Flannery (59 page)

239
“most agreeable”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, [n.d.] August 1953,
HB,
62.

239
“we liked to read”: Cash,
Flannery O’Connor,
212.

239
“I asked the steward”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, [n.d.] August 1953,
HB,
62.

239
“the D.P”: FOC to Brainard and Frances Cheney, June 8, 1954,
CC,
17.

239
“They had what were called”: Al Matysiak, in discussion with the author, July 27, 2004.

240
“The boys in white”: “Sacred Heart School News,”
Union-Recorder,
November 5, 1953.

240
“In the American and British”: “DP’s,”
Life,
July 30, 1945, 13.

240
“subversives”:
Permitting Admission of 400 Displaced Persons into the United States. Hearings Before Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization on the Judiciary. HR 2910,
80th Congress, 1st sess., Washington, DC, 1947, 405–6.

240
“It is our Christian”: Ibid., 190–91.

240
“Displaced Family”: Polly Brennan, “Displaced Family Arrives on Farm from Poland,”
Union-Recorder,
July 21, 1949.

241
“who has no teeth”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, [n.d.,] “Thursday,”
CW,
894.

241
“Miss O’Connor could not believe”: Al Matysiak, in discussion with the author, July 27, 2004.

241
“They need much less”: Rudolf Heberle and Dudley S. Hall,
New Americans: A Study of Displaced Persons in Louisiana and Mississippi
(Baton Rouge: Displaced Persons Commission, 1951), 3–4.

241
“If I talked with her”: Alfred Matysiak, in discussion with the author, July 27, 2004.

242
“We did speak about faith”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Erik Langkjaer.

243
“long-legged”: FOC, “The Displaced Person,”
Sewanee Review
62, no. 4 (October–December 1954): 634.

243
“perfectly round”: Ibid., 637.

243
“The two colored people”: FOC to Betty Hester, May 19, 1956,
HB,
159.

243
“endlessly”: Alice Walker, “Beyond the Peacock: The Reconstruction of Flannery O’Connor,”
In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens
(New York: Harcourt, 1983), 42.

243
“Her mother was probably”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Erik Langkjaer.

244
“I remember standing”: Kitty Martin, in discussion with the author, January 30, 2005.

244
“What to Do”: The information on the
March of Time
newsreels is taken from Leonard M. Olschner, “Annotations on History and Society in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘The Displaced Person,’”
Flannery O’Connor Bulletin
16 (1987): 63–64.

244
“suspicion”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, [n.d.] “Wednesday,”
CW,
895.

245
“following my nose”: FOC to Cecil Dawkins, October 27, 1957,
CW,
1046.

245
“O Raphael”: FOC to Janet McKane, July 14, 1964,
HB,
592.

245
“He leads you”: FOC to Janet McKane, July 1, 1964,
CW,
1214.

245
“The prayer had some imagery”: FOC to Betty Hester, January 17, 1956,
CW,
983–84.

245
“frightened by the grey”: FOC, “The Displaced Person,” 654.

245
“The Displaced Person” was published in
Sewanee Review
62, October 1954, and was the final story in
A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

246
“novella”: FOC to Caroline Gordon, November 14, 1954,
CW,
926.

246
“The Atlantic”: FOC to Brainard and Frances Neel Cheney, April 11, 1954,
CC,
15.

246
“self-portrait with a pheasant”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, [n.d.] “Friday,”
HB,
61.

246
“He has horns”: FOC to Janet McKane, June 19, 1963,
CW,
1187.

246
“stunned”: Louise Abbot, e-mail to author, June 11, 2007.

246
“I praised it”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Erik Langkjaer.

247
“her kinsman”: FOC to Betty Hester, June 15, 1957,
HB,
226.

247
“She loved to talk about”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Erik Langkjaer.

247
“rather careful in her movements”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Ashley Brown.

247
“She was using a stick”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Erik Langkjaer.

247
“I am doing very well”: FOC to Caroline Gordon, November 14, 1954,
CW,
926.

248
“A Circle in the Fire” was published in
Kenyon Review
16, Spring 1954; was reprinted in
Prize Stories 1955: The O. Henry Awards,
edited by Paul Engle and Hansford Martin, and in
The Best American Short Stories 1955,
edited by Martha Foley; and was the seventh story in
A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

248
“Baby Born”:
Atlanta Journal,
November 14, 1952.

248
“He remarked that in these stories”: FOC to Betty Hester, November 25, 1955,
CW,
971–72.

249
“passion”: Ibid., December 8, 1955,
CW,
973.

249
“Baldwin Faces Forest”:
Union-Recorder,
September 27, 1951.

249
“The reformatory”: FOC to Maryat Lee, July 5, 1959,
HB,
339.

249
18.23:
Statistical Abstract of the United States
1952 (Washington, DC, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1953), 142.

249
“A Temple of the Holy Ghost” was published in
Harper’s Bazaar
88, May 1954; and was the fifth story in
A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

249
“dislike intensely”: FOC to Janet McKane, November 28, 1963,
CW,
1195.

250
“I did read enough”: Virginia Spencer Carr,
The Lonely Hunter
(Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2003): 433.

250
“a memorable addition”: Carmel Snow, “The Editor’s Guest Book,”
Harper’s Bazaar
88 (May 1954): 54.

250
“The weekend I planned”: FOC to Brainard and Frances Neel Cheney, June 8, 1954,
CC,
16.

250
“certainly distressed”: Ibid., May 20, 1954.

251
“barring mortal”: FOC to Frances Neel Cheney, [n.d.] “1945, Sunday,”
CC,
17.

251
“We drove through the countryside”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Erik Langkjaer.

252
“I haven’t seen any dirt roads”: FOC to Erik Langkjaer, June 13, 1954, private collection.

252
“Thank you”: Ibid., July 18, 1954.

253
“researches into the ways”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, December 20, 1952,
CW,
905.

253
“Well you go”: “An Interview with Flannery O’Connor and Robert Penn Warren:
Vagabond
/ 23 April 1959,”
Con,
20–21.

253
“nigger statuary”: FOC to Betty Hester, September 6, 1955,
CW,
954.

253
“I hate to insult”: Sally Fitzgerald, “Letters to the Editor,”
Flannery O’Connor Bulletin
23 (1994–95): 180.

253
“the redemptive quality”: FOC to Ben Griffith, May 4, 1955,
CW,
931.

253
“the story as a whole”: Sally Fitzgerald, “Letters to the Editor,” 181.

254
“Mr. Ransom took”: FOC to Caroline Gordon, November 14, 1954,
CW,
926.

254
“to gain some altitude”: FOC to Ben Griffith, May 4, 1955,
CW,
931.

254
“In those last two paragraphs”: Ibid.

254
“my favorite and probably the best”: FOC to Maryat Lee, March 10, 1957,
CW,
1027.

254
“Without yr kind permission”: FOC to Sally Fitzgerald, December 26, 1954,
CW,
927.

254
“in about four days”: FOC to Betty Hester, June 1, 1956,
HB,
160.

254
“less conscious technical”: FOC to Betty Hester, August 24, 1956,
CW,
1000.

255
“Before I realized it”: FOC, “Writing Short Stories,”
MM,
100.

255
“the Om. Nar.”: Caroline Gordon to FOC, February 19, 1955, GCSU.

255
“It is without exception”: Allen Tate to FOC, February 22, 1955, GCSU.

256
“lady Ph.D.”: FOC, “Writing Short Stories,”
MM,
98.

256
“Write me an unintelligible”: FOC to Erik Langkjaer, January 9, 1955, private collection.

256
“Do you think Erik”: FOC to Erik Langkjaer, April 1, 1955, private collection.

257
“Yes, she did”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Sally Fitzgerald.

257
“We are glad that you plan”: FOC to Erik Langkjaer, May 3, 1955,
CW,
936.

257
“Good Country People”: The story was published in
Harper’s Bazaar
in June 1955, and was included as the ninth story in
A Good Man Is Hard to Find.
The editor Robert Henderson at
The New Yorker
rejected “Good Country People” on April 6, 1955, claiming in a letter to Elizabeth McKee, “It’s an interesting story with a great many good things in it, but I’m afraid we’re not quite persuaded by the tour-de-force ending.”
The New Yorker
(editor C. M Newman) had previously rejected an O’Connor story titled “Running,” on February 28, 1952; “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” (editor Henderson) on April 30, 1952; and “The River” (editor Newman) on Decem-ber 22, 1952.

257
“very hot story”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, April 1, 1955,
HB,
76.

257
“in some sort of disguise”: Christopher O’Hare interview with Erik Langkjaer.

257
“Dear boy”: FOC to Erik Langkjaer, April 29, 1956, private collection.

258
“bezerk”: FOC to Erik Langkjaer, February 26, 1958, private collection.

258
“Eric”: FOC to Roslyn Barnes, June 29, 1962,
HB,
482.

258
“I just by the grace”: FOC to Caroline Gordon and Allen Tate, March 1, 1955, GCSU.

258
“a wooden part”: FOC, “Writing Short Stories,”
MM,
99; Sally Fitzgerald in an interview with Christopher O’Hare remarked that “I feel that it was a story about losing a kind of emotional woodenness that Flannery had developed, a protective woodenness.”

CHAPTER EIGHT: FREAKS AND FOLKS

259
“I will be real glad”: FOC to Robie Macauley, May 18, 1955,
CW,
934.

260
“
Galley Proof
is an attempt”: Harvey Breit, “Galley Proof:
A Good Man Is Hard to Find,
” in
Con,
5–6.

260
“I don’t know what she”: FOC to Fred Darsey, May 25, 1955, Emory.

260
“Well I thought”: Breit “Galley Proof,”
Con,
6.

260
“quietly”: Harvey Breit, “In and Out of Books,”
New York Times Book Review
(June 12, 1955): 8.

260
“I don’t see much of it”: Breit, “Galley Proof,” 6.

260
“When you’re a Southerner”: Ibid., 8.

261
“very tired”: FOC to Fred Darsey, June 8, 1955, Emory.

261
“nursemaid”: Ibid., May 25, 1955.

261
“did all the work”: FOC to Catharine Carver, April 2, 1955,
HB,
76.

261
“The atmosphere at Harcourt Brace”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, June 10, 1955,
CW,
940.

262
“I like it fine”: FOC to Catharine Carver, May 8, 1955,
HB,
79.

262
“I think it will do justice”: FOC to Robert Giroux, January 22, 1955,
HB,
75.

262
“I had interviews”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, June 10, 1955,
CW,
940.

262
“melodramatic”: Rebekah Poller, memoir, GCSU.

262
“I thought I could do”: FOC to Elizabeth McKee, June 29, 1955,
HB,
88.

263
“When you have a friend”: FOC to Fred Darsey, April 11, 1955, Emory.

263
“I just love to sit”: Ibid., May 25, 1955.

263
“There was a lot of his stuff”: FOC to Betty Hester, March 29, 1956,
CW,
990.

263
“Dear old Van Wyke”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, June 10, 1955,
CW,
940.

263
“It was interesting to see the guffaws”: Caroline Gordon to Frances Cheney, [n.d.]. Quoted in Ann Waldron,
Close Connections: Caroline Gordon and the Southern Renaissance
(New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1987), 322.

264
“a horror story”: FOC to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, June 10, 1955,
CW,
940.

264
“alien to the American”: Caroline Gordon to Andrew and Eleanor Lytle, June 15, 1955. Quoted in Waldron,
Close Connections,
322.