1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910970808903321

Autore

Sharp Jolly Kay <1954->

Titolo

"Between the house and the chicken yard" : the masks of Mary Flannery O'Connor / / Jolly Kay Sharp

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Macon, GA, : Mercer University Press, c2011

ISBN

0-88146-348-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

176 p

Disciplina

813/.54

Soggetti

Characters and characteristics in literature

Self-presentation in literature

Self-disclosure in literature

Self-perception in authors

Southern States In literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-170) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- O'Connor's early masks -- O'Connor's surly disposition : Enoch, Nelson, and Hulga -- O'Connor's intense vision : Hazel Motes -- O'Connor's prophetic voice : Old Tarwater and Rufus Johnson -- O'Connor's southern myth masks -- O'Connor's mentoring masks -- Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

Recognizing personal tendencies and developing literary talents enabled Mary Flannery O'Connor to don multiple masks, concealing or revealing segments of herself as she desired. With no memoirs or lengthy autobiographies, O'Connor's published works, letters, manuscripts, along with previously unpublished letters are examined to determine how O'Connor defined herself, not just how other scholars interpret her life and works. In fact, the plethora of criticism is in danger of obscuring the most important authority: O'Connor herself...Carl Jung claimed that adopted personas allow people ways to conform to society acceptably. While O'Connor's personal and social masks were affected by her Southern and Catholic roots, her vivid imagination and artistry fashioned her literary masks, allowing her to explore life's grotesqueness. Some of O'Connor's literary characters shelter self-defining features of her own personality and purpose. O'Connor's



masks serve as metaphorical embodiments of her veiled autobiography, illuminating key components of her sense of self and of her literary power. Sharp's exploration of these society-obligatory and self-imposed masks identify O'Connor's goals, struggles, and successes; her critical insight into her own literature; her reaction and responses to family, friends, and acquaintances; and, ultimately, her own success and growth.