Flannery O'Connor's South

Flannery O'Connor's South offers a forceful analysis, both literary and philosophical, of Flannery O'Connor's life and literature. First published in 1980, this study draws upon Robert Coles' personal experiences in the South during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s, his brief acquaintance with Flannery O'Connor, and his careful readings of her works. The voices and gestures of the people Coles met in the South help illuminate the social scene that influenced one of the region's most valuable and interesting writers.

Robert Coles is a professor of psychiatry and medical humanities at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of numerous books including Walker Percy: An American Dream; the Children of Crisis series, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize; The Spiritual Life of Children; and, most recently, Their Eyes Meeting the World: The Drawings and Paintings of Children.