Wise Blood: A Novel
by Flannery O'Connor
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Book Summary Information
Author: Flannery O'ConnorEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1990-01-01
ISBN: 0374505845
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Book Reviews of Wise Blood: A Novel
Book Review: "I have now reached the lunatic fringe"
Summary: 4 Stars
In May 1952, after Flannery O'Connor published "Wise Blood" to mixed notices, she wrote to her publisher, Robert Giroux, and demonstrated her ability to take even the bad reviews with aplomb: "I have a request for a complimentary copy of 'Wise Blood' from Captain W. of the Salvation Army for their reading room and would be much obliged if you would send them a copy.... I'm always pleased to oblige the Salvation Army. According to some of the reviews you have sent me, I ought to be in it."
Throughout 1950s America--and especially in her hometown-the few readers who came across O'Connor's novel were dismayed or shocked by the its violence and its seemingly amoral characters; even two years after publication, still receiving fan letters ("what happened to the guy in the ape suit?") from the scattering of readers who liked it, O'Connor was able to joke, "I have now reached the lunatic fringe and there is no place left for me to go." A half century later, though, O'Connor has the last laugh, because the dark humor that pervades her "Southern Gothic" tale is more readily digested by modern audiences reared on films by the likes of David Lynch and Lars Von Trier
A quick and easy read, "Wise Blood" portrays a series of unforgettably creepy losers in haunting, disturbing scenes. Hazel Motes, a soldier discharged from the army because of an injury, becomes a street-corner preacher for the nihilistic "Church Without Christ" (with a congregation of one). He meets, and can't shake off, a friendless and troubled adolescent, and the two of them subsequently encounter an alcoholic charlatan who pretends to be a blind preacher and who hopes somehow to take advantage of Hazel by getting him to marry his young daughter. Eventually, Hazel acquires a congregant for his atheistic church, but the first disciple rebels and sets up his own ministry. There's so much more that happens, and I certainly won't give away the finale, but those who have already read the book will be intrigued by the knowledge that O'Connor decided how to end the novel after reading Sophocles.
There's no doubt that "Wise Blood" is an influential, memorable novel--just barely short of a classic. Even its fans agree that the book seems disjointed at times--and that's because it was cobbled together from several disparate stories. The first chapter is an expanded version of her Master's thesis, "The Train"; and other chapters are reworked versions of "The Peeler," "The Heart of the Park," and "Enoch and the Gorilla." Sometimes an author can use this approach and jerry-rig previous works into a cohesive whole, but "Wise Blood"--while surely a work of genius--still feels like a patchwork quilt. Fortunately, O'Connor's portrayal of the eccentrics who populate her fictional town of Taulkingham saves the book from the distraction of its all-too-visible seams.
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