Flannery O Connor Grotesque Fiction Analysis

A novelist with the power to connect a point “in the concrete” and another point “not visible to the naked eye, but believed in by him firmly, just as real to him, really, as the one that everybody sees” is an author of grotesque fiction. Flannery O’Connor, a Southern devout Catholic writer, who struggles with the stigma of being apart of “The School of Southern Degeneracy,” and feels “judged by the fidelity [her] fiction has to typical Southern life,” and in the same breath takes pride in her identity. Writes in her piece “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction,” about the perspective of the grotesque writer in relation to the modern “tired” reader who “demand[s] a literature … which will heal the ravages of our time.” O’Connor is troubled by the expectations that …show more content…
O’Connor goes into detail about the different approaches novelists have, describing one as being concerned with sociology and the other with the absurdity of existence. The grotesque author who writes about a mystery writes about one he hasn’t solved before beginning to write. He won't attempt to deliver the obvious or ordinary, but rather distort a fact we think is “concrete” and relate it to a truth he believes in, delivering a different reality. What is produced is a kind of grotesque that makes the audience theorize why the author has chosen to create these characters and whether or not they are a reflection of reality. Another point I missed, is how the modern reader attempts to understand and interpret grotesque characters in a way that involves “sentiment” or empathy. Commenting on the grotesque writer's compassion, which implies their characters “carry an invisible burden; their fanaticism is a reproach not