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Revisions And Evasions: Flannery O'Connor, Southern Literary Culture, And The Problem Of Female Authorship, Katherine Hemple Prown

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A look at the early manuscripts of Flannery O'Connor's two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, reveals that she worked hard to remove any traces of feminine sensibility or perspective from her work, hoping to distinguish it as superior to the efforts of other southern "penwomen." Both novels underwent a long and difficult transformation from stories centered upon the exploits of a diverse group of characters to novels whose sole focus was on a few male protagonists. Eager to develop her art within a framework acceptable to southern New Critical authorities like John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, …