Call for Papers
Flannery O'Connor Society at the American Literature Association May 25-28,
2006 San Francisco, CA Hyatt Regency, Embarcadero Center

"Adopting/Adapting O'Connor's Faith: Reading the Fate of Her Beliefs"

In "The Fiction Writer and His Country," Flannery O'Connor famously
summarized her religious faith: "I see from the standpoint of Christian
orthodoxy. This means that for me the meaning of life is centered in the
Redemption of Christ and what I see in the world I see in its relation to
that." Much of the early criticism of her fiction involved making clear how
this faith is translated into and affects her fiction, and today her popular
image, if book and music reviews in the popular press are any guide, is that
of a portrayer of rustic and violent religious practice. Yet a number of
scholars in recent years have considered her work from feminist, historical,
and other theoretical perspectives, placing only secondary emphasis on
O'Connor's religious faith, and, indeed, O'Connor scholars often seem
divided between those who treat her religious faith as the primary
motivation for studying her art and those who see it as an issue of lesser
importance.

The Flannery O'Connor Society seeks papers that explore what has and is
happening with O'Connor's religious faith in relationship to her writing.
Papers should engage the issue of the ways her faith is adopted and/or
adapted by those who read and comment on her fiction. Possibilities include
the establishment of her image as a person of faith in popular culture; the
approaches scholars take to dealing with her faith in both academic writing
and teaching situations; the ways other writers have adapted O'Connor's
faith to their own ends; the use of O'Connor's ideas and writing in
ideological/culture wars; histories or analyses of scholarly
reception/presentation of her religious ideas; the uses religious
institutions have made of O'Connor's beliefs-any topic that deals with the
use, abuse, encouragement, or attack of O'Connor's faith.

Please send queries or 300-word abstracts by January 5, 2006 to
Robert Donahoo
The Flannery O'Connor Society
Department of English
P.O. Box 2146
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, TX 77341
E-mail: eng_rxd_at_shsu.edu
Fax: 936-294-1421

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Received on Mon Oct 17 2005 - 23:52:26 EDT