New Essays on Wise Blood

These new critical essays on Wise Blood, Flannery O’Connor’s explosive first novel, not only question our understanding of the “Southern Gothic,” but launch a new inquiry into the nature and history of O’Connor’s critical reputation. Perceived as a “classic” American writer despite the double setbacks of being a woman and a twentieth-century author, O’Connor continues to speak with striking clarity and disturbing vision to successive generations.