The Growing Craft: A Synoptic Variorum Edition of The Geranium, An Exile in the East, Getting Home, Judgement Day

This book is a synoptic variorum edition of four short stories by Flannery O’Connor: “The Geranium,” “An Exile in the East,” “Getting Home”–a heretofore unpublished version of what later became “Judgement Day”–and “Judgement Day” itself. Since these short stories are rewritings of the same basic material, the manuscripts give us unique access to O’Connor’s evolution and development as an artist from her first publication in 1946 to the very last in 1964 (“Judgement Day”). This variorum edition initiates, by means of its synoptic arrangement, a new form of O’Connor research which permits a much easier analysis and comparison of textual variants in the manuscripts. This study is complemented by a biographical and analytical introduction that sheds considerable light on O’Connor’s creative skills. Highly recommended for O’Connor specialists and students of the American short story.

Compiled by Karl-Heinz Westarp.