4. Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood (cont.)

The American Novel Since 1945 (ENGL 291)

In this second lecture on Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood, Professor Amy Hungerford continues to offer several specific contexts in which to read and understand the novel. Having used O'Connor's letters to delve into her theological commitments in the previous lecture, Professor Hungerford now explores the southern social context, particularly with respect to race and gender, and the New Critical writing program of which O'Connor was a product. Hungerford finally suggests that O'Connor's writing illuminates the important--and perhaps undertheorized--link between the institutionalization of formal unity by the New Critics, and their strong religious influences.

00:00 - Chapter 1. On the Depiction of Women: Fragmented Bodies and Southern Society
07:36 - Chapter 2. Modes of Violence: Abused Children, Police Brutality, and Racism
16:52 - Chapter 3. Exploring the Narrative Purpose of Violent Imagery: The Question of Sympathy
24:13 - Chapter 4. Returning to a Theological Structure: A Close Reading of Chapter Seven
35:36 - Chapter 5. New Criticism and the Institutionalization of Modernism

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2008.