Title of Presentation:

"Exiled at Home:

Displacement and Its Discontents in the Works of Flannery O'Connor"

Gary Kriewald, retired Professor of English, UW-Platteville will discuss two stories by Flannery O' Connor: "Good Country People" and "The Enduring Chill" in order to show how:  

• O'Connor treats the concept of displacement, a prevalent theme in her work.
• Many of her characters are "displaced" in a variety of ways: geographically, intellectually, and spiritually. Everyone at some time has felt displaced while struggling to find a way to overcome the hindrances to achieving their personal ambitions or fulfilling their human potential.
• For O'Connor, this sense of displacement is usually the result of alienation from God and the solution is the (often violent) arrival of a moment of Grace.

Both stories provide compelling examples of a great writer exploring this universal human dilemma.

BIO: Gary L. Kriewald was born and raised in Merrill WI and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He taught literature and writing in colleges and universities in California, Texas, Illinois, and most recently UW-Platteville. Recently retired, he lives on the near eastside of Madison.

NOTIFY OTHERS of this lecture by printing and/or sharing online the flyers attached below along with the following link to this page: https://www.uproar21.us/recent/oct-2019/

ALSO PLENTY of TIME to READ or listen (on Youtube) to a few short stories by O'Connor in pdf format (links below):

• Here is a link to Dropbox folder with "Good Country People" and several other short stories by O'Connor, including "A Good Man is Hard to Find."
• Here are links to audio of each of the above:

​"Good Country People" (read by actors as audio play): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYOMfgb8Wxw&t=2249s

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" (audio read hilariously by Flannery O'Connor herself before an audience): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQT7y4L5aKU

• Or attached below download PDF copies of "The Enduring Chill," "Good Country People" and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find."
• Also go to Gutenberg.org  http://www.self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/Flannery_O%27Connor

• Check out the John Huston movie on DVD of her novel “Wise Blood” at Madison Public libraries: https://www.linkcat.info/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?idx=title&limit=format%3A%22DVD%22&q=blood+wise

• Or check out (per library or read on Guttenberg) her short story collections: “The Complete Short Stories” (1971) (Previously unavailable short stories) and “Everything That Rises Must Converge” (1965)