Flannery O’Connor and Stylistic Asceticism

“Rachel Toombs’s splendid new book constitutes a veritable breakthrough in our understanding of Flannery O’Connor’s fiction. Until now, no one has discerned why O’Connor’s flat, declarative sentences are as plain and direct as pistol shots. As in the Jacob narratives of the Old Testament, such stylistic asceticism at once startles and entices. It confronts readers with the drastic character of divine action, healing even as it wounds. Toombs’s achievement is remarkable indeed.”


—Ralph C. Wood, Baylor University, emeritus





“As Rachel Toombs observes in the conclusion to her excellent study, Flannery O’Connor’s ‘unyielding theological convictions add dimension to her stories rather than collapsing them into soppy or didactic Christian tropes.’ Toombs’s attention to the dialogue between the baroque and the spare shine needed critical light on O’Connor’s unique form of theological aesthetics. This sustained retrieval of the theological mysteries that inform O’Connor’s literary imagination is eye opening, beautifully realized, and highly recommended.”


—Michael P. Murphy, Loyola University Chicago