Episode 33: Pulling Out the Mote in Flannery O'Connor's WISE BLOOD

Send us Fan MailMore celebrated for her dark, satirical short stories, Flannery O'Connor nevertheless burst on the literary scene in 1952 in her mid-twenties with her debut novel, Wise Blood. The story of a would-be preacher resistant to God's grace, the plot features some of the most bizarre and twisted left turns in American literature: self-blindings with lye, underaged ingenues named Sabbath, stolen mummies and gorilla suits, and enough vehicular homicides and car wreckage to make one renew one's AAA membership. For most readers, Hazel Motes's struggle to reconcile divine providence with the desire for free will is a tough conservative theology lesson to swallow. In this episode we explore how O'Connor employed the trope of the grotesque in Southern fiction to make her dogmatic point, asking whether the sheer weirdness of her characters distracts from her message.  Canon Fodder: The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy. All opinions are the hosts' own and do not reflect the points of view of their employers, publishers, relatives, pets, or accountants. All show music is by Lobo Loco.  The intro song is “Old Ralley”; the intermission is “The First Moment,” and the outro is “Inspector Invisible.”  For more information visit: https://locolobomusic.com/.