture of wit and intelligence. She understands faith, human nature and most of all herself. Like most accomplished women, she doesn’t really have time for feminism and doesn’t need it. In doing this, she shows us the true strengths of women–not by being somebody else, but by being most fully herself.

Lorraine Murray has produced an important book on O’Connor. I would have wished, perhaps for more discussion of her spirituality through the actual writings. Where Murray does bring in the characters and story lines her insights are brilliant. Perhaps that is what we’ll get in Volume II.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 3, 2010

Newman and the Conversion of England

Next Post

September 5, 2010 Hate Your Mother

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anglican Matters Apologetics Architecture Blobble Study Book Reviews Brideshead Caitlin O'Rourke Catholic Art Catholic Culture Church Politics Chust for Nice Contemporary Culture Duane Mandible Ed Blanch Film Reviews Fr Harvey Nicolaitan Frank Viola Mantilla the Hon More Christianity Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady Mystery of the Magi Norman Anderson Queen Hillary Saints and Supernatural Spirituality The Inklings The Vicar Theology Todd Unctuous Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz