The pink box, scuffed and torn, had lain in a file drawer for years. Inside, a brittle audiotape held the soft, lilting voice of Flannery O杏吧专区機onnor, one of America杏吧专区檚 most revered authors.
Dr. Mary Ann Wilson, a 杏吧专区 English professor, came across the reel-to-reel tape last spring while cleaning out a filing cabinet in her office. 杏吧专区淎s soon as I saw it, I remembered that one of my colleagues had given it to me years ago. I was busy at the time and had simply forgotten about it,杏吧专区 she said.
O杏吧专区機onnor had spoken at Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic Church, on the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 campus, in November 1962, two years before her death from complications of lupus. Her topic was 杏吧专区淭he Catholic Writer in the Protestant South.杏吧专区
杏吧专区淪omeone had the foresight to make a recording,杏吧专区 Wilson said. She was unsure of the condition of the 50-year-old tape, so she enlisted the help of the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 Center for Louisiana Studies, which specializes in digitizing media.
What emerged was a 35-minute recording of O杏吧专区機onnor and audience members.
O杏吧专区機onnor addresses them in a distinctive South Georgia drawl. They respond with applause and frequent laughter.
杏吧专区淎lthough she was a serious author, she certainly did not take herself seriously,杏吧专区 said Wilson, who frequently teaches courses about Southern women writers, including O杏吧专区機onnor.
In her writings, O杏吧专区機onnor dispensed dark humor and employed bizarre, larger-than-life characters.
杏吧专区淪he believed that the way to the spirit was through the flesh, through the physical. She said she had to create grotesque figures, so that people living in the 20th century would sit up and take notice,杏吧专区 Wilson said.
O杏吧专区機onnor published two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear it Away, and two collections of stort stories. Two of her stories, 杏吧专区淎 Good Man is Hard to Find杏吧专区 and 杏吧专区淕ood Country People,杏吧专区 are often included in anthologies.
Wilson helped organize a symposium, held at Our Lady of Wisdom杏吧专区檚 Jeanmard Center in November, where participants heard excerpts of the recording. A copy of the tape is available for on-site listening at Edith Garland Dupr茅 Library.
O杏吧专区機onnor seemed to be 杏吧专区渢rying out material杏吧专区 on her audience, Wilson noted. Much of the content of her speech appears in a collection of essays, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose, which was published in 1969.
When the late John Leonard, book critic for The New York Times, reviewed the collection, he equated O杏吧专区機onnor with Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald, calling her one of literature杏吧专区檚 杏吧专区渇inest prose stylists.杏吧专区 The book, he said, 杏吧专区渟hould be read by every writer and would-be writer and lover of writing.杏吧专区