"I write because writing is the thing I do best." -- Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O’Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, on March 25, 1925, the only child of Edward Flannery and Regina Cline O’Connor. Both her parents were Roman Catholics from active Catholic families, a religious heritage that had a deep effect on her thinking and writing. As a child, she attended parochial school and early developed an interest in domestic birds and poultry. In her later writings she recalled that, when she was five, a newsreel company came to film her pet bantam chicken, which could walk both forward and backward. Years later, in a high school home economics class, she responded to an assignment to make a child’s garment by creating a white piqué coat for a pet chicken. Also during her early years, O’Connor began to develop a talent for drawing and cartooning, an interest which remained with her through her life.
In 1938, her father was diagnosed as having disseminated lupus, a progressive disease in which the body forms antibodies to its own tissues. With that, the family moved from Savannah to Milledgeville, Georgia, where Regina O’Connor’s father had been mayor. Edward O’Connor died in February of 1941, and Flannery remained in Milledgeville for most of the rest of her life, with time away only during her brief period of healthy adulthood between 1945 and 1950.
In 1942, O’Connor entered Georgia State College for Women (now Women’s College of Georgia) in Milledgeville. She graduated with an A.B. degree in English and social sciences in 1945. During her college years, her interests were divided between fiction writing and cartooning. She did both, along with editing, for college publications. After her graduation, she decided to attend the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where she had been awarded a fellowship on the basis of some of her stories, which one of her teachers had submitted to the workshop. It was about this time that she began to drop “Mary” and to use “Flannery” alone as a writing name.
The Writers’ Workshop, founded by Paul Engle, was the most prestigious program of its kind when O’Connor was a student there, and she learned much from the experience. One biographer, Harold Fickett, records her willingness to accept criticism from the workshop and her willingness to rewrite work in accord with her teachers’ suggestions. This sort of docility probably did not come easily to O’Connor, who was a person of strong convictions and a willingness to stand up for them. During her time at Iowa, she began to publish stories; her first publication was “The Geranium” in Accent in 1946. That story was one of the six of her thesis collection for the M.F.A. degree, which she received in 1947. She stayed on at Iowa for an additional year, teaching and writing the beginnings of her first novel, Wise Blood (1952). Her start on that book earned her the Rinehart-Iowa Prize for a first novel.
O’Connor spent much of 1948 at Yaddo, an artists’ colony at Saratoga Springs, New York, where she continued to work on Wise Blood and where she formed some literary friendships, particularly with the poet Robert Lowell, who introduced her to editor Robert Giroux, who would later publish her work. Through him she made the lifelong friendship of poet and teacher Robert Fitzgerald and his wife, Sally. They, too, were Catholic, and when O’Connor decided to leave Yaddo, after a short stay in New York, she arranged to board with the Fitzgerald family at their home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. O’Connor found that a happy time during which, as Harold Fickett records, after Mass, she spent her mornings writing, her afternoons writing letters (including a daily letter to her mother), and her evenings with the Fitzgeralds.
At Christmas, 1950, on the train home to Milledgeville, O’Connor suffered her first attack of lupus. The drug ACTH finally brought the disease under control, but hers had been a serious attack, and her recovery was slow. She was very weak and debilitated for months. Her slow recovery led her to give up her plans to return to the North; for the rest of her life she lived with her mother on her dairy farm, Andalusia, near Milledgeville.
O’Connor’s relationship with her mother is reflected in many of her letters, which convey the pair’s deep affection and her mother’s selfless care-giving, as well as the inevitable stresses which accompanied their living together. For the most part, O’Connor’s references to those stresses are indirect and offered with ironic humor (sometimes in a mock-backwoods style) which suggests that even when O’Connor was irritated with her mother’s occasional insensitivity to her literary work, she was always certain of her mother’s devotion to her and always returned that love, while expressing it in her own style. She once gave her mother a donkey for Mother’s Day, saying it was the gift for a mother who had everything.
Through much of the rest of her life, O’Connor followed a standard routine of writing in the morning, riding into Milledgeville for lunch, reading, painting, and caring for her large flock of peafowl and other birds in the afternoons and evenings. After about 1955, she had to use aluminum crutches because the ACTH had weakened her bones so that they would not support her weight. Nevertheless, as her literary reputation increased, she accepted as many lecture invitations as she could. Some of her addresses have been published as Mystery and Manners (1969).
Only once did O’Connor travel abroad, in 1958, when her mother persuaded her to travel to Lourdes, France, in the hope of a miraculous cure for her lupus. The trip was an arduous one, and O’Connor undertook it mostly to please her mother. After the trip, she wrote to a friend, “Now for the rest of my life I can forget about going to Europe, having went.” Her mother’s dreamed-of cure did not occur.
During her years at Andalusia, O’Connor wrote and published a collection of short stories, A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955), and a second novel, The Violent Bear It Away (1960). At her death, she had just completed a second collection of stories, published posthumously as Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965). She also carried on a voluminous correspondence with other writers, publishers, friends, and readers, some of which is collected in The Habit of Being: Letters (1979), edited by her friend Sally Fitzgerald. O’Connor’s letters testify to her lively sense of humor (often self-deprecating) and to her interest in the opinions, reading habits, and spiritual states of the people she loved.
In 1964, O’Connor had surgery for the removal of a fibroid tumor. The surgery was successful, but it reactivated her lupus, and her condition deteriorated as she fought to finish her second collection of stories. She died in Milledgeville on August 3, 1964, at the age of thirty-nine.
CHRONOLOGY OF FLANNERY O’CONNOR
1925
Mary Flannery born March 25, 1925, to Edward Francis and Regina O’Connor in Savannah, Ga.
1937 - 1942
Attends Peabody Girls High School, Milledgeville, Ga. and earns a high school diploma.
1942 - 1945
Attends Georgia State College for Women (GSCW), Milledgeville, Ga.. and earns a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science. During this time, O’Connor serves as an art editor of the campus newspaper The Colonnade and editor of the literary magazine The Corinthian.
1945
Mary Flannery shortens her name to simply Flannery O’Connor.
1945 - 1947
Participates in the Writer’s Workshop of the University of Iowa, supervised by Professor Paul Engle. Graduates with a Master’s of Fine Arts. Through her studies here, O’Connor encounters the respective works of Joyce, Kafka, and Faulkner for the first time. During this time, O’Connor begins to work on her first novel, Wise Blood.
1946
First published work of O’Connor entitled, “The Geranium,” Accent, 6, Summer 1946.
1947
O’Connor is awarded the Rinehart-Iowa Fiction Award for the talent exhibited in her short stories, a few which would be used as chapters in her upcoming novel Wise Blood.
1947
O’Connor completes her Master’s Thesis, entitled The Geranium: A Collection of Short Stories. This collection includes the stories entitled “The Geranium,” “The Barber,” “Wildcat,” “The Crop,” “The Turkey,” “and “The Train.” Also during this time, O’Connor sells “The Turkey” to the magazine Mademoiselle (this story appears as “The Capture” in 1948) and “The Train” to Sewanee Review (this story appears in April 1948).
1948
O’Connor is invited to the small artist’s colony of “Yaddo” in Sarasota Springs, N.Y., where she moved and continued her work on Wise Blood. Another of O’Connor’s short stories, entitled “The Heart of the Park,” is featured by the Partisan Review in Frebruary 1949.
1949
March 1949, due to controversy in the Yaddo community, O’Connor moves to a New York City apartment, only to move shortly thereafter to Ridgefield, Conn., where she continues work upon Wise Blood.
1950
December 1950, O’Connor is diagnosed with disseminated lupus erythematosus, for which she receives intensive treatment from the Emory University Hospital of Atlanta.
1951
O’Connor is committed to the care of her mother the summer of this year because of her illness and subsequently moved to an estate north of Milledgeville named “Andalusia.” This would remain her home the rest of her life.
1952
O’Connor’s first novel, Wise Blood, is published by Harcourt, Brace & Company of New York. “Enoch and the Gorilla,” a chapter within Wise Blood, appears in anthology New World Writing April of this year. O’Connor also receives the Kenyon Review fellowship, funds which she uses to continue her writing career and medical treatment. Completes “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” and “The River.”
1953
O’Connor’s renowned short story, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” published in a collection entitled Prize Stories 1954: The O. Henry Awards.
1953
O’Connor’s renowned short story, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” published in a collection entitled Prize Stories 1954: The O. Henry Awards.
1954
Another short story of O’Connor’s, “A Circle in the Fire,” published in a collection entitled Prize Stories 1955: The O. Henry Awards. This was the second of O’Connor’s short stories published in this annual collection.
1954 - 1955
O’Connor reappointed the Kenyon Review fellow in January for her remarkable accomplishments in fictional literature.
1955
O'Connor’s collection of short stories, A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Other Stories is published by Harcourt, Brace & Company of New York, NY. This marks O’Connor’s first published short story collection and sells “unexpectedly well,” with some 4,000 copies sold in three printings by September 1955. O’Connor’s short story, “The Artificial Nigger,” is honored in a collection entitled The Best American Short Stories of 1956.
1956
O’Connor’s short story entitled “Greenleaf” is awarded the first prize story in Prize Stories 1957: The O. Henry Awards. This story is also honored in The Best American Short Stories of 1957. O’Connor also receives the Georgia Writers Association Literary Achievement Award. O’Connor completes the short story “A View of the Woods” and it is published by the Partisan Review in early September. A Good Man Is Hard To Find is published in paperback by New American Library.
1957
O’Connor’s short story “A View of the Woods” is honored in The Best American Short Stories of 1958. O’Connor receives the American Academy of Arts and Letters Grant of $1,000. Furthermore, O’Connor’s alma mater, the Georgia State College for Women, awards the author the Alumnae Achievement Award. O’Connor also begins working on a novel, tentatively entitling it The Violent Bear It Away. A film adaptation of O’Connor’s story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” starring Gene Kelly is released for television.
1958
Beginning in April, O’Connor commences a journey to Europe as part of the Lourdes Centennial Pilgrimage. This particular pilgrimage is destined for a religious site in Lourdes, a town in southern France, known as “Bernadette’s Spring” and renowned for its healing powers. O’Connor’s cousin Katie Semmes insists on paying for Flannery’s trip, which signifies the only trip to foreign lands attempted by the author. This trip includes a personal audience with Pope Pius XII in Rome. O’Connor returns May 9 from her travels, and promptly commences work on the first draft of The Violent Bear It Away.
1959
O’Connor rewrites and expands middle section of her second novel The Violent Bear It Away. Begins writing “The Azalea Festival” and finishes “The Comforts of Home. Flannery also receives an $8,000 grant from the Ford Foundation for her literary accomplishments
1960
O’Connor’s second novel, The Violent Bear It Away, is published by Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy on February 8 and receives mixed reviews. By September, this novel is also being published in England, indicating O’Connor’s bourgeoning success with British readers. She also begins a story entitled “Parker’s Back.” Also completes introduction to A Memoir of Mary Ann, which is an account of Atlanta area Dominican nuns and their memories of a young girl for whom the sisters had cared due to a debilitating facial tumor. For her literary excellence, O’Connor is awarded the Brenda Award from the Theta Sigma Phi organization.
1961
O’Connor continues to work on the story “The Lame Shall Enter First,” after criticism from a colleague, Caroline Gordon. A Memoir of Mary Ann is published by Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy on December 7. Throughout her success, O’Connor continues to suffer pain, specifically in her hip joints, that hinders the stubbornly active author.
1962
O’Connor’s short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” is honored in The Best American Short Stories of 1962. This same story is also awarded first prize in the O. Henry Awards the same year. O’Connor also receives the Georgia Writers Conference Literary Achievement Award. Flannery’s novel entitled Wise Blood was reissued by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy of New York, NY. Begins work on a new novel tentatively titled Why Do the Heathen Rage? O’Connor’s short story “The Lame Shall Enter First” is published in the Sewanee Review.
1963
O’Connor is awarded an honorary degree (Doctorate in Literature) by Smith College of Northampton, Massachusetts. New American Library combines O’Connor’s two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, as well as the collection A Good Man Is Hard To Find, into a single collection, entitling it Three by Flannery O’Connor. Flannery halts work upon Why Do the Heathen Rage? to better focus upon her short story “Revelation,” which she completes. O’Connor begins experiencing increasing pain and fatigue which is attributed to both her lupus and extreme anemia. Upon undergoing iron treatment, O’Connor’s joints show signs of improvement. However, shortly prior to Christmas Flannery collapses and spends over a week confined to her bed.
1964
“Revelation” appears in Sewanee Review during the spring. O’Connor is also honored with the Henry Bellaman Foundation Award. In early February, doctors inform O’Connor her anemia is caused by a fibroid tumor. Despite the high risk of reactivating her then dormant lupus, O’Connor accepts the decision to undergo surgery but insists the procedure be performed at Baldwin County Hospital in Milledgeville, Ga. Despite her condition, O’Connor continues to revise “Revelation,” hiding drafts under her pillow for fear of being denied the ability to modify them. After leaving the hospital, O’Connor grows weaker from post-surgery infections and re-activated lupus. Due to her illness, O’Connor is re-admitted to Baldwin County Hospital, where she remained until early April. In early May, O’Connor attempts to complete two unfinished stories: “Judgment Day” (which was a reworking of “The Geranium” and “An Exile in the East”) and “Parker’s Back” for inclusion in her new short story collection. Before being admitted to Piedmont Hospital of Atlanta, O’Connor chooses the title for her second short story collection, entitling it Everything That Rises Must Converge. Upon arrival in Atlanta, O’Connor’s health continues to decline, though in June she submits a draft of “Judgment Day” for revision and continues to work at her typewriter two hours a day. In early July O’Connor continues to revise both “Judgment Day” and “Parker’s Back” until exhaustion prevents her from continuing her work later the same month. Shortly thereafter, O’Connor learns her short story “Revelation” was awarded first prize in The O. Henry Awards. O’Connor is re-admitted to Baldwin County Hospital at the end of July, where she promptly falls into a coma by August 2. O’Connor passes due to kidney failure shortly after midnight August 3. She is buried beside her father in Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, Georgia on August 4.
1964
O’Connor passes due to kidney failure shortly after midnight August 3. She is buried beside her father in Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, Georgia on August 4.
1965
O’Connor’s second published short story collection, entitled Everything That Rises Must Converge, is released by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux in April. The O. Henry Awards officially awards the first prize story to O’Connor’s story “Revelation.”
1966
O’Connor receives the Best Fiction Book from the National Catholic Book Awards for Everything That Rises Must Converge. Cecil Dawkins releases The Displaced Person, a play adapted from five of O’Connor’s short stories. The play premieres in New York’s American Place Theater. This play would be produced again thirty years later by the Theatrical Outfit of Atlanta in 1998.
1969
O’Connor’s old friends, Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, compile and edit some of the author’s writings, entitling it Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose. This work is published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux of New York, NY.
1971
The Fitzgerald family and O’Connor’s editor, Robert Giroux, arrange for the publication of the expansive collection entitled The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, compiling all of O’Connor’s short stories into one expansive volume. O’Connor’s mother, Regina Cline O’Connor, donates O’Connor’s works and letters to Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga. which would later become the principal repository of her work.
1972
The Complete Stories is honored with the National Book Award for Fiction. Rosa Lee Watson and Mary Barbara Tate found The Flannery O’Connor Bulletin, an academic periodical dedicated to the preservation of O’Connor’s memory and the celebration of her works. Governor Jimmy Carter declares January 16 as Flannery O’Connor Day in Georgia.
1974
Georgia College (now known as Georgia College & State University) dedicates “The Flannery O’Connor Room” in its campus library. This exhibit is committed to the preservation of O’Connor’s legacy in literature and the arts and includes Victorian furniture from Andalusia. The first Flannery O’Connor symposium at Georgia College is held, entitled “Flannery O’Connor: A Celebration.” This takes place April 6-7 and includes addresses from literary scholars like Robert Drake and Frederick Asals.
1976
“The Displaced Person” is produced as a film adaptation for television. Directed by Horton Foote, this is included in the year’s American Short Story Series.
1977
Robert F. Golden and Mary C. Sullivan’s Flannery O’Connor and Caroline Gordon: A Reference Guide is released. This work describes books and articles about O’Connor’s life and writings. A second O’Connor symposium is held at Georgia College April 2 and 3. Entitled “The Fiction Writer and Her Country,” this event includes an address from O’Connor’s old friend Sally Fitzgerald. This symposium was dedicated to analyzing the relationship between O’Connor and her southern American surroundings and upbringing.
1979
Sally Fitzgerald again proves invaluable to the preservation of O’Connor’s memory, editing and publishing a collection of the author’s personal letters entitled The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor. O’Connor’s publishing firm, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux of New York, NY, releases this collection the same year. The Fitzgerald family also plays a dominant role in the production of the film Wise Blood, based on the O’Connor novel of the same name. This film was directed by John Huston, with screenplay by Benedict Fitzgerald and Michael Fitzgerald producing the work.
1980
The film Wise Blood is released by New Line Cinema.
1981
Flannery O’Connor: A Descriptive Bibliography by David Farmer and published by Garland cites and describes various editions and translations of O’Connor’s writings.
1983
The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews by Flannery O’Connor by Leo Zuber and edited by Carter W. Martin is published by the University of Georgia Press and is a compilation of O’Connor’s book reviews.
1984
The third Flannery O’Connor symposium at Georgia College, entitled “Of Time and Place and Eternity,” takes place April 14 and 15 in Milledgeville, Ga. Both Dr. Frederick Asals and Sally Fitzgerald return to deliver addresses regarding O’Connor’s various religious and cultural understandings.
1985
Flannery O’Connor’s Library: Resources of Being by Arthur F. Kinney is published by University of Georgia Press. This work contains a listing of the several hundred books in O’Connor’s personal library at Andalusia.
1986
The Correspondence of Flannery O’Connor and the Brainard Cheneys is edited by C. Ralph Stephens and published by the University Press of Mississippi. This collection contains the letters between O’Connor and the Brainard Cheney family.
1987
Conversations with Flannery O’Connor is compiled by Rosemary M. Magee and published by the University of Mississippi Press. This work contains a significant amount of O’Connor’s interviews.
1992
O’Connor is inducted as an inaugural honoree into Georgia Women of Achievement.
1994
Georgia College holds the fourth installment of their O’Connor symposium series, entitled “The Habit of Art: An Interdisciplinary Celebration of the Legacy of Flannery O’Connor” April 13-16. This marks the beginning of the “The Habit of Art” Annual Symposium Series at Georgia College.
1996
Brigham Young University honors O’Connor with a national conference, resulting in the publication of a collection of essays entitled Flannery O’Connor and the Christian Mystery.
2002
O’Connor inducted as a charter member of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. This year also marked the 75 the anniversary of O’Connor’s birth. Flannery O’Connor: In Celebration of Genius, edited by Sarah Gordon, is published by Gibbs Smith. This commemorative collection includes essays on O’Connor’s writings. Flannery O’Connor: The Obedient Imagination, written by Sarah Gordon, is published by the University of Georgia Press in Athens. Also, Flannery O’Connor: Hermit Novelist, written by Richard Gianonne, is published by the University of Illinois Press in Urbana.
2002
Flannery O’Connor: A Life, written by Jean W. Cash, is published by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Postmarked Milledgeville: A guide to Flannery O’Connor Correspondence in Libraries and Archives, written by R. Neil Scott and Valerie Nye, is published by Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga. This functions as a guide to O’Connor research materials throughout the United States.
2003
GCSU hosts a Flannery O’Connor symposium, entitled “FlanneryO’Connor: The Visionary and Vernacular.” Lasting October 8-11, this conference marks the first in Milledgeville wherein visitors were allowed to tour Andalusia.
2007
Emory University hosts a symposium entitled“The Prophet’s Country: a Celebration of the Life and Work of Flannery O’Connor.” This was open to the public and analyzed O’Connor’s letters with Elizabeth Hester.
2008
2008 April 2-5, GCSU hosts a symposium entitled “The Stories of Flannery and Faulkner: A Conference and Celebration.” This was a conference dedicated to the memories of both Faulkner and O’Connor. A Literary Guide to Flannery O’Connor’s Georgia, written by Sarah Gordon and photographs by Marcelina Martin, is published. This book is an examination of O’Connor’s Georgian surroundings and inspirations. Published by the UGA Press.
2009
The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross hosts an international symposium entitled “Reason, Fiction and Faith: An International Flannery O’Connor Conference,” in Rome, Italy. This particular conference examines the relationship between O’Connor’s writings and her faith Flannery: A Life of Flanner O’Connor, written by Brad Gooch, is published by Little, Brown and Co. of New York, NY.
1925
Mary Flannery born March 25, 1925, to Edward Francis and Regina O’Connor in Savannah, Ga.
1937 - 1942
Attends Peabody Girls High School, Milledgeville, Ga. and earns a high school diploma.
1942 - 1945
Attends Georgia State College for Women (GSCW), Milledgeville, Ga.. and earns a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science. During this time, O’Connor serves as an art editor of the campus newspaper The Colonnade and editor of the literary magazine The Corinthian.
1945
Mary Flannery shortens her name to simply Flannery O’Connor.
1945 - 1947
Participates in the Writer’s Workshop of the University of Iowa, supervised by Professor Paul Engle. Graduates with a Master’s of Fine Arts. Through her studies here, O’Connor encounters the respective works of Joyce, Kafka, and Faulkner for the first time. During this time, O’Connor begins to work on her first novel, Wise Blood.
1946
First published work of O’Connor entitled, “The Geranium,” Accent, 6, Summer 1946.
1947
O’Connor is awarded the Rinehart-Iowa Fiction Award for the talent exhibited in her short stories, a few which would be used as chapters in her upcoming novel Wise Blood.
1947
O’Connor completes her Master’s Thesis, entitled The Geranium: A Collection of Short Stories. This collection includes the stories entitled “The Geranium,” “The Barber,” “Wildcat,” “The Crop,” “The Turkey,” “and “The Train.” Also during this time, O’Connor sells “The Turkey” to the magazine Mademoiselle (this story appears as “The Capture” in 1948) and “The Train” to Sewanee Review (this story appears in April 1948).
1948
O’Connor is invited to the small artist’s colony of “Yaddo” in Sarasota Springs, N.Y., where she moved and continued her work on Wise Blood. Another of O’Connor’s short stories, entitled “The Heart of the Park,” is featured by the Partisan Review in Frebruary 1949.
1949
March 1949, due to controversy in the Yaddo community, O’Connor moves to a New York City apartment, only to move shortly thereafter to Ridgefield, Conn., where she continues work upon Wise Blood.
1950
December 1950, O’Connor is diagnosed with disseminated lupus erythematosus, for which she receives intensive treatment from the Emory University Hospital of Atlanta.
1951
O’Connor is committed to the care of her mother the summer of this year because of her illness and subsequently moved to an estate north of Milledgeville named “Andalusia.” This would remain her home the rest of her life.
1952
O’Connor’s first novel, Wise Blood, is published by Harcourt, Brace & Company of New York. “Enoch and the Gorilla,” a chapter within Wise Blood, appears in anthology New World Writing April of this year. O’Connor also receives the Kenyon Review fellowship, funds which she uses to continue her writing career and medical treatment. Completes “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” and “The River.”
1953
O’Connor’s renowned short story, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” published in a collection entitled Prize Stories 1954: The O. Henry Awards.
1953
O’Connor’s renowned short story, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” published in a collection entitled Prize Stories 1954: The O. Henry Awards.
1954
Another short story of O’Connor’s, “A Circle in the Fire,” published in a collection entitled Prize Stories 1955: The O. Henry Awards. This was the second of O’Connor’s short stories published in this annual collection.
1954 - 1955
O’Connor reappointed the Kenyon Review fellow in January for her remarkable accomplishments in fictional literature.
1955
O'Connor’s collection of short stories, A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Other Stories is published by Harcourt, Brace & Company of New York, NY. This marks O’Connor’s first published short story collection and sells “unexpectedly well,” with some 4,000 copies sold in three printings by September 1955. O’Connor’s short story, “The Artificial Nigger,” is honored in a collection entitled The Best American Short Stories of 1956.
1956
O’Connor’s short story entitled “Greenleaf” is awarded the first prize story in Prize Stories 1957: The O. Henry Awards. This story is also honored in The Best American Short Stories of 1957. O’Connor also receives the Georgia Writers Association Literary Achievement Award. O’Connor completes the short story “A View of the Woods” and it is published by the Partisan Review in early September. A Good Man Is Hard To Find is published in paperback by New American Library.
1957
O’Connor’s short story “A View of the Woods” is honored in The Best American Short Stories of 1958. O’Connor receives the American Academy of Arts and Letters Grant of $1,000. Furthermore, O’Connor’s alma mater, the Georgia State College for Women, awards the author the Alumnae Achievement Award. O’Connor also begins working on a novel, tentatively entitling it The Violent Bear It Away. A film adaptation of O’Connor’s story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” starring Gene Kelly is released for television.
1958
Beginning in April, O’Connor commences a journey to Europe as part of the Lourdes Centennial Pilgrimage. This particular pilgrimage is destined for a religious site in Lourdes, a town in southern France, known as “Bernadette’s Spring” and renowned for its healing powers. O’Connor’s cousin Katie Semmes insists on paying for Flannery’s trip, which signifies the only trip to foreign lands attempted by the author. This trip includes a personal audience with Pope Pius XII in Rome. O’Connor returns May 9 from her travels, and promptly commences work on the first draft of The Violent Bear It Away.
1959
O’Connor rewrites and expands middle section of her second novel The Violent Bear It Away. Begins writing “The Azalea Festival” and finishes “The Comforts of Home. Flannery also receives an $8,000 grant from the Ford Foundation for her literary accomplishments
1960
O’Connor’s second novel, The Violent Bear It Away, is published by Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy on February 8 and receives mixed reviews. By September, this novel is also being published in England, indicating O’Connor’s bourgeoning success with British readers. She also begins a story entitled “Parker’s Back.” Also completes introduction to A Memoir of Mary Ann, which is an account of Atlanta area Dominican nuns and their memories of a young girl for whom the sisters had cared due to a debilitating facial tumor. For her literary excellence, O’Connor is awarded the Brenda Award from the Theta Sigma Phi organization.
1961
O’Connor continues to work on the story “The Lame Shall Enter First,” after criticism from a colleague, Caroline Gordon. A Memoir of Mary Ann is published by Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy on December 7. Throughout her success, O’Connor continues to suffer pain, specifically in her hip joints, that hinders the stubbornly active author.
1962
O’Connor’s short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” is honored in The Best American Short Stories of 1962. This same story is also awarded first prize in the O. Henry Awards the same year. O’Connor also receives the Georgia Writers Conference Literary Achievement Award. Flannery’s novel entitled Wise Blood was reissued by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy of New York, NY. Begins work on a new novel tentatively titled Why Do the Heathen Rage? O’Connor’s short story “The Lame Shall Enter First” is published in the Sewanee Review.
1963
O’Connor is awarded an honorary degree (Doctorate in Literature) by Smith College of Northampton, Massachusetts. New American Library combines O’Connor’s two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, as well as the collection A Good Man Is Hard To Find, into a single collection, entitling it Three by Flannery O’Connor. Flannery halts work upon Why Do the Heathen Rage? to better focus upon her short story “Revelation,” which she completes. O’Connor begins experiencing increasing pain and fatigue which is attributed to both her lupus and extreme anemia. Upon undergoing iron treatment, O’Connor’s joints show signs of improvement. However, shortly prior to Christmas Flannery collapses and spends over a week confined to her bed.
1964
“Revelation” appears in Sewanee Review during the spring. O’Connor is also honored with the Henry Bellaman Foundation Award. In early February, doctors inform O’Connor her anemia is caused by a fibroid tumor. Despite the high risk of reactivating her then dormant lupus, O’Connor accepts the decision to undergo surgery but insists the procedure be performed at Baldwin County Hospital in Milledgeville, Ga. Despite her condition, O’Connor continues to revise “Revelation,” hiding drafts under her pillow for fear of being denied the ability to modify them. After leaving the hospital, O’Connor grows weaker from post-surgery infections and re-activated lupus. Due to her illness, O’Connor is re-admitted to Baldwin County Hospital, where she remained until early April. In early May, O’Connor attempts to complete two unfinished stories: “Judgment Day” (which was a reworking of “The Geranium” and “An Exile in the East”) and “Parker’s Back” for inclusion in her new short story collection. Before being admitted to Piedmont Hospital of Atlanta, O’Connor chooses the title for her second short story collection, entitling it Everything That Rises Must Converge. Upon arrival in Atlanta, O’Connor’s health continues to decline, though in June she submits a draft of “Judgment Day” for revision and continues to work at her typewriter two hours a day. In early July O’Connor continues to revise both “Judgment Day” and “Parker’s Back” until exhaustion prevents her from continuing her work later the same month. Shortly thereafter, O’Connor learns her short story “Revelation” was awarded first prize in The O. Henry Awards. O’Connor is re-admitted to Baldwin County Hospital at the end of July, where she promptly falls into a coma by August 2. O’Connor passes due to kidney failure shortly after midnight August 3. She is buried beside her father in Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, Georgia on August 4.
1964
O’Connor passes due to kidney failure shortly after midnight August 3. She is buried beside her father in Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, Georgia on August 4.
1965
O’Connor’s second published short story collection, entitled Everything That Rises Must Converge, is released by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux in April. The O. Henry Awards officially awards the first prize story to O’Connor’s story “Revelation.”
1966
O’Connor receives the Best Fiction Book from the National Catholic Book Awards for Everything That Rises Must Converge. Cecil Dawkins releases The Displaced Person, a play adapted from five of O’Connor’s short stories. The play premieres in New York’s American Place Theater. This play would be produced again thirty years later by the Theatrical Outfit of Atlanta in 1998.
1969
O’Connor’s old friends, Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, compile and edit some of the author’s writings, entitling it Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose. This work is published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux of New York, NY.
1971
The Fitzgerald family and O’Connor’s editor, Robert Giroux, arrange for the publication of the expansive collection entitled The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, compiling all of O’Connor’s short stories into one expansive volume. O’Connor’s mother, Regina Cline O’Connor, donates O’Connor’s works and letters to Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga. which would later become the principal repository of her work.
1972
The Complete Stories is honored with the National Book Award for Fiction. Rosa Lee Watson and Mary Barbara Tate found The Flannery O’Connor Bulletin, an academic periodical dedicated to the preservation of O’Connor’s memory and the celebration of her works. Governor Jimmy Carter declares January 16 as Flannery O’Connor Day in Georgia.
1974
Georgia College (now known as Georgia College & State University) dedicates “The Flannery O’Connor Room” in its campus library. This exhibit is committed to the preservation of O’Connor’s legacy in literature and the arts and includes Victorian furniture from Andalusia. The first Flannery O’Connor symposium at Georgia College is held, entitled “Flannery O’Connor: A Celebration.” This takes place April 6-7 and includes addresses from literary scholars like Robert Drake and Frederick Asals.
1976
“The Displaced Person” is produced as a film adaptation for television. Directed by Horton Foote, this is included in the year’s American Short Story Series.
1977
Robert F. Golden and Mary C. Sullivan’s Flannery O’Connor and Caroline Gordon: A Reference Guide is released. This work describes books and articles about O’Connor’s life and writings. A second O’Connor symposium is held at Georgia College April 2 and 3. Entitled “The Fiction Writer and Her Country,” this event includes an address from O’Connor’s old friend Sally Fitzgerald. This symposium was dedicated to analyzing the relationship between O’Connor and her southern American surroundings and upbringing.
1979
Sally Fitzgerald again proves invaluable to the preservation of O’Connor’s memory, editing and publishing a collection of the author’s personal letters entitled The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor. O’Connor’s publishing firm, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux of New York, NY, releases this collection the same year. The Fitzgerald family also plays a dominant role in the production of the film Wise Blood, based on the O’Connor novel of the same name. This film was directed by John Huston, with screenplay by Benedict Fitzgerald and Michael Fitzgerald producing the work.
1980
The film Wise Blood is released by New Line Cinema.
1981
Flannery O’Connor: A Descriptive Bibliography by David Farmer and published by Garland cites and describes various editions and translations of O’Connor’s writings.
1983
The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews by Flannery O’Connor by Leo Zuber and edited by Carter W. Martin is published by the University of Georgia Press and is a compilation of O’Connor’s book reviews.
1984
The third Flannery O’Connor symposium at Georgia College, entitled “Of Time and Place and Eternity,” takes place April 14 and 15 in Milledgeville, Ga. Both Dr. Frederick Asals and Sally Fitzgerald return to deliver addresses regarding O’Connor’s various religious and cultural understandings.
1985
Flannery O’Connor’s Library: Resources of Being by Arthur F. Kinney is published by University of Georgia Press. This work contains a listing of the several hundred books in O’Connor’s personal library at Andalusia.
1986
The Correspondence of Flannery O’Connor and the Brainard Cheneys is edited by C. Ralph Stephens and published by the University Press of Mississippi. This collection contains the letters between O’Connor and the Brainard Cheney family.
1987
Conversations with Flannery O’Connor is compiled by Rosemary M. Magee and published by the University of Mississippi Press. This work contains a significant amount of O’Connor’s interviews.
1992
O’Connor is inducted as an inaugural honoree into Georgia Women of Achievement.
1994
Georgia College holds the fourth installment of their O’Connor symposium series, entitled “The Habit of Art: An Interdisciplinary Celebration of the Legacy of Flannery O’Connor” April 13-16. This marks the beginning of the “The Habit of Art” Annual Symposium Series at Georgia College.
1996
Brigham Young University honors O’Connor with a national conference, resulting in the publication of a collection of essays entitled Flannery O’Connor and the Christian Mystery.
2002
O’Connor inducted as a charter member of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. This year also marked the 75 the anniversary of O’Connor’s birth. Flannery O’Connor: In Celebration of Genius, edited by Sarah Gordon, is published by Gibbs Smith. This commemorative collection includes essays on O’Connor’s writings. Flannery O’Connor: The Obedient Imagination, written by Sarah Gordon, is published by the University of Georgia Press in Athens. Also, Flannery O’Connor: Hermit Novelist, written by Richard Gianonne, is published by the University of Illinois Press in Urbana.
2002
Flannery O’Connor: A Life, written by Jean W. Cash, is published by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Postmarked Milledgeville: A guide to Flannery O’Connor Correspondence in Libraries and Archives, written by R. Neil Scott and Valerie Nye, is published by Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga. This functions as a guide to O’Connor research materials throughout the United States.
2003
GCSU hosts a Flannery O’Connor symposium, entitled “FlanneryO’Connor: The Visionary and Vernacular.” Lasting October 8-11, this conference marks the first in Milledgeville wherein visitors were allowed to tour Andalusia.
2007
Emory University hosts a symposium entitled“The Prophet’s Country: a Celebration of the Life and Work of Flannery O’Connor.” This was open to the public and analyzed O’Connor’s letters with Elizabeth Hester.
2008
2008 April 2-5, GCSU hosts a symposium entitled “The Stories of Flannery and Faulkner: A Conference and Celebration.” This was a conference dedicated to the memories of both Faulkner and O’Connor. A Literary Guide to Flannery O’Connor’s Georgia, written by Sarah Gordon and photographs by Marcelina Martin, is published. This book is an examination of O’Connor’s Georgian surroundings and inspirations. Published by the UGA Press.
2009
The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross hosts an international symposium entitled “Reason, Fiction and Faith: An International Flannery O’Connor Conference,” in Rome, Italy. This particular conference examines the relationship between O’Connor’s writings and her faith Flannery: A Life of Flanner O’Connor, written by Brad Gooch, is published by Little, Brown and Co. of New York, NY.