Hillbilly Thomist: Flannery O'Connor, St. Thomas and the Limits of Art

by Marion Montgomery

In the spirit of St. Thomas Aquinas, the writings of Flannery O'Connor's concern for place can best be seen in the immediacies of things and persons. It is in relation to St. Thomas' teaching, then, that O'Connor becomes comfortable in her "place," Andalusia, that small farm just outside the small town of Milledgeville in middle Georgia. The abiding relationship between place--Andalusia or elsewhere--and a person comes out of human nature itself, evidenced in a person's experiences of things in this place at this time. With that as background, this detailed analysis of O'Connor's works lays to rest the author's own self-deprecating description of herself as a "hillbilly" Thomist. Instead we see in O'Connor's writing a highly sophisticated mind, an inconvenience to the many critics who dismiss her as anti-intellectual.

Genres: Historical

706 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Marion Montgomery was an American poet, novelist, educator, and critic. For more than 30 years he was a professor of English at the University of Georgia.

Reviews

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A definitive work for those studying O'Connor, or interested in the philosophical influences in her work. As a member of Flannery's Wednesday night every-other-week book club that she held on her front porch at Andalusia, Montgomery's work is filled with insight and anecdote. My only complaint is the book's tendency to ramble and its total lack of indexing. Other than that, a must-read for scholarly O'Connor fans. If it wasn't out of print (and upwards of $150 for a used copy), it would definitely be on my shelves.