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El negro artificial y otros escritos
«La presente antología de textos de Flannery O'Connor es la primera publicada en España. Dos de los ocho cuentos y los tres ensayos se publicarán por primera vez. (...) La selección ha sido ardua aunque, por otro lado, estoy segura de que ofrecemos una antología que incluye los trabajos más significativos de la autora a lo largo de los dieciocho años que su corta vida le permitió dedicarse a la escritura, a excepción de las novelas». (de la Introducción de Guadalupe Arbona) «Cuando se nos invita a representar el país de acuerdo con un análisis, se nos pide separar el misterio de las formas y el juicio de la visión, para poder producir algo que esté de acuerdo con el temperamento moderno. Se nos exige que demos forma a nuestras conciencias a la luz de las estadísticas, que es como poner en el lugar de lo absoluto lo relativo. Para muchos esto sería conveniente porque vivimos en una época en la que no están fijadas las creencias, pero es imposible para una escritora católica. Sentiríamos que este servicio que se nos pide produciría una literatura pesada, informe y sentimental (...) En las mejores narraciones, el sentido moral del escritor coincide con su dramático sentido y yo no veo otra forma de hacerlo que no sea a través de un juicio moral que participe de la forma de mirar; entonces el creador es libre de usarlo. He oído decir que ser cristiano es un lastre para el escritor, pero tengo que decir que nada más lejos de la verdad. Realmente, deja libre al narrador para observar. El cristianismo no es un conjunto de reglas que fija lo que se ve en el mundo. Fundamentalmente afecta a la escritura garantizando el respeto por el misterio». (Flannery O'Connor, «The fiction writer and his country»)
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 3, 2000
About the author
Flannery O'Connor
196 books5,688 followersCritics note novels
Wise Blood
(1952) and
The Violent Bear It Away
(1960) and short stories, collected in such works as
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
(1955), of American writer Mary Flannery O'Connor for their explorations of religious faith and a spare literary style.
The Georgia state college for women educated O’Connor, who then studied writing at the Iowa writers' workshop and wrote much of Wise Blood at the colony of artists at Yaddo in upstate New York. She lived most of her adult life on Andalusia, ancestral farm of her family outside Milledgeville, Georgia.
O’Connor wrote Everything That Rises Must Converge (1964). When she died at the age of 39 years, America lost one of its most gifted writers at the height of her powers.
Survivors published her essays were published in Mystery and Manners (1969). Her Complete Stories , published posthumously in 1972, won the national book award for that year. Survivors published her letters in The Habit of Being (1979). In 1988, the Library of America published Collected Works of Flannery O'Connor, the first so honored postwar writer.
People in an online poll in 2009 voted her Complete Stories as the best book to win the national book award in the six-decade history of the contest.
The Georgia state college for women educated O’Connor, who then studied writing at the Iowa writers' workshop and wrote much of Wise Blood at the colony of artists at Yaddo in upstate New York. She lived most of her adult life on Andalusia, ancestral farm of her family outside Milledgeville, Georgia.
O’Connor wrote Everything That Rises Must Converge (1964). When she died at the age of 39 years, America lost one of its most gifted writers at the height of her powers.
Survivors published her essays were published in Mystery and Manners (1969). Her Complete Stories , published posthumously in 1972, won the national book award for that year. Survivors published her letters in The Habit of Being (1979). In 1988, the Library of America published Collected Works of Flannery O'Connor, the first so honored postwar writer.
People in an online poll in 2009 voted her Complete Stories as the best book to win the national book award in the six-decade history of the contest.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 30, 2026
Flannery O'Connor's characters are always alive, funny, pitiful, and cruel at the same time. That's exactly why her stories are so difficult to shake after reading. She gives the reader no safe moral distance. You start out laughing at the characters, as I laughed at Mr. Head and Nelson in The Artificial Nigger while they rode the train, and then you suddenly find yourself inside their humiliation and shame.
Formally, this is a story about a grandfather and a boy taking a trip to the city. But gradually the story moves toward the moment when everything they've been holding inside finally surfaces: shame, fear, racial anxiety, helplessness, the need for love.
What's most powerful here is how O'Connor shows human cruelty not as an exception, but as an ordinary part of seeing the world. The old man constantly tries to maintain his sense of superiority over his grandson, but underneath it you feel the panic of someone who understands he is losing control over almost everything: his age, his poverty, his dignity, his sense of his own place in the world.
And yet the story turns out to be less about racism as a social theme than about human humiliation in general. Racial anxiety becomes the language through which the characters express a deeper fear, the fear of their own vulnerability and dependence on each other.
O'Connor weaves everyday humiliation, grotesque, religious anxiety, and something close to dark comedy into one continuous movement. Cruelty here arrives not as catastrophe, but from inside ordinary life: in conversations, small indignities, glances, attempts to hold onto one's place in the world. And the further the story moves, the clearer it becomes that the laughter was leading the reader somewhere entirely different from where it seemed at first.
Formally, this is a story about a grandfather and a boy taking a trip to the city. But gradually the story moves toward the moment when everything they've been holding inside finally surfaces: shame, fear, racial anxiety, helplessness, the need for love.
What's most powerful here is how O'Connor shows human cruelty not as an exception, but as an ordinary part of seeing the world. The old man constantly tries to maintain his sense of superiority over his grandson, but underneath it you feel the panic of someone who understands he is losing control over almost everything: his age, his poverty, his dignity, his sense of his own place in the world.
And yet the story turns out to be less about racism as a social theme than about human humiliation in general. Racial anxiety becomes the language through which the characters express a deeper fear, the fear of their own vulnerability and dependence on each other.
O'Connor weaves everyday humiliation, grotesque, religious anxiety, and something close to dark comedy into one continuous movement. Cruelty here arrives not as catastrophe, but from inside ordinary life: in conversations, small indignities, glances, attempts to hold onto one's place in the world. And the further the story moves, the clearer it becomes that the laughter was leading the reader somewhere entirely different from where it seemed at first.
September 6, 2025
Obdurate.
Little Nelson and grandpa Head are taking a train trip into town, to walk around the city, explore and see where Nelson was born. But my oh my, catastrophe hits when they get lost!
Another Christian religious tale plagued with high-horse preaching twaddle. I appreciate the idea and where it was going, or at the very least I found it interesting enough to tolerate it, but the obnoxiously explicit moralizing ending just blew the whole thing for me. Personally, I think a more universal approach would've suited this story so much better. After all, I enjoy a good redemption story as much as anyone, but Flannery O'Connor just makes it stink with Christianity and unnecessary religiousness, not to mention absurdly overabundant in n-wordiness.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1949] [22p] [Fiction] [1.5] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★☆☆☆ A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories [2.5] <--
-----------------------------------------------
Obstinado.
El pequeño Nelson y el abuelo Head están haciendo un viaje en tren a la ciudad, para pasear, explorarla y ver dónde nació Nelson. Pero oh Dios mío, ¡la catástrofe llega cuando se pierden!
Otro cuento cristiano y religioso plagado de creída palabrería y predicación de alto nivel. Aprecio la idea y hacia dónde iba, o al menos la encontré lo suficientemente interesante como para tolerarla, pero el final desagradablemente moralizante y explícito simplemente lo arruinó todo para mí. Personalmente, creo que un enfoque más universal habría encajado mucho mejor en esta historia. Después de todo, disfruto de una buena historia de redención tanto como cualquiera, pero Flannery O'Connor simplemente la hace apestar de cristianismo e innecesaria religiosidad, sin mencionar que abunda absurdamente en esa palaba n-racista.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1949] [22p] [Ficción] [1.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
Little Nelson and grandpa Head are taking a train trip into town, to walk around the city, explore and see where Nelson was born. But my oh my, catastrophe hits when they get lost!
Another Christian religious tale plagued with high-horse preaching twaddle. I appreciate the idea and where it was going, or at the very least I found it interesting enough to tolerate it, but the obnoxiously explicit moralizing ending just blew the whole thing for me. Personally, I think a more universal approach would've suited this story so much better. After all, I enjoy a good redemption story as much as anyone, but Flannery O'Connor just makes it stink with Christianity and unnecessary religiousness, not to mention absurdly overabundant in n-wordiness.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1949] [22p] [Fiction] [1.5] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★☆☆☆ A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories [2.5] <--
-----------------------------------------------
Obstinado.
El pequeño Nelson y el abuelo Head están haciendo un viaje en tren a la ciudad, para pasear, explorarla y ver dónde nació Nelson. Pero oh Dios mío, ¡la catástrofe llega cuando se pierden!
Otro cuento cristiano y religioso plagado de creída palabrería y predicación de alto nivel. Aprecio la idea y hacia dónde iba, o al menos la encontré lo suficientemente interesante como para tolerarla, pero el final desagradablemente moralizante y explícito simplemente lo arruinó todo para mí. Personalmente, creo que un enfoque más universal habría encajado mucho mejor en esta historia. Después de todo, disfruto de una buena historia de redención tanto como cualquiera, pero Flannery O'Connor simplemente la hace apestar de cristianismo e innecesaria religiosidad, sin mencionar que abunda absurdamente en esa palaba n-racista.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1949] [22p] [Ficción] [1.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
February 19, 2015
Out of many choices of Flannery O'Connor's short stories, the story "The Artificial Nigger" stood out to me and as I proceeded to read it I learned why. In the story, prideful Mr. Head journeys with his curious, bold, and equally prideful grandson, Nelson, to the city, where he was born. Throughout the story the two have a face-off concerning who was more knowledgeable and wiser in being able to identify the different characteristics which made up what was the city.
Within the journey to the city, Mr. Head is able to overtake Nelson's claim to knowledge in being able to identify a real negro. At first, Nelson tries to ignore that his father proved him to be ignorant of the black people. He looks at the negro his grandfather pointed out with hatred as if he planned to make him seem naive as his grandfather claimed him to be. Then, when his grandfather ridicules a negro from the kitchen with the notion that their kitchen is full of roaches Nelson gains a new respect for his grandfather and gains encouragement to hate negro people.
This story opened my eyes and answered the question I asked myself over the years: How did hate of the black race come into play and spread so easily among people? One answer out of many that I found from this story is ignorance. Mr. Head who hated negro people took Nelson's desire to display and gain knowledge as a chance to pass on his own knowledge whether right or wrong. Though he did not outwardly say it, his actions told Nelson that he hated blacks, so Nelson, not understanding or knowing of the longstanding history between black and white people automatically took to the racist fashion and came to hate the negro he spotted for something the negro did not do. Unless Nelson experiences or learns something that teaches him his reason behind his hate for blacks is mislead, Mr. Head will not do it himself, so Nelson will continue to live in ignorance and possible pass on his hatred to his children in the future, resulting in the spread of hatred for blacks, for no plausible reason.
Within the journey to the city, Mr. Head is able to overtake Nelson's claim to knowledge in being able to identify a real negro. At first, Nelson tries to ignore that his father proved him to be ignorant of the black people. He looks at the negro his grandfather pointed out with hatred as if he planned to make him seem naive as his grandfather claimed him to be. Then, when his grandfather ridicules a negro from the kitchen with the notion that their kitchen is full of roaches Nelson gains a new respect for his grandfather and gains encouragement to hate negro people.
This story opened my eyes and answered the question I asked myself over the years: How did hate of the black race come into play and spread so easily among people? One answer out of many that I found from this story is ignorance. Mr. Head who hated negro people took Nelson's desire to display and gain knowledge as a chance to pass on his own knowledge whether right or wrong. Though he did not outwardly say it, his actions told Nelson that he hated blacks, so Nelson, not understanding or knowing of the longstanding history between black and white people automatically took to the racist fashion and came to hate the negro he spotted for something the negro did not do. Unless Nelson experiences or learns something that teaches him his reason behind his hate for blacks is mislead, Mr. Head will not do it himself, so Nelson will continue to live in ignorance and possible pass on his hatred to his children in the future, resulting in the spread of hatred for blacks, for no plausible reason.
May 22, 2022
Nelson and his grandfather Mr Head left their house at 4:00AM, because it was a one and a half hour walk to the train substation, and it was scheduled to arrive at 5:45. The were making a day trip to town. It was Nelson’s first visit since his birth 15 years earlier. They arrived, took off walking, made a couple of wrong turns circling back to the station. So they took off again on foot where they proceeded to get lost and lose their sack lunch. It was getting dark; they were wandering lost through an upscale neighborhood where they met a man who told them they didn’t have time to make it to the main station but that there was a substation a few blocks away where their train would stop. They boarded the train. They rose out of their seats and headed to the door ten minutes before it’s scheduled stop. While waiting for the train to stop the old man felt the action of Mercy descended upon him, and he knew salvation was his. When they got back home Nelson declared he is not making anymore trips to town.
Miss O’Connor is a five-star author and this story is one of the many reasons why.
Miss O’Connor is a five-star author and this story is one of the many reasons why.
February 1, 2025
I liked the story. However it was very racism and the characters didn’t grow from it. The child started off recognizing black men being as equals but after his grandfather ridiculed him for it, he developed a dista in for them. Otherwise I thought it was well written and accurate for its time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2024
Disturbing mixture strong racial prejudice, child neglect and skeptical fundamentalist salvation. Bizarre. Well told. Not for all audiences.
April 15, 2023
Flannery sencillamente es una escritora espectacular. Ha logrado lo que quería: me ha transformado por dentro
June 20, 2025
The Artificial Nigger by Flannery O’Connor – another look at this story is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/01/... it is part of the A Hard Man Is Hard To Find Collection
10 out of 10
The name of this short story is more than embarrassing, it evidently contains a word that is anathema, indeed, it is possible that, in the future, it could see a change, or maybe not…the excellent American Fiction https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... looks at the challenge
Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison is the hero, portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, in the movie, and at the start, this professor wants to approach the topic of The Artificial Nigger, when a white student is opposed to that, for he feels offended, and the teacher says ‘I got over it, therefore you can’, words to that effect, this is a smart comedy
It uses irony, sarcasm to expose a number of fallacies, excesses that are present in America, and elsewhere – for me, Orange Jesus, now also called the Orange Felon, for he is the first president with a conviction, and Inshallah, a many more to come, with jail time, which looks unlikely, unfortunately, is the epitome of the oxymoron
Coming back to the fabulous Flannery O’Connor, race relations are part of the landscape in this work of fiction, the two main characters are white though, one is Mr. Head and the other is his orphaned ten-year-old grandson, Nelson, they both live in the Georgia countryside, and they would be visiting Atlanta – where I have been for the 1996 Olympics, as part of the AT&T, major sponsors of the athletic event back then…
On the train, Nelson meets the first black person, and eventually, they would get lost in a neighborhood with a majority of African Americans – I understand that the politically correct terms are evolving, changing – and the grandfather does not want to ask directions, to me, there is implied racism, and some quite outspoken
When they will see ‘The Artificial Nigger’, Mr. Head will comment along the lines of ‘they do not have enough, they need to have an artificial one’, we have to take into account the context, and if they were discriminatory – there is no question there in fact, they were just that – it was not just the majority, almost all were like that
It is a problem of education, lack thereof, and we have had that here, we still do, though progress is made, we do not have a black minority – yes there are visitors, foreign workers are brought in, but the percentage is still infinitesimal – but the gypsy people have been persecuted, harassed, even tortured and killed in the past
Extreme right folks – and large numbers of older locals, the population at large – still indicate the rate of criminality, which is higher among the rroma, due to lack of education, centuries of being isolated, forced to live on the periphery, kept out of good, and lesser jobs, thus it is the majority which is to blame for all this
Many have migrated, and then videos with incidents have become viral, such as gypsy women throwing milk from their…breasts at police, or authorities that try to prevent them from begging, or doing other illegal things, this is again the result of being pushed into this kind of criminal activity, when you have no other way, you get food somehow
Eventually, Nelson asks a black woman, and she mentions public transport, so that the tow can get back to where they need to be, they follow the tramway tracks, only they do not know if they have the proper direction, or they are heading in the wrong way – eventually, they get to an area with white fellows, and grandfather tries a trick
He wants to see what happens when his grandson, who fell asleep, wakes up and sees he is alone, only when that happens, the child panics, runs, crashed against a woman, and the latter is furious, she keeps calling for the cops, saying she has broken her ankle (I think it was) and that the parents of this child will pay for it
A crowd is gathered, now Mr. Head has reached his relative, but apparently is scared by having to face the police, for they must be coming, and the consequences threatened by the elderly stranger, ergo, when Nelson grabs his leg, and the people are pressing, grandfather claims he does not know the kid, who is flabbergasted
Eventually, they continue together, and find a white man, walking his dogs, and they ask about the way to the railway station, the stranger asks about their ticket, grandfather shows it to him, and they see that they will not be there in time…however, they can get on, because the train will stop a few blocks away, and he shows them how to get there
‘Mr. Head understands the feeling of Mercy, the significance of Sin, taken to the beginning, to the original Sin of Adam…After death, we would go at the Gates of the Other World with Mercy, as the only important feeling…’ this is copied from my previous note, written ten years ago, when I first read this, and other tales of glorious Flannery O’Connor
The most important one is A Good Man Is Hard To Find https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... where The Misfit is the villain, who will have this whole family killed, but counterintuitively, the grandmother is also to blame for the tragedy, most of her role was unintended
Nevertheless, after asking for a drive to the wrong place, she says to this gangster ‘I recognize you’, and he retorts I wish you didn’t, as we know from so many other narratives, these goons do not want any witnesses…
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
10 out of 10
The name of this short story is more than embarrassing, it evidently contains a word that is anathema, indeed, it is possible that, in the future, it could see a change, or maybe not…the excellent American Fiction https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... looks at the challenge
Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison is the hero, portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, in the movie, and at the start, this professor wants to approach the topic of The Artificial Nigger, when a white student is opposed to that, for he feels offended, and the teacher says ‘I got over it, therefore you can’, words to that effect, this is a smart comedy
It uses irony, sarcasm to expose a number of fallacies, excesses that are present in America, and elsewhere – for me, Orange Jesus, now also called the Orange Felon, for he is the first president with a conviction, and Inshallah, a many more to come, with jail time, which looks unlikely, unfortunately, is the epitome of the oxymoron
Coming back to the fabulous Flannery O’Connor, race relations are part of the landscape in this work of fiction, the two main characters are white though, one is Mr. Head and the other is his orphaned ten-year-old grandson, Nelson, they both live in the Georgia countryside, and they would be visiting Atlanta – where I have been for the 1996 Olympics, as part of the AT&T, major sponsors of the athletic event back then…
On the train, Nelson meets the first black person, and eventually, they would get lost in a neighborhood with a majority of African Americans – I understand that the politically correct terms are evolving, changing – and the grandfather does not want to ask directions, to me, there is implied racism, and some quite outspoken
When they will see ‘The Artificial Nigger’, Mr. Head will comment along the lines of ‘they do not have enough, they need to have an artificial one’, we have to take into account the context, and if they were discriminatory – there is no question there in fact, they were just that – it was not just the majority, almost all were like that
It is a problem of education, lack thereof, and we have had that here, we still do, though progress is made, we do not have a black minority – yes there are visitors, foreign workers are brought in, but the percentage is still infinitesimal – but the gypsy people have been persecuted, harassed, even tortured and killed in the past
Extreme right folks – and large numbers of older locals, the population at large – still indicate the rate of criminality, which is higher among the rroma, due to lack of education, centuries of being isolated, forced to live on the periphery, kept out of good, and lesser jobs, thus it is the majority which is to blame for all this
Many have migrated, and then videos with incidents have become viral, such as gypsy women throwing milk from their…breasts at police, or authorities that try to prevent them from begging, or doing other illegal things, this is again the result of being pushed into this kind of criminal activity, when you have no other way, you get food somehow
Eventually, Nelson asks a black woman, and she mentions public transport, so that the tow can get back to where they need to be, they follow the tramway tracks, only they do not know if they have the proper direction, or they are heading in the wrong way – eventually, they get to an area with white fellows, and grandfather tries a trick
He wants to see what happens when his grandson, who fell asleep, wakes up and sees he is alone, only when that happens, the child panics, runs, crashed against a woman, and the latter is furious, she keeps calling for the cops, saying she has broken her ankle (I think it was) and that the parents of this child will pay for it
A crowd is gathered, now Mr. Head has reached his relative, but apparently is scared by having to face the police, for they must be coming, and the consequences threatened by the elderly stranger, ergo, when Nelson grabs his leg, and the people are pressing, grandfather claims he does not know the kid, who is flabbergasted
Eventually, they continue together, and find a white man, walking his dogs, and they ask about the way to the railway station, the stranger asks about their ticket, grandfather shows it to him, and they see that they will not be there in time…however, they can get on, because the train will stop a few blocks away, and he shows them how to get there
‘Mr. Head understands the feeling of Mercy, the significance of Sin, taken to the beginning, to the original Sin of Adam…After death, we would go at the Gates of the Other World with Mercy, as the only important feeling…’ this is copied from my previous note, written ten years ago, when I first read this, and other tales of glorious Flannery O’Connor
The most important one is A Good Man Is Hard To Find https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... where The Misfit is the villain, who will have this whole family killed, but counterintuitively, the grandmother is also to blame for the tragedy, most of her role was unintended
Nevertheless, after asking for a drive to the wrong place, she says to this gangster ‘I recognize you’, and he retorts I wish you didn’t, as we know from so many other narratives, these goons do not want any witnesses…
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
October 26, 2025
Este comentario solo hace referencia al cuento que da título al volumen:
El señor Head tenía el convencimiento de que la edad era una bendición, que solo con los años se podía adquirir una serena comprensión de la vida. Poseía una voluntad férrea con la que dirigía la moralidad de sus actos, lo que debería servir de ejemplo para su nieto Nelson, que a su corta edad creía ya saberlo todo. Head acompañaba a su nieto en su primer viaje a la ciudad a fin de que comprobara lo poco maravillosa que sería la vida allí, una ciudad repleta de negros. Nelson no había visto un negro en su vida.
Lo que sí apareció en el corazón del joven Nelson en cuanto vio a uno fue un odio feroz, nuevo, el mismo odio que sentía su abuelo, que quizás no tenía una compresión tan serena de la vida como creía.
El señor Head tenía el convencimiento de que la edad era una bendición, que solo con los años se podía adquirir una serena comprensión de la vida. Poseía una voluntad férrea con la que dirigía la moralidad de sus actos, lo que debería servir de ejemplo para su nieto Nelson, que a su corta edad creía ya saberlo todo. Head acompañaba a su nieto en su primer viaje a la ciudad a fin de que comprobara lo poco maravillosa que sería la vida allí, una ciudad repleta de negros. Nelson no había visto un negro en su vida.
“Apuesto a que reconozco un negro na más verlo”
Lo que sí apareció en el corazón del joven Nelson en cuanto vio a uno fue un odio feroz, nuevo, el mismo odio que sentía su abuelo, que quizás no tenía una compresión tan serena de la vida como creía.
De «Antología del cuento norteamericano» seleccionada por Richard Ford
February 24, 2025
Un negro artificial es el primer escrito que en micho tiempo he sentido que se escapa del todo a mi entendimiento. Se podrían escribir libros sonre sus lecturas.
Para mi es una parabola cristiana donde este abuelo y nieto “red-neck” encuentran en su racismo la salvación a la vez que son ellos tan o más “otros” que los “niggers”. En una ironía que todavía estoy dando vueltas.
Para mi es una parabola cristiana donde este abuelo y nieto “red-neck” encuentran en su racismo la salvación a la vez que son ellos tan o más “otros” que los “niggers”. En una ironía que todavía estoy dando vueltas.
December 29, 2025
Por fin, otro autor comparable a Dostoevsky o a Isaac Bashevis Singer. Es el primer libro que termino de Flannery O'Connor. Al principio me ha costado y me preguntaba si sería la traducción pero poco a poco fui entrando en las diferentes narraciones y he quedado profundamente agradecido de conocer a esta autora. Tengo que releerlo. Además este volumen tiene varios ensayos que son fantásticos.
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September 10, 2024One of the short stories in the Complete Collection by Flannery O'Connor.
October 23, 2025
solo el negro artificial pero no lo encontré solo para loggearlo
casi lloro
casi lloro
September 5, 2014
had to read it for women's lit class, thought it was kinda weird
May 14, 2015
3.5 stars
May 4, 2017
This story didn't do much for me. There's obviously some interesting race things going on here, but this didn't quite strike me as much as other O'Connor stories have. It's alright.
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