Flannery O'Connor's Why Do the Heathen Rage?: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress

by Jessica Hooten Wilson, Steve Prince (Illustrator)

When celebrated American novelist and short story writer Flannery O'Connor died at the age of 39 in 1964, she left behind an unfinished third novel titled Why Do the Heathen Rage? Scholarly experts uncovered and studied the material, deeming it unpublishable. It stayed that way for 40 years.

Until now.

For the past 10-plus years, award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson has explored the 378 pages of typed and handwritten material of the novel--transcribing pages, organizing them into scenes, and compiling everything to provide a glimpse into what O'Connor might have planned to publish.

This book is the result of Hooten Wilson's work. In it, she introduces O'Connor's novel to the public for the first time and imagines themes and directions O'Connor's work might have taken. Including illustrations and an afterword from noted artist Steve Prince (One Fish Studio), the book unveils scenes that are both funny and thought-provoking, ultimately revealing that we have much to learn from what O'Connor left behind.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Literature, Writing

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 23, 2024

About the author

Jessica Hooten Wilson (PhD, Baylor University) is the inaugural Visiting Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She previously taught at the University of Dallas. She is the author or editor of eight books, including Reading for the Love of God, The Scandal of Holiness (winner of a Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit), and Giving the Devil His Due: Demonic Authority in the Fiction of Flannery O'Connor and Fyodor Dostoevsky (winner of a 2018 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award). Wilson speaks around the world on topics as varied as Russian novelists, Catholic thinkers, and Christian ways of reading.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

O’Connor has always been one of my favorite writers ever since being assigned a few of her stories in high school - it was one of my first exposures to dark twists and not-so-happy endings, and the way she writes about Southern culture is fascinating and she has a way of fleshing out characters in 20-page stories in a way many full novels can’t.

Wilson’s book is really more of a biography/analysis of O’Connor, spliced with bits of her final unfinished novel. after reading this, objectively there really wasn’t a lot to work with, as the novel was pretty much left in unfinished fragments that mostly lay out different scenes that would potentially have been brought together, but in its current form mostly jumps around in vignettes. a very cool look into one of my favorite writer’s final works, but I have to admit I was hoping there would be a bit more to the actual story as opposed to Wilson’s commentary making up the chunk of the book

[Michele Morin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t encounter Flannery O’Connor’s work until my first college English class. Her hair-raising short stories pulled me into a 1980s version of the “internet wormhole”—I checked out everything by her or about her that I could find in the library. Somehow, though, I was unaware that when O’Connor died in 1964 at age 39, she left behind an unfinished third novel.

Jessica Hooten Wilson set for herself the substantial task of telling the story of that unfinished manuscript. This included putting the fragments of the story into the historical and literary context of Flannery O’Connor’s time and then connecting the dots to her other published works. In Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? Hooten Wilson stitches together the numerous drafts, serving the work and the worker with skill and respect.

There’s something incredibly metaphorical about an unfinished work written by a woman whose life was cut short, who was herself a work-in-progress with many unfinished thoughts about topics that are front and center in 2024. O’Connor was a product of her time and an heir to the legacy of Southern segregation.

Her journaled prayer, “Please help me to get down under things and find where you are,” reveals a heart that was willing to tackle the big questions. In this behind-the-scenes look at her unfinished manuscript with characters left dangling and a plot left unresolved, we’re given the opportunity to wonder about our own short-sightedness and the reality of our limited, time-bound vision.

Many thanks to Brazos Press and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last work of O’Connor’s I read was Wise Blood many years ago and having completed it and returned it to its place on my shelves, I had a real sense of grief as I realised there was no more of her work to explore for the first time. Until now.

This text is a real gift for any fan of Flannery. Hooten does an incredible job discussing O’Connor’s unfinished novel, Why Do the Heathen Rage?, focusing on both the historical moment in which it was written and O’Connor’s own personal context. Hooten provides excerpts of O’Connor’s unfinished novel, introducing each with what was happening in both O’Connor’s world and the world at large. The research here is thorough, the writing is strong, and Hooten’s handling of the religious and racial complexities of O’Connor’s work is both thoughtful and professional.

Overall, this is an insightful and interesting read. If you’re a fan of Flannery O’Connor don’t miss this.

Thank you to both @netgally and Baker Academic & Brazos Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure how to rate this book. I have complicated feelings about reading an author’s unfinished work, but love Flannery. I respect Wilson’s work, but also found her fairly heavy handed and not as nuanced as I expected with her opinions in this work. I think I would only recommend this to scholars or Flannery super fans.

[Aimée Henley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading an unpublished manuscript by Flannery O’Connor felt like a pretty huge moment in literary history. Flannery O’Connor is my favorite writer (tied with Sigrid Undset) and I couldn’t wait for this book to arrive. I also love everything I have read by Jessica Hooten Wilson, so this was a fun pairing for me. I don’t really know how to rate this book. Because the O’Connor manuscript is incomplete and I also wasn’t crazy about Wilson’s attempt at an ending, I’d give this book 4 stars. However, for the sheer delight of reading something new by Flannery and Jessica Hooten Wilson’s commentary, I’d give this book 5 stars.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit that I was suspicious of the project, but I found the book compelling, fascinating, and just really enjoyable.

[Emma McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved getting to read the alleged continuation of “The Enduring Chill” as well as dive into the debate of Flannery O’Connor and racism.

[kerrycat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm here for O'Connor, not any presumption as to her mind or extrapolations as to how she might have revised or completed her work. I admit to skipping over the commentary and ramblings and just enjoyed some new to us O'Connor.

and I felt guilty as hell the entire time, because I can't imagine any writer approving of someone sharing her unfinished work after her death.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: The text of O’Connor’s unfinished work with commentary on her literary process and the tensions she wrestled with in writing.

Flannery O’Connor died in 1964 from lupus at the young age of 39. Despite her illness she penned a number of short stories and two novels. She also wrote numerous letters, essays, and reviews. She was working on a third novel at the time of her death, a fact known mostly among O’Connor scholars. But none dared put the fragments of this novel into print until now. Jessica Hooten Wilson describes how she was a fan of O’Connor since her teen years. During her doctoral research on O’Connor and Dostoevsky, a friend encouraged her to look at the unpublished novel as the most Dostoevskian of O’Connor’s works. This began research that culminated in this work.

In this work, Wilson has arranged the fragments of the novel into something of a coherent narrative. Between fragments she offers her commentary on the work, O’Connor’s process, and the literary influences on the text, and her struggle to complete it. Portions of the novel are introduced by woodcut illustrations by Steve Prince of One Fish Studios. He provides an afterword describing his work with the O’Connor text.

The principle characters of the story are Walter Grandstaff Tilman, a scholar who spends his days writing letters to all and sundry between bouts of illness (shades of O’Connor’s own life?). His father, T.C. Tilman, is nominal head of the family but has suffered a stroke, and is tended by Roosevelt. His mother keeps up the slowly fading farm, directing the efforts of the farm help. She is frustrated but has come to accept Walter’s lack of interest in the farm.

Oona Gibbs is the one other character who plays a significant part. She is a civil rights activist. She lives with a domineering mother and one gets the sense that her correspondence and activism is part of her liberation. Walter begins corresponding with her. He tells her about his life but portrays himself as lack. Too late he realizes the consequence of his deception. Her interest awakened, she wants to visit. To avert the visit, he writes asking her not to come, trying to end the relationship. Too late. She is on her way.

Wilson takes liberty with what O’Connor wrote in the final part, fashioning a crisis and conclusion of sorts from a cross-burning scene on a neighbor’s farm. Wilson borrows scenes from other stories and acknowledges this as presumptuous. To me, it seemed an effort to offer some kind of closure to what was plainly unfinished and unsatisfying. While it would have busied up the text, I wish she would have annotated this chapter: what was from Why Do the Heathen Rage, what came from other works, and what was Wilson.

Wilson interleaves commentary with the fragments of O’Connor’s work. She traces the different iterations of the story, including the name changes Asbury/Walter and his different backstories. Speaking of backstories, Wilson introduces us to the friendship of O’Connor with Maryat Lee, a New York playwright. Lee, a polar opposite to O’Connor, is the likely inspiration for Oona Gibbs, with shades of Ivan Karamazov.

Wilson’s commentary also explores O’Connor’s wrestling with race. She contends that this, as much as illness, helps account for O’Connor’s inability, despite three years of work, to fashion and finish a coherent novel. She notes the plot elements of Roosevelt, Walter’s conflicted choice to write as a Black, and Oona’s activism, as well as the closing scene as part of O’Connor’s struggle. Wilson discusses O’Connor’s segregated life, her blind spots of experience, and a bifurcated spirituality that relegated civil rights to an “earthly and political position.” Yet she sees the novel as an attempt to address the racism of the South.

For Wilson, the unfinished novel represents the unfinished racial awakening in O’Connor’s life. But how ought we evaluate this unfinished story? On one hand, O’Connor fans will revel in new material to read. On the other hand, despite Wilson’s efforts, O’Connor’s text is fragmentary and lacks cohesion. Given all this, the book is one for O’Connor scholars and devotees. For me, as one who has read O’Connor on and off since college, it added to my appreciation of this complicated Southern Catholic writer. And I grieved afresh that she died so young.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program for review.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flannery O'Connor's Why Do the Heathen Rage?: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress, by Jessica Hooten Wilson, is a fascinating look at this unfinished work through the lens of what was going on both in the world at large and in O'Connor's life at the time.

I saw a phrase in some marketing material that really sums up what the book is very well: a nonfiction narrative of O'Connor's unfinished novel. I like this description a lot. Between the scenes and segments of what would have been the novel we get a running account of what was happening, or had happened in the past, that could have been a source or an inspiration or both. The segments from O'Connor more than likely would have gone through many additional rewrites and edits, but that doesn't matter within the context of this book. O'Connor didn't live long enough to make those changes, what we have is what she had put down by her death, and the commentary by Hooten Wilson covers what had happened until that point.

I have two main takeaways from the book, or maybe one takeaway and one desire. Anyway, the big thing, in addition to gaining a better insight into a great writer's process and life, is that we see O'Connor grappling not simply with writing a story she would be willing to share but also grappling with her own demons. The biggest one that has gotten a lot of attention in recent years has to do with whether or not she was a racist, as if there can be a simple answer to that question about anyone raised in the United States. Even the least racist among us (I am of the belief that there isn't, presently, such a thing as a completely non-racist person) has to be aware of the subtle things that don't seem racist from one perspective but certainly does from another. Making adjustments to ourselves, becoming better people, is a process, and that includes issues of race. Did O'Connor have internal struggles with what she believed to be right versus how she lived in the south of her time? Did she choose to use her writing to both wrestle with it and help others see that how we were (and unfortunately still are) as a society is not simply wrong but foolish? These kinds of questions are explored in looking at the characters in not only this novel but her previous work as well. And, of course, her interactions, in person and through correspondence, with other people. Most of us will find some comments offensive, and I think the later O'Connor found some of her younger ideas to be offensive as well, or at least acknowledged their wrongness.

My other takeaway/desire is more about what the book did than about O'Connor specifically. I would enjoy books that did similar work on completed novels. That looked at various drafts, what specifically was going on and give some inkling into what the writer was working through, both literarily and personally. I know that is part of what we do when we teach texts from the past, but we tend to use broad strokes designed more to contextualize a work within its time and place. I would like more works that analyze specifically what that writer was working through while working on a novel. I think this would be especially interesting for a writer's late works, especially if there seemed to be some kind of turn or departure from what they did previously. I know I am mostly talking about simply a different degree of what we try to do already, but in the instances where there is enough in the archives, I think it might offer a better, and more compassionate, understanding of that writer.

Okay, I went on a bit much about something a little off topic, but this book makes the reader consider things from several perspectives, showing positives and negatives without making excuses, though offering some explanations. A book that makes you think is, by my standards, a success.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Russel Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to O'Connor's unfinished novel, displayed in fragments of varying length with perceptive introductions by Jessica Hooten Wilson. The fragments, which O'Connor would undoubtedly have massaged into perfection, while probably stealing a few for short stories, introduce a number of characters that would have been memorable had they been brought to fruition, and the lupus that took O'Connor deprived us of so much.

Jessica Hooten Wilson uses the balance of the book to interrogate O'Connor's legacy on race. It's a little off-putting not because it isn't perceptive and sympathetic - it is both those things - but because it seems incongruous with the rest of the book, as though it should be a separate work or a journal article rather than an adjunct to her unfinished work. But that's a minor criticism, and excising some of those observations would have left the book almost pamphlet length. O'Connor's legacy on the issue of race is a complicated one; in some ways she was ahead of her time, especially for a Southerner, and in other ways she was emphatically a woman of it. Her black characters rarely had significant agency, instead serving as plot devices for white protagonists. She struggled to empathize with black people and thus to have the sort of insight to write them well. Whether she knew her limitations or simply did not care enough to try is an open question.

On the whole an enjoyable, insightful work that leaves a reader lamenting the loss of this and so much Flannery O'Connor could have finished if she had lasted her proverbial three score and ten.

[Alicia Pollard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica Hooten Wilson brings a deep love for O’Connor’s work, an honest historical and cultural perspective, a scholar’s attentiveness, and a respect for eternal things to the famous writer’s last, unfinished novel. The scenes from the original manuscript give readers, especially diehard O’Connor fans, a privileged view into the artwork itself, while Wilson’s introduction and commentary throughout keep the reader brief on important biographical and historical aspects like O’Connor’s friendship with Maryat Lee, Freedom Farm, racial violence at the time, and the Civil Rights movement. Wilson’s voice throughout the work is one of sincere affection and admiration for O’Connor’s character and artistic gifts with a gracious and honest acknowledgement of her faults, especially the “Othering” of black/Black people in O’Connor’s fiction.

Wilson’s book does what she praised O’Connor for doing: addressing concrete, relational, historical realities like racial justice in the light of the gospel. Her approach to cancel culture and advice to avoid conflating an author’s biography with their art are profoundly helpful reminders. Steve Price’s seven linoleum cuts throughout the book with their visual ties to Golgotha, the water of baptism, the imago dei, and other spiritual truths are radiant reminders of epiphanies waiting to take hold of the characters, and of his audience.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thus ends my time with Flannery O’Connor’s fiction. I shed a tear at the end of this. Nothing sad occurred; I just knew this was it.

The ten scenes included in this novel were deeply satisfying. Flannery was excellent at writing short fiction, so they felt complete. I honestly just felt fortunate to read what she left us. Weirdly, there were some scenes Wilson alluded to but did not include. I do wonder if they were very short snippets, similar to Walter’s conversion, rather than fully constructed scenes.

On that note, Wilson did an incredible job piecing this together. Not only did she make the scenes coherent, but she gave extensive context to them and their origins. Much of the book discussed O’Connor’s other short stories and how they contributed to this novel. Flannery was one to repurpose her stories and reuse her characters.

I’m convinced that, if completed, this would have been my favorite of Flannery’s novels. It just sparks so much life and conversation around its characters. Walter is such a polarizing protagonist. You can’t help but want more. However, Wilson explains why that may have been hard for O’Connor, her sickness aside.

My only gripe is that the last chunk of this novel was a bit long winded, but it was necessary. After all, there’s a bit of heathen and saint in us all.

[Tracey Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writer Flannery O’Connor published many short stories, but only two novels before her untimely death at age 39. Thanks to academic Jessica Hooten Wilson, readers now have access to fragments of O’Connor’s incomplete novel, Why Do the Heathen Rage? Hooten Wilson has interspersed these short sections with research, insight, and speculation for a unique, enjoyable read.

This is not an almost-finished novel; The extracts contained in this book have sat unpublished for decades. But I really enjoyed the small tastes of O’Connor’s work; there’s no denying she could create outstanding characters. I would love to have seen how the story unfolded with our young protagonist and his deceptions.

Equally as interesting as the story is Hooten Wilson’s research. As an O’Connor reader, I have struggled with the racial aspects of her writing; there is no doubt she was a product of Georgina, the state in which she lived. Hooten Wilson does not shy away from this, assessing the various aspects of this argument.

I am a huge fan of Flannery O’Connor. As such, I absolutely adored this book. I also enjoy biographies that contain stories and experiences of the biographer, especially when it comes to female writers, so I really enjoyed reading how Hooten Wilson became an O’Connor scholar.

Fans of O’Connor and classic literature in general will love this book.

[Meagan | The Chapter House · Rating 4 out of 5]

True confession: I've never read anything by Flannery O'Connor before!

But now I (likely :D) will.

I mostly picked this up because of Jessica Hooten Wilson, and it lived up to my hopes. Only within the last few years have I really gotten into literary criticism (which is hilarious, because I swore it off for years after attempting to be an English major and realizing, at the time, I had no desire to explore themes or pick apart what an author may or may not be trying to say). So maybe I enjoyed this even more because Wilson's done the work for me here. ;)

I appreciated Wilson's insights, compilation, and analysis, especially of the parts that, reading it cold/out of context many years later, seem troublesome by today's standards. It's thoughtful, deep, and articulate, providing plenty of food for thought and giving insight not only into O'Connor as an author, but her writing and thought processes over the course of writing a--any--book.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Gerri Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only O'Connor had had time to finish! To me, the fragments of her unfinished novel show signs of her growth as a writer. It's a shame she didn't live longer. For the most part, I enjoyed the way Hooten Wilson presented O'Connor's text and placed it in context. I just have one quibble. Critics need to stop using 21st century perspectives when judging O'Connor on race relations. She was a person of her time and place, and a person astute enough to see that problems existed and to comment on them in the one way open to her - her writing. Hooten Wilson grasps this. Others don't. Maybe they're ignorant of the social and domestic realities that existed in O'Connor's day and place (where her illness forced her to live). Because if they were aware, they'd realize how often she poked rigid regional codes through her fiction.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has been an O’Connor nerd since they were 16, it is impossible for me to, when all is said and done, see this book as anything but a treasure. I mean come on— it’s her unfinished manuscript!

That said, the author is kinder to O’Connor than I am. Rather, Hooten Wilson gives O’Connor much more grace than I am inclined to, regarding race, racism, and white supremacy.
Also, at times I felt I was being proselytized to. In the world of O’Connor’s fiction, god is real and Jesus is the savior, of course. In the real world I would have liked the other to treat the subject less subjectively.

Overall, if you love (or even sort-of like) O’Connor’s work I think this is worth reading. I would also recommend The Habit of Being.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains excerpts from the manuscripts of Flannery O'Connor's unfinished last novel, Why Do the Heathen Rage? However, only around a third of the book consists of O'Connor's words. In the rest, Jessica Hooten Wilson offers her own commentary. Early on this commentary is useful in providing background and describing how the story evolved through O'Connor's frequent revisions and where she was planning to go with it. But as the book goes on, Ms. Wilson increasingly uses these sections to give her own opinions on broader issues of race and literature that add little value. She even has the audacity to write her own ending to the novel, based not on O'Connor's notes but rather on how she would have liked it to end. Fans of O'Connor should feel free to skim or skip these sections.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important addition to O’Connor studies, Southern studies, and American studies. Wilson presents O’Connor’s unfinished novel, but she contextualizes it in a way that brings together the pieces that were to make the whole. Wilson doesn’t shy away from issues of O’Connor and race, and while she does not justify it, she explains the context in which we must look at O’Connor when it comes to race. It was a delight to read something new by O’Connor, and Wilson’s ability to bring it together and breathe life to it was masterful. I strongly encourage all my fellow scholars to read this book.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m very glad that this has been published—many people will be glad to have access to the novel fragments that reside in the archives, to see the direction that O’Connor’s work was taking when she died. It’s true that Wilson does try to fill in the gaps of the story with her own attempt at writing the story, but that wasn’t nearly as lengthy as I was expected. Rather, she discussed the historical and cultural contexts of the novel-in-progress and the new directions that O’Connor was trying out in this work. I don’t know that this book is for everyone, but it is an important contribution to O’Connor studies.

[Howard Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a very well read and very amateur O’Connor scholar. Many of my reads are not listed on Goodreads.

I awaited reading Heathen with some trepidation. How and how well might the additions blend in? I not only highly enjoyed it but found Ms. Wilson’s handling of racism charges marvelously well balanced.

The book is everything the back jacket reviewers promise.

If you are pretty sure you will like it have fun. If you are unsure read it. If you are totally sure you won’t like it never mind. But go on reading Flannery!

[Jacob Vahle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved getting a look behind the curtain at the unfinished novel as a possible trajectory of where Flannery’s writing might go. JHW’s commentary provides helpful direction in how to read certain scenes.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book with weeping and gnashing of teeth over the fact that Flannery never finished the novel, “Why Do the Heathen Rage?“. Ms. Wilson did a good job sharing with us what Flannery did manage to lay down and giving us a way to look at it. Highly recommended for Flannery enthusiasts!

[Toni Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely excellent! Flanker O’Connor’s stories are always so so good!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

She’s the greatest.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fascinating look at Flannery O'Connor's unfinished manuscript, presented by a Flannery O'Connor scholar with excellent notes and reflections.

[Dinah E Wonderly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. I was not familiar with this author. This was a book about an unfinished book of hers.
Overall informative and maybe will read one of her fiction books.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice to see Miss Flannery’s work at any stage, but devotees should do themselves a favor and skip the at times very unfortunately toned commentaries throughout.

[Stratkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A balanced and enlightening enactment of and commentary on an incomplete MS. We can only wish FO had finished it before she died. Her honest wrestling with her imperfections is inspiring.