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Wise Blood A Novel FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor Books

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Wise Blood A Novel FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor Books

It's the oddities of post-war, pre-modern, poor, rural America that resonate so drunkenly through this remarkable tale. The austerity of the characters, like unadorned walls in the homes of the underclass with neither money nor education, the barrenness of their actions and thought processes make one wonder how many people in our world still live, still think like this. The writing is disturbingly gorgeous. Follow Hazel Motes, the meandering "displaced" young man at the heart of Wise Blood for a remarkable and disconcerting voyage through faith and doubt and anger. In contrast to so many stories of "the priest" or other religious figure who loses faith, who undergoes a crisis of faith, who cannot reconcile his or her faith with reality, young Motes is smothered by his vision (or version) of faith and does all he can to rid himself of it. He craves no faith, but seeks an absence of faith, and all that he imagines such a state will bestow on him. It's a disturbing book about strange people on a self-destructive quest. Well-structured and always interesting, O'Connor's first novel is a front row seat to a very peculiar train wreck.


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Wise Blood A Novel FSG Classics Flannery O'Connor Books Reviews

If in her book "Wise Blood," Flannery O'Connor has us enter the world of freaks, madmen, con artists, and of course tortured souls, it also alerts us to the fact that they are us, philosophically speaking. Many call her a "Catholic writer" in order to dismiss her work (which is impossible) or to extol her virtues as religious hagiography (which is foolish). Let us discuss her as a writer.

Indeed she is a southern Gothic satirist, a Catholic woman who loves her assorted collection of losers and understands them intimately even if at first the reader does not. She loves so much, it hurts. He works reminds me of Nathaniel West's books in their presentation of human depravity. I am reminded of the comment that Nathaniel West's mother wrote to him about his work,(But Nathan , why does everything you write have to say "stink-stink-stink"?) In Miss O'Connor's work it says "compassion-compassion-compassion."

Unlike another great Southern Belle writer, Patricia Highsmith, Flannery O'Connor empathizes with the condition of her characters without presenting an obvious solution. Pat hates with sublime purity but effectively presents her case. Pat offers no remedies and Nathaniel West offers only an existential nihilism. Another southern Gothic writer, Carson McCullers deals with many of the same themes but in a more traditional story telling manner. But Miss O'Connor has adopted an almost medieval morality play style to exhibit her characters in a madcap satirical frenzy.

Symbolism abounds, and I suppose that you can say upon finishing this book you cried until you laughed.
This is a hilarious romp through the "Dark Night of the Soul," Southern-hick-style. By referencing "Dark Night of the Soul," I am indeed referring to the poem by 16th Century Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross. It's a short poem, and the same one parodied by Douglas Adams in his title The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul," and I am glad I connected this poem to this work by Flannery O'Conner. It should be companion reading to this book. It will help you unpack these incredible characters that O'Conner paints with her exceptional prose. St. John's version is from a different perspective, of course the actor of his poem is treading through a darkness of the soul, and comes to discover that the darkness helps him to identify the Light, and provide direction toward it. In O'Conner's story we have an actor who is actively trying to turn off the Light, and what becomes of him.

Main character Hazel Motes is committed to denouncing Jesus as the Light. He commits himself to the ministry of calling people to the "light" of unfaith. Yet, in his quest, he finds himself in a dark night where the only light is the Light that persistently burns in his soul. No matter how hard he tries, Hazel just cannot stomp out this persistently burning fire. Ignore it as he might, he cannot help but notice it. He eventually comes to the point of reversing course and darkens his physical eyes so he can do a blind walk of penance back to the Light he tried to escape.

Poor Mrs. Flood. She just barely perceives this pin prick of Light in the darkened eyes of her boarder Hazel. But although she just can't seem to help but persistently look for this Light in the darkened eyes of Hazel, it is always beyond her reach, most likely because she is preoccupied with her noble schemes to separate Hazel from his government paychecks. Some might say she preferred the darkness to the Light.

And then there is Enoch. He just wants to be friends. It is his Wise Blood for which this novel is named. Wise blood is sort of a turn of phrase he uses to describe his instincts, which largely lead him to do things that ultimately contrive him to make unconventional (and without a doubt disturbing) human connections. He is compelled to veil himself... he hides in a bush to observe the women at the public swimming pool, he pilfers an ape suit in the expectation that it will help people to shake his hand. He seeks connection -- Communion, even. And so we have another seeker going about it the wrong way.

This book is thick with Christian themes, and presented through characters that are written in such a way that you are compelled to not really relate to them so that you laugh at them and, hopefully, clearly contemplate the seriously significant subject matters regarding the salvation of the soul. O'Connor's approach is definitely a Roman Catholic approach, but I think the elements of penance presented here are worthy of a protestant's consideration. While we  are saved by grace, it does not discount the many scriptures that speak to the fact that faith without works is dead. Hazel takes his long penitential walks, and he rightly tells Mrs. Flood that, as far as she is concerned, she is good... making the point clear that there are none so blind as those who will not see.
I love Flannery. I have read all her works. I have lived my whole life right next to the town she grew up in and I am also Catholic. This woman is IT! She is witty, sarcastic to perfection, genius with a plot and quite the master of a surprise ending. And not by how the story unfolds necessarily but at the fact that she will slap you in the face wih your own prejudices before you can even say Ouch. Yes. You have bias. It’s ok. Yes she has an eye for spotting them and an ability to translate them perfectly. Her stories are so much more developed than most I’ve ever read. They all beg 3 reads. One for entertainment. One for analysis. And one for final personal evaluation (of story and self) and your take away. You will think about her writings and phrases days afterwards. The narrator of this had me CRACKING UP at night doing my chores with his perfect portrayal of the southern dialect and her perfect ability to capture it in word. OH JAAAYSUS!
It's the oddities of post-war, pre-modern, poor, rural America that resonate so drunkenly through this remarkable tale. The austerity of the characters, like unadorned walls in the homes of the underclass with neither money nor education, the barrenness of their actions and thought processes make one wonder how many people in our world still live, still think like this. The writing is disturbingly gorgeous. Follow Hazel Motes, the meandering "displaced" young man at the heart of Wise Blood for a remarkable and disconcerting voyage through faith and doubt and anger. In contrast to so many stories of "the priest" or other religious figure who loses faith, who undergoes a crisis of faith, who cannot reconcile his or her faith with reality, young Motes is smothered by his vision (or version) of faith and does all he can to rid himself of it. He craves no faith, but seeks an absence of faith, and all that he imagines such a state will bestow on him. It's a disturbing book about strange people on a self-destructive quest. Well-structured and always interesting, O'Connor's first novel is a front row seat to a very peculiar train wreck.