Research and Critical Approaches

After reading "The Enduring Chill," I was pretty disgusted/intrigued by the relationship between Asbury and his sister and also their relationship with their mother. Then, the more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized that there are some strange (maybe that's too strong of a word) family relationships in these texts. I am trying to remain flexible with my paper topic, but I think the topic that I am most interested in is how families are represented and familial relations in O'Connor and Porter's works, so I have started researching families in their works. This is a brief overview of what I have thought about/done so far.

The stories I would like to especially look at with regards to the topic of families are "Revelation," "Good Country People," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," "The Enduring Chill," "The Geranium/Judgment Day," and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. I think there are more interesting families in O'Connor's works, but there are also some stories with families in Katherine Anne Porter's stories that would be good to use to like "Old Mortality," "Holiday," and "He." I may need to narrow this list down a little.

I think the best critical approach to family representation/relations would be to use a new critical or objective stance. A structuralist reading may also be helpful for parts of the paper as well. I generally do not like to use psychoanalysis, but it may be applicable here. Also, possibly new historicism and deconstruction.

I think I could tie this idea of family into other areas as well (let me pull out my Venn diagram here), such as religion, geography, time period and/or gender (I just want to do it all). I see overlaps with these categories because I am starting to think about why O'Connor and Porter portray their characters (especially the "children") the way they do. I would like to look into how religion, geography, time period and gender influence the constructs of family in their stories.

I have not looked through the letters too much to know what they wrote on the subject of family.

As soon as I can get to the Norlin library Monday morning, I am also going to check out some books that I found that contain essays that sound like they may help me as I form ideas about family (don't worry, I won't wipe out the library, and if I do, I'll share). One book is Beyond and Alone!, focusing on the section about family and isolation. Another one is From Texas to the world and back : essays on the journeys of Katherine Anne Porter, I would be focusing on the essay titled, "Katherine Anne Porter and the family saga." Another book is called God's Grandeur and I would be focusing on an article titled "Flannery O'Connor and a Catholic theology of the family." I think these books might possibly help other people, so I'll share! :)

I may be revising this post by Monday as I find more...

KAP p282

I can't really seem to avoid talking about how KAP's tone depends on what gender she is addressing. This letter, to Barbara Wescott starts by stating, "Barbara darling." In comparison to the letter she writes to the male gender, her letters to women are very feminine. Moreover, KAP tends to boast about her success and she name drops frequently in her letters to women.

KAP p394

In the last KAP letter that I posted about, KAP is writing to a woman named Josephine. In that letter, she is "whiny" etc. We discussed this "whiny" tone in PHPR and again in the letter to Josephine. We have mentioned several times that KAP writes more like a woman whereas Flannery O'Connor writes more like a man. I found this letter to William Ross very interesting in that KAP, while still writing like a woman, works very hard to make her point of view sound intelligent. Her writing style between the letter she wrote to Josephine and William definitely contrast one another. Interesting.

KAP letter p530

This letter describes Katherine's perfectionist way of writing and her opinion of editors. Should we all aim to write like KAP faulted by the "desire, the pride of excellence?" I think it would be worth discussing her stories within that lens, within that mindset she believes in.

Letters Day 3

I'd like to discuss O'Connor's letter to John Hawkes, beginning on page 1106-1108. She discusses The Violent Bear it Away, and who she feels the readers should identify with, and who she identifies with in the story. I'd like to hear what the rest of the class felt when they read the story, specifically if they agree with O'Connor and her thoughts on identity.

To sister Mariella Gable

O'connor's letter to Sister Mariella Gable on page 1182 discusses her catholic beliefs, as well as her feelings towards protestants and the protestant characters she writes. In particular she talks about The Violent Bear it Away and the Tarwaters. Interesting stuff

Letters 3

The letter to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald that begins on p 911 has an interesting, ambiguous insight into "The River".

To Maryant Lee

I am interested in talking about the letters to Maryant Lee on pages 1208-1209. Mainly, because I'm confused. I can't remember if we brought anything up in the last class about these, but it's worth looking at.

History

For today's class, I would like to discuss O'Connor's essay, "Fiction is a Subject with a History--It Should be Taught That Way." I found this essay very interesting.

I was initially drawn in thinking that it would be about censorship and banned books, but was intrigued by O'Connor's thoughts on the "taste" of young students. As she concludes: "His taste should not be consulted; it is being formed."

She brings up a great point by comparing English to other courses, like Algebra and French. But even she admits that studying fiction is different from these, depending on "their teacher's knowledge, ability and taste."

I think most people would agree that it is worthwhile to study literature from the past--even if sometimes it feels like pulling teeth. For example, reading O'Connor's stories and essays has been fascinating to me in terms of the America she was writing about then and its evolution into the America we know now. (I'm reminded of reading Camus' "The Rebel," in which he is describing the growing tension between Arab culture and Western culture some fifty years or so ago.)

Ultimately, my preference is for modern fiction, but I can't disagree with O'Connor's about the importance of "preparing foundations" and learning from the past to understand the present.

One thought, though. I wonder if the evolution of fiction is more cyclical than linear. She seems to suggest it is a linear progression. I'm not so sure of that.

O'Connor - Fiction is a Subject with a History

This article (pgs. 849-852) is of interest as it sheds light on her views on education, something we have not really gone much into. She tends to be supporting the study of literature for its historical value, but as long as students begin at the earliest times continuing to more modern literature. This is the only way that one can appreciate and fully "get" modern novels, by understanding what came before. In this, is O'Connor favoring strictly a historicism type of literary criticism? Any ideas?

O'Connor Letter to Louise Abbot

In this letter, O'Connor talks about what she calls "local institutions", or retirement homes for the elderly in her area. This letter reminded me a lot of the institutions for the mentally retarded that we had discussed earlier. It provides insight into the time period and how little communities cared about those who were mentally disabled or old. It is on page 1091.

Letter Day 3

The letter from O'Connor to A. in the Collected Works book on page 978 caught my eye, because O'Connor briefly discusses Freud and she also writes about "the dragon by the side of the road," which we have also talked about in class. She also writes about femininity and religion in this letter.

Letter to Andrew Lytle

In Porter's Letters, the letter to Andrew Lytle on pg 340 caught my attention, this letter hits on many topics we have been discussing in class and bring them out in one of Lytle's books. Porter critics Lytle on his writing style and the themes he chooses to present within his book. Porter goes over her belief in religion, gender, and writer/artist. This letter is also very interesting because like we discussed Porter usually has a method when writing to her critics, but in this letter she is pretty straight forward about how she feels about Lytle's writing.

Why Porter Writes Letters

After skimming through the book of Porter’s letters I came across a very short letter written to James Powers on page 557. In this letter she tells Mr. Powers that she is keeping all of his letters and hopes that he will do that same because future generations will enjoy reading them. She tells him that reading private letters between people who are “safely dead of course” is her favorite type of reading (Porter 557). Even though Porter is “safely dead” she is still very much alive; she lives through these letters. Since letters are personal and private they illustrate Porter’s character and personality that cannot be determined when reading one of her short stories. These letters allow us access to the real Katherine Anne Porter.

E. Schwartz Letter

Porter’s letter to E. Schwartz on page 547 is an interesting insight into her views on gender. She is insulted by Schwartz’s claim that Miranda saw her illness as “her opportunity to assume the active role of the male” and she responds to his interpretation by attacking his assumption that all women desire to assume this masculine identity. What was really incredible to me though was the way that she subtly suggests that the “role of the male” is not as much a desirable role as it is a pitiable existence. The long sentence in the long paragraph on page 548 that ends, “O poor man, I for one woman, would not change places with him, nor swap my troubles for his,” reverses his ridiculous assumption that any person would swap their gender role because of the few problems inherent to both gender identities. Porter seems to be saying that no man wants to be a woman and no woman wants to be a man because it is a struggle to finds one’s proper place within these identities.

To Josephine

I thought that this letter related to a previous post that discussed Porter's more feminine writing style, specifically in Pale Horse, Pale Rider. In this letter, we see the same "whiny" narrative tones that we see in PHPR. In this letter, Porter relates how miserable she is at her new home stay because it is inadequately furnished etc. After she is fed a "hot, delicious" meal, Porter begins to like her new place of residence. After returning from shopping and purchasing a new pair of shoes, she finds that her room has been attended to and is now "well-furnished." Consequently, Porter likes her new place of residence. While O'Connor writes more like a man, which is demonstrated (as Austin mentions) in O'Connor's letter to Porter where O'Connor talks primarily about birds, Porter seems to have been co-opted into the societal structure of patriarchy and thus, adheres to a common, feminine role.
P.S. This letter is on pages 143-146.

Thomas Stritch

The letter that I'm interested in talking about today is the one to Stritch, on page 1168-1169. Went talked a little bit about the artist and insecurities and this letter talks about her insecurities with Emory.

Letter to E. Schwartz on dark woods and Freud

This letter (March 26, 1958 on p, 547) by Porter provides her idea of Miranda's vision of Adam's death in the dark woods. It also takes on Freud in a most interesting way, not to mention her take on men for those of you looking at gender in her writing.

Letters Day 2

I agree with Jennifer in her interests in Porter's letter on page 66. I like how Porter relates art to something necessary. She says, "Man eats his bread and looks about for something more, and the something more must be art (should be)" (pg. 66.). I'd be interested to see Porter's take on the idea of the aestheticization of violence and politics. In my English3060 class we have come across an immense amount of aestheticization of violence, which brings the two ideas (art and violence) together, rather than battling each other. In this letter, Porter discusses the idea of politics destroying art...I like how she expresses the idea that art will always be valued, whereas the current ideas in politics, will one day be old news.

ABCDEFG

The letter to elizabeth ames (from Porter) on July 1, 1942 is interesting when considered next to Pale Horse, as she is writing at a time when US troops are mobilizing for a war effort, much like 1917. In it, she talks about what happens to youth in war time, as well as just general emotions sparked by the thought of death and waste. Plus, she wrote it from CU boulder, so that's neat. (pgs 241-242)