Wise blood
by Flannery O'Connor · first published 1952
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Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel, is a classic of twentieth-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his inborn, desperate fate. He falls under the spell of a "blind" street preacher named Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter, Sabbath Lily. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawks, Motes founds the Church Without Christ, but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God. He meets Enoch Emery, a young man with "
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…remember well the acute pain of not knowing how to read and the relief when my mother taught me. I was five, and I just haven't stopped reading since. I'll be 38 in a couple of months. I'm reading Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor, because O'Connor is wicked and funny. Favorite book? As others have pointed out, this is a ridiculous question -- my favorite kind! Some books I love: Lolita, As I Lay Dying,…
on “Do you read?” ↗You know, this whole idea of applying what you read to your own life, even if it's good literature is really funny. I've been rereading a lot of southern gothic lit, and thinking about applying Wise Blood or Confederacy of Dunces to guide my life actually seems kind of hilarious (even though O'Connor especially has some interesting commentary packed in her works).
on “Letting go of the idea of keeping up” ↗