Southern Gothic

The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor
New York : Noonday Press : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, c1988.
243 p. ; 21 cm.

I saw the movie Wise Blood a long time ago in college, back when I was living in the South, and Flannery O'Connor fascinated me with her brooding and disturbing portrayals of people lost in moral quagmires of obsessions and religion.

Well, The Violent Bear it Away, does not stray far from religious obsessions - and their troubling effects on the subjects of the novel.  The novel develops the intense conflict between Tarwater, an orphan raised to be a great prophet by his religiously crazed uncle and his nephew, Rayber - the strict rationalist - who is out to "cure" Tarwater of the effects of his upbringing.

The forces and personalities at the heart of the conflict hint at irreconcilable tragedy and the ending will leave the reader either satisfied at the resolution, or - as in my case - feeling that it was a bit contrived and rushed.

I can't say I'd recommend the novel to students, but a student looking for a southern writer to read and research might find O'Connor fascinating.  Her writing is also interesting and tinged with dark humor.

Finally Baldwin

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
New York: Dial Press Trade Paperbacks, 2005.
226 p. ; 21 cm.

As a former English major and a librarian for ten years, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I had not read any James Baldwin novels until now. I decided that as a newbie, I'd start with his first novel, Go Tell it on the Mountain. I was not disappointed.

Set in Harlem in the 1950s, this novel uses the setting of a small Harlem independent Christian Gospel church to unfold the layers of stories buried within one African American family of the time. The main character, teen John Grimes moves toward a spiritual rebirth as the novel tells the stories of several important characters who's lives are tied together by family and religion.

It is not a novel that stuns with amazing techniques or plot development, but as a first novel the writing is sure-footed and rich and the unfolding stories behind the characters is satisfying and very interesting.

The novel also richly conveys the atmosphere of a Bible-based, Holy Spirit centered small African American church in the thriving New York City area of Harlem in the 1950s.

A teacher recommended that my next Baldwin novel be Giovanni's Room, and I will definitely add it to my must-read list.