Flannery O'Connor and Truth

[readingthedark]

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."

"The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode."

"Faith is what someone knows to be true, whether they believe it or not."

Flannery O'Connor

Comments

[readingthedark]

Well, I didn't, directly, state that any of my confusion was actually linked to trying to reconcile the quotes (because I just live in delirium, the years of typing and sleep deprivation taking their toll) but you're accurate that I was implying it. To me, much of O'Connor's writing and thoughts on writing come from a strange place that's far removed from anything I do. I adore and venerate her work, but I'm not sure I could've vibed with her as a person. I think I'm soft and sentimental when compared to her, perhaps to such a degree that she would've seen me as the type of character she punished. Moreover, I'm the product of a woman who abandoned her Southern roots and a Maine yankee. That alone would've been hard for Flannery to reconcile. Throw in that I'm easily considered godless and she might've even whupped me.

Don't get me wrong, I've met several of my favorite writers and not clicked. I'm not one who feels like I'm inherently in tune with a writer just because I adore their fiction--but I can tell that the distinction between O'Connor's brilliant process and my febrile scrawlings involves how she defined truth in a way that I find subjective. Then again, the story goes that she liked Coca-Cola but that it didn't have enough caffeine so she spiked it with strong coffee. She sounds so like my kind of person on that particular detail.

Maybe we would've gotten blitzed on espresso and just stared at the peacocks...