Wise Blood : A Re-Consideration [1 ed.] 9789401200844, 9789042033894

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Wise Blood

DIALOGUE 13

Edited by

Michael J. Meyer†

Wise Blood

A Re-Consideration

Edited by

John J. Han

Amsterdam - New York, NY 2011

Cover and internal illustrations: James “Red” Schmitt Cover design: Pier Post The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 978-90-420-3389-4 E-Book ISBN: 978-94-012-0084-4 ©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2011 Printed in the Netherlands

To my wife, Mary, with gratitude

Contents Acknowledgements

xi

$EEUHYLDWLRQVIRU2¶&RQQRU¶V:RUNV

xii

Introduction John J. Han

xiii

Section I: Religious and Philosophical Thought Flannery 2¶&RQQRUDQGWKH4XHVWLRQRIWKH&KULVWLDQ1RYHO Debra L. Cumberland

3

7KLV3URWHVWDQW:RUOG)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶V3RUWUD\DORIWKH Modern Protestant South in Wise Blood 25 Jonathan D. Fitzgerald ³,EHOLHYH,believe´7KH0LUDFOHRI&KULVWLQ)ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU¶VWise Blood Susan Amper

43

Virgil If Punched in the Gut: A Defense of Jansenist Interpretations of Wise Blood Andrew Peter Atkinson

59

Section II: Comedy, Humor, and Animality in Wise Blood Comedy and the Anti-H[LVWHQWLDOLQ)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood Andrew B. Leiter

93

Becoming Human, Becoming Animal: The Anthropological Machine at Work in Wise Blood 119 Aaron Hillyer

2¶&RQQRU¶VComic Vision: Faith and Humor in Wise Blood Paul Benedict Grant

141

Section III: Influences on Wise Blood Flannery & Franz: Tracing the Kafkaesque Influences on 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood Jordan Cofer

161

A Roman Catholic Response to Nihilism and Protestantism: Wise Blood as an Anti-Kafkaesque Novel 181 John J. Han )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRUDQGGerard Manley Hopkins on the Virtues of Blindness and Silence 207 Henry T. Edmondson III Section IV: Structural Issues The Ambiguity of Vocation: Or, What Flannery Meant by ³0DOJUp/XL´ W. A. Sessions

231

³:DV«@´CW  7KHVHWZR³FKXUFKHV´WKHQDUHPHDQW to signal something more than simple observation; they are meant to signal something more akin to condemnation that 2¶&RQQRUEURXJKWGRZQRQWKHVH³DEVXUGLWLHV´

This Protestant World

35

This reduction is, in part, a prime example of what 0DUWKD6WHSKHQVGLVPLVVLYHO\ UHIHUVWR DV³a very large part of modern Christian narrative. She further explains that the QDUUDWLYH LV ³VWRU\ DIWHU VWRU\ PHDQW GUDPDWLFDOO\ WR H[SRVH WKH XJOLQHVV DQG DEVXUGLW\ RI KXPDQ OLIH LQ DQG RI LWVHOI´   $V XVXDO ZLWK 6WHSKHQV WKHUH LV D VWURQJ ELDV DJDLQVW 2¶&RQQRU¶V Christianity as it is manifest in her writing, allowing the reader WR TXHVWLRQ ZKHWKHU LW LV WKH ³XJOLQHVV DQG DEVXUGLW\ RI KXPDQ OLIH´WKDW2¶&RQQRULVDIWHURULILWLVWKHXJOLQHVVDQGDEVXUGLW\ of the effects of modernism on American culture? Seen in light RI ZKDW 2¶&RQQRU VHHPV WR EH XS WR LQ Wise Blood, one may rest comfortably on the assumption that it is in fact modernism that she is after here. That denominations splinter so easily and painlessly seems to indicate just how completely the grasp of extreme LQGLYLGXDOLVP LV LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V PRGHUQ 3URWHVWDQW 6RXWK 2I course, this tendency toward division began, as John Burt points out, with the Reformation. When aligned with the greater cultural changes brought about by the Enlightenment and subsequently the modern era, there was no stopping this trend. The merging of Protestantism with American modernity set the VWDJHIRUD³PHUHO\FRPIRUWLQJDQGFRQVROLQJ deity, a god who underwrites our own political and social prejudices, a god who confirms things as they are, the god whom Karl Barth rightly called the No-*RG´ DV 5DOSK :RRG DUWLFXODWHO\ GHVFULEHV WKH state of religion in America (157). And upon the discovery of KRZ HDV\ LW LV WR FUHDWH WKLV NLQG RI ³1R-*RG´ DQRWKHU Protestant heresy that had been festering since the Reformation was more widely implemented, namely antinomianism. Antinomianism Antinomianism is the belief in an exemption for Christians, via the distinctly Protestant doctrine of sola vide, from the influence of religious authority. Living in the 3URWHVWDQW 6RXWK 2¶&RQQRU certainly knew this concept very

36

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

well. In a letter to the novelist John Hawkes, she says of 3URWHVWDQWV ³:LVH EORRG KDV WR EH WKHVH SHRSOH¶V PHDQV RI grace²they have no sacraments. The religion of the South is a do-it-yourself religioQ >«@ They have nothing to correct their SUDFWLFDOKHUHVLHVDQGVRWKH\ZRUNWKHPRXWGUDPDWLFDOO\´CW  2QH¶VRZQEORRGWKHQWDNHV WKHSODFHRIODZRQH¶VVHOI is supreme authority. Martha Stephens, again, may be helpful here. She observes, ³7KHWLWOHFRQFHSWRIWKHERRNLVFOHDUO\DQ ironical one²RQH¶VEORRGLVQRWµZLVH¶WREHOLHYHWKDWLWLVWKDW one can rely simply on self) is the classic fundamental error of SULGHIXO PDQNLQG´   3ULGHIXO PDQNLQG PD\ SHUKDSV KDYH EHHQ ZKDW 2¶&RQQRU ZDV WKLQNLQJ RI ZKHQ VKH FDPH RXW ZLWK the concept of Wise Blood EXW WKH LGHD WKDW ³RQH FDQ UHO\ VLPSO\ RQ VHOI´ WKRXJK LW PD\ EH D IHDWXUH RI mankind, is elevated to the level of an ideal in modernism. -XVW DV KLVWRU\ KDV PDQLIHVWHG WKH 6RXWK¶V WHQGHQF\ toward extreme individualism, so has it revealed a typically Southern distrust of authority. An auxiliary character in Wise Blood exemplifies this distrust precisely. When Haze first arrives in Taulkinham and decides to find Mrs. Leora Watts, a prostitute, his taxi driver mistakes Haze for a preacher. Haze VQDSVEDFN³,DLQ¶WDQ\SUHDFKHU´GHVSLWHKLVKDWZKLFKPDNHV him look like one. The taxi driver responds that it is not just the hat but something in his look. Haze insists that he is not a SUHDFKHU DQG WKDW KH ³GRQ¶W EHOLHYH LQ DQ\WKLQJ¶ 6HHPLQJO\ familiar with this line of thinking, the taxi driver replies, ³7KDW¶V the trouble with you preachers. «@ KDYH DOZD\V EHHQ SULPDU\ concerns of fictioQ ZULWHUV´ +H LV DEOH WR VHH KRZHYHU WKH LQFRPSDWLELOLW\ RI WKLV WUXWK ZLWK WKH PRGHUQ ZRUOG ³:KDW¶V frightening for a novelist today is how the technological consumerism that rules our world specifically aims to render both of these concerns [mystery DQG PDQQHUV@ PRRW´ )UDQ]HQ   &HUWDLQO\ WKH ³WHFKQRORJLFDO FRQVXPHULVP´ WKDW )UDQ]HQ sees as the present state of America is the aged incarnation of WKH PRGHUQ ZRUOG LQ ZKLFK 2¶&RQQRU ILUVW PDGH KHU FDVH IRU mystery and manners.

This Protestant World

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2¶&RQQRU¶V PRGHUQ ZRUOd is terrifying, as seen most vividly in Wise Blood. It is a place where the most one can expect from his neighbor is a dirty look and distrust. Certainly this does not bode well with the stereotypes of the Protestant South as a warm and welcoming place. BXW 2¶&RQQRU KDV QR time for stereotypes. She strips the glossy veneer off of the South, off of Protestantism, and off of modernism to reveal the frightening reality that lies beneath. 2IDOOWKHPRGHUQZULWHUV)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRULVSHUKDSV most qualified to offer this portrayal of the Protestant and Southern corner of modern America. Having the benefit of both DQ LQVLGHU¶V YLHZ WR 6RXWKHUQ FXOWXUH DQG DQ RXWVLGHU¶V H\H RQ 3URWHVWDQW IXQGDPHQWDOLVP 2¶&RQQRU LV DSW WR SRUWUD\ WKH solipsism that results in division and antinomianism of this constantly fracturing culture. In the same letter to Carl Hartman LQZKLFK2¶&RQQRULQVLVWVWKDW+D]HLV³WKHXOWLPDWH3URWHVWDQW´ VKH RSLQHV ³, GRQ¶W WKLQN \RX FDQ EH D JRRG &DWKROLF ZLWKRXW EHLQJ FDWKROLF´ CW 919). Here she is invoking the original PHDQLQJRIWKHZRUG³FDWKROLF´DVXQLYHUVDOWKHVDPHPHDQLQJ 3URWHVWDQWV HPSOR\ ZKHQ WKH\ VD\ WKH\ ³EHOLHYH LQ RQH KRO\ FDWKROLF DQG DSRVWROLF &KXUFK´ LQ WKH 1LFHQH &UHHG 7KDW LV WR say, a good Catholic will have a sense of the universal, as she does; a sense that allows her to write so tellingly about Protestants in the South. 2¶&RQQRULVDVKathleen Feeley suggests, an ecumenical &DWKROLF 6KH KDV D GHHS UHVSHFW IRU LQ KHU ZRUGV ³WKRVH aspects of Southern life where the religious feeling is most LQWHQVH´ MM 207). And as such, her critique comes with the added weight of attempting to unite Christians both by highlighting differences between Catholics and Protestants while underscoring the similarities. In ³)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRUDQG WKH%LEOH%HOW´ Luis D. Rubin, Jr. says it thusly: What I would suggest is that much of the dramatic tension that makes Flannery 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILFWLRQ VR JULSSLQJ DQG

40

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald memorable lies in the insight into religious experience afforded her by her double heritage as both Catholic and Southerner. The two forms of orthodoxy²the primitive fundamentalism of her region, the Roman Catholicism of her faith²work sometimes with and sometimes against each other in a literary counterpoint that has enabled her to create some of the most distinguished and exciting fiction of her time. (71)

2¶&RQQRU¶V GLYHUJHQFH LV QRW ZLWK 3URWHVWDQWLVP DV such, but with the misrepresentations of religion brought on by the modern era. She writes against these misrepresentations for the sake of fellow Christians and for the culture at large. In an interview with Atlanta Magazine, published in August of 1963, VKH VDLG ³7KH QRYHOLVW ZLWK &KULVWLDQ FRQFHUQV ZLOO ILQG LQ modern life distortions which are repugnant to him and his problems will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is seeing WKHP DV QDWXUDO´ 0DJHH   Wise Blood is a book about these distortions. Hazel Motes, Enoch Emery, Asa and Sabbath Hawks, Shoats, Watts, Flood, and HYHU\ FLWL]HQ RI 7DXONLQKDP DUH ³IUHDNV´ DV 2¶&RQQRU FDOOV them, but they are seen as such because they have been cut off from each other, made to live separate lives with their own blood as their only guide. By making this world her subject, 2¶&RQQRU ZURWH DJDLQVW LWV LGHDOV WUDQVIRUPLQJ WKH PRGHUQ landscape before most people even sensed that something had gone wrong and beginning the work of re-forming communities.

Works Cited Browning, Preston M., Jr. Flannery O¶Connor. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U P, 1974.

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Burt, John. ³What You Can¶W 7DON $ERXW´ LQ Flannery O¶Connor. ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. (125-43) Feeley, Kathleen. Flannery O¶Connor: Voice of the Peacock. New Brunswick: Rutgers U P, 1972. Franzen, Jonathan. How to Be Alone. New York: Farrar, 2002. Holman, C. Hugh. ³Her Rue with a Difference: Flannery O¶Connor and the Southern Literary Tradition´ LQ The Added Dimension: The Art and Mind of Flannery O¶Connor. eds. Melvin J. Friedman and Lewis A. Lawson. New York: Fordham U P, 1966. (73-87) Magee, Rosemary M., ed. Conversations with Flannery O¶Connor. Jackson: U P Mississippi, 1987. Nisly, Paul W. ³The Prison of the Self: Isolation in Flannery O¶Connor¶s Fiction.´ Studies in Short Fiction 17 (1980): 49. Academic Search Premier. 2¶&RQQRU)ODQQHU\Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. _______. Mystery and Manners. eds. Sally Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, 1989. Rubin, Louis D.-U³Flannery O¶&RQQRUDQGWKH%LEOH%HOW´LQ The Added Dimension: the Art and Mind of Flannery O¶Connor. eds. Melvin J. Friedman and Lewis A. Lawson. New York: Fordham U P, 1966. (49-72) Stephens, Martha. The Question of Flannery O¶Connor. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P, 1973. Wood, Ralph C. Flannery O¶Connor and the Christ Haunted South. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004. _______. ³Flannery O¶Connor¶s Witness to the Gospel of Life.´ Modern Age 47 (2005): 321-29. Academic Search Premier. Zuber, Leo J., comp. The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews by Flannery O¶Connor. Athens: U Georgia P, 1983.

³,EHOLHYH,EHOLHYH´ The Miracle of Christ LQ)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶VWise Blood Susan Amper Bronx Community College of the City University of New York ,Q  DV )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU ODERUHG RQ Wise Blood1, Americans went to the movies. In an average week, ninety million Americans, more than two-thirds of the population, saw at least one movie in one of the more than 18,000 neighborhood theaters (Epstein 3). Movies both reflect the experience of life and offer a temporary escape from its sorrows; they arise from anG LQ WXUQ UHLQIRUFH WKHLU VRFLHW\¶V DWWLWXGHV FRQFHUQV DQG belief systems. In 1947, American society, to judge from the movies it watched, was interested in money and faith. The most popular movies that year included The )DUPHU¶V 'DXJKWHU, in which a beautiful Swedish girl (Loretta Young) leaves her home in the country with the intention of going to nursing school. She is bilked out of her money and must take a job as a servant in the home of a wealthy senator (Joseph Cotten). Her idealistic beliefs in government lead her to sacrifice her love for the senator to run for office; having put duty before love and wealth, however, she is duly rewarded with both and ends up with the senator at last. In *HQWOHPDQ¶V Agreement, Gregory Peck plays journalist Phillip Green, who pretends to be Jewish in order to write about anti-Semitism. When his pose threatens his professional prospects, social VWDQGLQJ DQG PDUULDJH WR DQ KHLUHVV KH OLNH WKH IDUPHU¶V GDXJKWHUSXWVKLVEHOLHIVILUVWDQGDWPRYLH¶VHQGWKHFRXSOH¶V future remains ambiguous. 7KH %LVKRS¶V :LIH, which also features Loretta Young, tells the story of a bishop, David Niven, whose grandiose building plans estrange him from his wife. An angel played by Cary Grant leads him to the redeeming recognition of what is really important in his life. Meanwhile, Miracle on 34th StreetVHW DW &KULVWPDVVWDUV0DXUHHQ2¶+DUD

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Susan Amper

and Natalie Wood as mother and daughter who are called to abandon their hard-boiled rationalism and believe in Santa Claus. Like the other films, Miracle pits ethics against worldly success, materialism against faith. Although Wise Blood differs markedly in tone from these popular entertainments, its preoccupations are strikingly similar. It too dwells at the crossroads of commerce and conviction: its hero is called to conversion from a life of spiritual darkness. Indeed, a movie theater assumes a prominent SODFHLQWKHQRYHO¶VQDUUDWLYHDQGPHWDSKRULFDOODQGVFDSH If film is not among the varieties of religious experience, going to the movies is nonetheless a great deal like going to church. People gather in a dark, open space facing toward a blaze of light, and see enacted familiar narratives in which good triumphs over evil. Values are restated and tacitly ratified by the congregants. The rituals are comfortable, the music enjoyable, and the price affordable. In The Power of Movies: How Screen and Mind Interact, Colin McGinn observes the similarities between church and cinema: Psychologically, there is an emotional stirring, a sense of great themes, a moral focusing, and sometimes a state bordering on trance. The congregation may become so caught up in the moment that they wail and weep, overflowing with emotion; but so too in the cinema audiences have been known to faint and cry out²emotions run high there too. The power of both places to induce a trancelike state hardly needs emphasis. Both can bring their attendees to a state of transport and selfforgetfulness, seizing them at the core. Exiting the establishment can be felt as a kind of cleansing, as if dangerous energies have been released. (79)

The Miracle of Christ in Wise Blood

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For the price of admission, movies offer a faith experience. Miracle on 34th Street, for one, presents a distinctly Christian narrative, offering Kris Kringle as its appealing Christ figure. The film tells us that we must believe in Santa Claus, not as an abstract idea, but as a real, living person. This belief ultimately unites not only a man, woman, and child, but the people of New York City and the nation. Importantly, the belief also brings to these individuals and the nation substantial financial rewards. The idea of doing well by doing good, while timelessly appealing, had special relevance in postwar America. We had done a fine thing in shouldering the war effort and saving the world: our proper reward was prosperity, defined by professional advancement, an intact family, and a house in the suburbs. )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU RIIHUV D VWDUNHU YLHZ RI WKH IDLWK journey. Like many Americans, Hazel Motes has done his part for the war effort, spending four years in the service and being wounded by shrapnel in the chest. When he makes his way to his hometown of Eastrod, however, he finds that all his people are dead and that the only thing that remains of his home and FKLOGKRRGLVKLVPRWKHU¶VFKLIIorobe, which he does not want to lose but cannot take with him. He goes so far as to leave a note LQ HDFK RI LWV GUDZHUV SURFODLPLQJ ³7+,6 6+,))(5-ROBE BELONGS TO HAZEL MOTES. DO NOT STEAL IT OR +D]HO@ WR WXUQ DURXQG DQG FRPH RII LQWR WKH GDUN´ (CW 11) does not go away despite his efforts to remain pure, Hazel makes up his to mind to reject all that has formed him in the past, especially his childhood belief in Christ and sin. In her note to the second edition of Wise Blood, 2¶&RQQRU remarked, ³+D]HO0RWHV¶LQWHJULW\OLHVLQKLVWU\LQJZLWKVXFKYLJRUWRJHW rid of the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back

48

Susan Amper

RI KLV PLQG´ CW 1265). Hazel decides to banish the ragged ILJXUHE\HPEUDFLQJVLQ³:KDWGR,QHHGZLWK-HVXV"´KHDVNV ³, JRW /HRUD :DWWV´ CW 31). He expects his sexual encounter with Mrs. Watts will be transformative, but afterwards he feels neither more nor less sinful than he did before, neither liberated QRUGDPQHG³,I,ZDVLQVLQ,ZDVLQLWEHIRUH,HYHUFRPPLWWHG DQ\´KHSURFODLPV³7KHUH¶VQRFKDQJH FRPHLQPH´ %HFDXVH KLV VLQIXOQHVV LV ZLWKRXW HIILFDF\ LW PXVW QRW EH UHDO ³, GRQ¶t EHOLHYH LQ VLQ´ KH GHFODUHV CW 29). It is after this nontransformative act that he starts to preach the Church Without &KULVW +H WHOOV D JDV VWDWLRQ DWWHQGDQW WKDW ³LW ZDV QRW ULJKW WR EHOLHYHDQ\WKLQJ \RXFRXOGQ¶WVHHRUKROGLQ \RXUKDQGVRUWHVW wLWK \RXU WHHWK´ CW 116). Here Hazel resembles the apostle 7KRPDVZKRUHIXVHVWREHOLHYHLQ&KULVW¶VUHVXUUHFWLRQXQWLOKH SXWKLVILQJHUVLQ-HVXV¶ZRXQGV This is a second type of blindness: the inability, or refusal, to see behind the veil of appearances, to see the spirit world that lies behind material existence. Jesus implicitly UHEXNHV 7KRPDV VD\LQJ³7KRPDVEHFDXVHWKRXKDVW VHHQPH thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet KDYHEHOLHYHG´-RKQ  Spiritual blindness is the lot of the XQVDYHG 7KH SRSXODU K\PQ ³$PD]LQJ *UDFH´ GHVFULEHV WKH VWDWHRIWKRVHZLWKRXWWKHJLIWRIJUDFH³,RQFHZDVORVWEXWQRZ DPIRXQG:DVEOLQGEXWQRZ,VHH´ Paradoxically, however, the trope of blindness is also deployed as an imaJHRIGHHSVSLULWXDOYLVLRQ³%OLQGIDLWK´LVD goal that Christians simultaneously aspire to and shrink from. It represents a highly evolved state of spiritual existence, requiring a rejection of the material world, and implicitly an abnegation of self, beyond the reach of ordinary pilgrims. The blind prophet is an object of awe. This kind of blindness both fascinates and terrifies Hazel Motes. When he sees Asa Hawks, who claims to have blinded himself for Jesus, he asks Asa Hawk¶V GDXJKWHU ³+RZ GLG KH cRPH WR EHOLHYH" >«@ :KDW FKDQJHG KLP LQWR D SUHDFKHU IRU -HVXV"´ CW 68). Hazel seeks to divine the process of moving

The Miracle of Christ in Wise Blood

49

IURPGLVEHOLHIWREHOLHI+HVD\VDERXW$VD³,VXSSRVHEHIRUHKH FDPHWREHOLHYHKHGLGQ¶WEHOLHYHDWDOO´CW 68). Hazel follows Asa to his apartment and tries to talk to him. He moves into $VD¶V DSDUWPHQW EXLOGLQJ DQG FRQWLQXHV WR GRJ WKH SUHDFKHU¶V VWHSVWU\LQJWR³VHHLIKHFRXOGEHKLQGWKHEODFNJODVVHV´CW 82). He wants to see in order to believe. When finally he does sneak into AsD¶VGDUNDSDUWPHQWDQGGLVFRYHUVWKDWWKHSUHDFKHU is only faking blindness, Hazel is not merely disappointed, but outraged. His reaction is telling, for he can only be outraged to WKH H[WHQW WKDW $VD¶V EOLQGQHVV KROGV PHDQLQJ IRU KLP KH KDV tried to dismiss that blindness, but his anger at discovering the ruse reveals that he has doubts about his doubts. Moved to preach his gospel of the Church Without &KULVW +D]HO WDNHV KLPVHOI WR WKH WRZQ¶V PRYLH WKHDWHUV +HUH people gather in darkness, seeking uplift in stories depicting the WULXPSKRIYLUWXH+D]HO¶VFKXUFKLVDOODERXWEOLQGQHVVDFKXUFK ³ZKHUHWKHEOLQGGRQ¶WVHHDQGWKHODPHGRQ¶WZDONDQGZKDW¶V GHDGVWD\VWKDWZD\$VNPHDERXWWKDWFKXUFKDQG,¶OOWHOO\RX LW¶V WKH FKXUFK WKDW WKH EORRG RI -HVXV GRQ¶W IRXO ZLWK UHGHPSWLRQ´ CW   +D]HO¶V VHFXODU FKXUFK LV PDGH WR RUGHU for the denizens of movie theaters, where crises of faith are resolved in 90 minutes and those who suffer for Christ emerge KHDOWK\DQGZHDOWK\DVZHOODVZLVH+D]HO¶VEORRGOess salvation offers his audience comfort and protection from a harsher vision of faith. Their acceptance of his teaching, in turn, helps confirm Hazel in his own blindness. +D]HO¶V DXGLHQFH ZRXOG OLNHO\ KDYH LQFOXGHG PDQ\ D patron of Miracle on 34th Street, a good-natured, cleverly scripted, and appealing comedy that depicts its own flight from DQGXOWLPDWHHPEUDFHRIIDLWK'RULV:DONHU0DXUHHQ2¶+DUD  SHUVRQQHO PDQDJHU DW 0DF\¶V KDV OHDUQHG E\ ELWWHU H[SHULHQFH not to believe in fairy tales. Berating neighbor Fred Gailey (John Payne) DIWHU KH¶V WDNHQ KHU GDXJKWHU 6XVDQ (Natalie Wood) to see Kris Kringle, she says:

50

Susan Amper I tell her Santa Claus is a myth, you bring her here and she sees hundreds of gullible children and meets a very convincing old man with real whiskers. This sets up a very harmful mental conflict within her. What is she going to think? Who is she going to believe? And by filling them full of fairy tales they grow up considering life a fantasy instead of a reality.

Doris has carefully trained her daughter to believe only the absolute truth. So blind is Doris that she hires Kris Kringle as her department stRUH¶V 6DQWD QHYHU LPDJLQLQJ WKDW KH LV WKH real thing. Mother and daughter are pursued, not by a ragged figure, but by an attractive up-and-coming attorney and Kris Kringle himself, who will attempt to open their eyes. The Walkers begin hopelessly immersed in the PDWHULDOZRUOG'RULVWHOOV)UHG*DLOH\³ZHVKRXOGEHUHDOLVWLF and completely truthful with our children and not have them growing up believing in a lot of legends and myths like Santa &ODXV IRU H[DPSOH´ 1DWDOLH :RRG JDUQHUV EURDG VPLOHV IURm WKH DXGLHQFH DV VKH SDWLHQWO\ EXW ILUPO\ UHMHFWV 0U *DLOH\¶V fairy tale that the baseball player balloon in the Thanksgiving 'D\ 3DUDGH ³ORRNV OLNH D JLDQW´ 6XVDQ NQRZLQJO\ UHVSRQGV ³PHRSOHVRPHWLPHVJURZYHU\ELJEXWWKDW¶VDEQRUPDO´ In addition, tKHVH FKDUDFWHUV¶ PDWHULDOLVP UHIOHFWV D widespread social ill, summed up by Alfred, a young janitor at 0DF\¶V. ³7KHUH¶VDORWRIEDGµLVPV¶IORDWLQ¶DURXQGWKLVZRUOG´ $OIUHGWHOOV.ULVRQWKHODWWHU¶VILUVWGD\RIZRUN³EXWRQHRIWKH worst is commercialism. Make a buck, make a buck. Even in %URRNO\Q LW¶V WKH VDPH²GRQ¶W FDUH ZKDW &KULVWPDV VWDQGV IRU just make DEXFNPDNHDEXFN´.ULVUHSOLHVWKDWWKLVLVH[DFWO\ what he is fighting against, and he sees Doris Walker and her daughter as his test case. If he can convince them that what Santa stands for is real and that Christmas is more than commercial, his mission will have succeeded.

The Miracle of Christ in Wise Blood

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Thus the movie establishes what appears to be a clear conflict between the spirit of Christmas and the spirit of commerce. But the conflict is mere illusion. The real miracle in this film is that the spiritual and material worlds never diverge. Indeed, selflessness and faith offer the surest path to happiness and success. When Kris tells a customer that she can find the toy KHUVRQZDQWVDWDQRWKHUVWRUHKHGRHVQ¶WORVHDVDOHKHJDLQVD QHZ 0DF\¶V FXVWRPHU :KHQ 0U 0DF\ OHDUQV what Santa is GRLQJ KH DW ILUVW FRQVLGHUV WKH LGHD ³LGLRWLF´ +H UHTXLUHV however, no leap of faith to change his mind, for he receives documentary proof in the form of telegrams and messages from countless grateful patrons. In deciding to extend the policy from the toy department to the rest of the store, Macy is quite plain DERXWKLVPRWLYDWLRQ³:H¶OOEHNQRZQDVWKHKHOSIXOVWRUHWKH friendly store, the store with a heart, the store that places public VHUYLFH DKHDG RI SURILWV $QG FRQVHTXHQWO\ ZH¶Ol make more SURILWVWKDQHYHUEHIRUH´ 7KH QDJJLQJ QRWH RI F\QLFLVP 0DF\¶V VSHHFK PLJKW inspire is buried beneath the sheer wonder of the astonishing way in which all things work together for good for those who ORYH6DQWD&ODXV*LPEHOVDQG0DF\¶VORJLFDlly extending their notorious competition, extend the policy of selflessness across America, then vie to donate an x-ray machine to the rest home ZKHUH .ULV UHVLGHV 7KH MXGJH LQ .ULV¶V LQVDQLW\ KHDULQJ ZKR seemingly must incur the wrath of a sentimental public in order to uphold the law and common sense, is spared any such wrenching choice. At the closing moment of the trial, sacks of mail, resurrected from the dead letter office, are delivered to .ULVDWWKHFRXUWKRXVHDOORZLQJWKHMXGJHWRUXOHWKDW³Vince the United States government declares this man to be Santa Claus, WKLV FRXUW ZLOO QRW GLVSXWH LW &DVH GLVPLVVHG´ 7KLQJV FRPH WRJHWKHU IRU WKH PDLQ FKDUDFWHUV DV ZHOO :KHQ *DLOH\¶V VWXII\ law firm objects to his attempt to prove at the hearing that Kris really is Santa Claus, Gailey quits. Doris sees only selfdestructive folly, but Gailey knows better. As the celebrated

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lawyer who proved that Santa Claus is real, he can expect immediate success in his own private practice. Even more strikingly, characters are not in fact called on WREHOLHYHDQ\WKLQJWKH\FDQQRWVHH*DLOH\WHOOV'RULVWKDW³IDLWK LV EHOLHYLQJ ZKHQ FRPPRQ VHQVH WHOOV \RX QRW WR´ D OLQH WKDW gets repeated later and which seems a fair approximation of the Pauline doctrine of faith. Yet in the world of this film, common sense aligns with faith as clearly as does financial reward. When Kris prods Susan to tell him what she wants for Christmas, she WDNHV RXW DQ DGYHUWLVHPHQW IRU D KRXVH LQ WKH VXEXUEV ³-XVW EHFDXVHHYHU\FKLOGFDQ¶WJHW KLVZLVKGRHVQ¶WPHDQWKHUHLVQ¶WD 6DQWD&ODXV´.ULVLQVLVWVEXW6XVDQ¶VSRVLWLRQLVILUP³,I\RX¶UH UHDOO\6DQWD&ODXV\RXFDQJHWLWIRUPH´VKHWHOOVKLP³$QGLI \RX FDQ¶W \RX¶UH RQO\ D QLFH PDQ ZLWK D ZKLWH EHDUG OLNH 0RWKHU VDLG´ 2Q &KULVWPDs morning Susan finds nothing EHQHDWK WKH WUHH 'RULV KDV LQ WKH PHDQWLPH SDVVHG *DLOH\¶V epigram on to her daughter, and riding home later in the day, 6XVDQ GURQHV LQ XWWHU KRSHOHVVQHVV ³, EHOLHYH , EHOLHYH´ Nothing is plainer than that she does not believe. It is only when she sees the house²which matches the one in the clipping right down to the swing in the backyard²that she comes to accept Kris as her personal Santa Claus. $W ILOP¶V HQG *DLOH\ VWDUWV WR JORDW DERXW KRZ EULOOLDQW he is to have proved at law that the kindly old Kris was really Santa Claus. Gailey stops, however, when he notices what looks OLNH .ULV¶V FDQH VWDQGLQJ LQ D FRUQHU RI WKH QHZ KRXVH ,I .ULV was the agent of this, then it stands to reason that he really must be Santa Claus. ,WLVQRWDOHDSRIIDLWKLW¶VDSUHSRQGHUDQFHRI HYLGHQFH *DLOH\¶V DFKLHYHPHQW LQ FRXUW WRR LV IDU OHVV impressive if he only proved what was true. Gailey seems to DFNQRZOHGJH WKLV LQ WKH ODVW OLQH LQ WKH ILOP VD\LQJ ³0D\EH , GLGQ¶WGRVXFKDJRRGWKLQJDIWHUDOO´7KHSKUDVLQJLVFXULRXV,I .ULV LV UHDOO\6DQWDWKHQ*DLOH\GLG QRW GRVXFKDQ³DPD]LQJ´ WKLQJRUVXFKD³JUHDW´WKLQJEXWZK\GRHVWKHILOPHQGRQWKH idea that what he has done is not a good thing? He has saved Santa from being institutionalized, redeemed (apparently) the

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lost souls of Doris and Susan, and struck a blow for the spirit of &KULVWPDV WKDW KDV DOO 1HZ LV@XSRQWKHIDFHRI WKHGHHS´*HQ:2). God, unseen and unknowable, calls us to leave what we know and follow Him, we know not where, to an open-ended commitment, an unattainable perfection. We are to be guided solely by faith, yet we do not know the nature of this faith, nor its limits, nor when it may fail us, so that at any time ZH ³PLJKW EH ZDONLQJ RQ WKH ZDWHU DQG QRW NQRZ LW DQG WKHQ VXGGHQO\NQRZLWDQGGURZQ´CW 11). 2¶&RQQRUKDVZULWWHQWKDW³>W@KHUHLVDPRPHQWLQHYHU\ great story in which the presence of grace can be felt as it waits WREHDFFHSWHGRUUHMHFWHG´MM 118). When Mrs. Flood is with +D]HO VKH IHHOV WKDW WKHUH¶V ³VRPHWKLQJ YDOXDEOH KLGGHQ QHDU KHU VRPHWKLQJ VKH FRXOGQ¶W VHH´ CW   «@´ ³)RU P\VHOI´ VKH FRQWLQXHG ³, GRQ¶W KDYH WKDW VWUHDN , EHOLHYH WKDW ZKDW¶VULJKWWRGD\LVZURQJWRPRUURZDQG that the time to enjoy yourself is now so ORQJDV\RXOHWRWKHUVGRWKHVDPH,¶PDV JRRG 0U 0RWHV´ VKH VDLG ³QRW believing in Jesus as a many a one that GRHV´ ³D *RG@ ZKR FRQIRXQGV WKH VHQVHV DQG WKH sensibilities, one known early on as a stumbling block. There is no way to gloss over this specification or to make it more DFFHSWDEOH WR PRGHUQ WKRXJKW´ ³1RYHOLVW DQG %HOLHYHU´ 1). )RU 2¶&RQQRU, the existence of God must be accepted as a matter of faith; He could neither be reasoned into or out of existence. She was fascinated, however, by the blend of the

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comic and the tragic she saw in the experiences of those searching within themselves for the meaning of their existence. +D]HO 0RWHV WKHSURWDJRQLVW RI2¶&RQQRU¶VILUVWQRYHO, Wise Blood (1952), is one such seeker. Motes disavows &KULVWLDQLW\ DQG GHYRWHV KLPVHOI WR SURPRWLQJ KLV ³&KXUFK :LWKRXW &KULVW´ ZKLFK IHDWXUHV LQGLYLGual isolation and the QHFHVVLW\ IRU RQH WR GHILQH WKH VLJQLILFDQFH RI RQH¶V H[LVWHQFH IRURQH¶VVHOI+D]HSUHDFKHVRQWKHVWUHHWVRI7DXONLQKDP³,Q \RXUVHOI ULJKW QRZ LV DOO WKH SODFH \RX¶YH JRW´ CW 93). The misguided assumptions of individual isolation and individual potential for self-definition provide much of the humor in the QRYHO DV 2¶&RQQRU LOOXVWUDWHV WKH ULGLFXORXV IDLOXUH RI WKHVH beliefs in both the primary plot featuring Haze and in the subplot featuring Enoch Emory. The comedic aspects of Wise Blood H[WHQG IURP WKH FKDUDFWHUV¶ ODFN RI &KULVWLDQ IDLWK DQG 2¶&RQQRU DUUDQJHV WKH FRPLF HOHPHQWV²slapstick, insults, and comic doubling²to critique the spiritual void of existential thought. 2¶&RQQRU¶V PXVHV RI WUDJHG\ DQG FRPHG\ ZHUH QRW distinct or oppositional sources of inspiration; rather, they were a single entity that might reasonably be called her muse of faith. ,Q 2¶&RQQRU¶V YLHZ RI WKH XQLYHUVH IDLWK LV D SUHUHTXLVLWH IRU recognizing and demonstrating the interrelated nature of the seriouVDQGWKHFRPLF³>,@WLVZHOOWRUHDOL]HWKDWWKHPD[LPXP amount of seriousness admits the maximum amount of comedy. Only if we are secure in our beliefs can we see the comical side RIWKHXQLYHUVH´³1RYHOLVWDQG%HOLHYHU´ ,QSDUWLFXODUVKH was fascinated by the tragic-comic mix she saw in those who appeared to desire a Christian worldview but who resisted the LQKHUHQW DFW RI IDLWK DW WKH FRUH RI &KULVWLDQLW\ 2¶&RQQRU IRU example, described the life of French philosopher Simone Weil DV ³DOPRVW D SHUIHFW EOHQGLQJ RI WKH &RPLF DQG WKH 7HUULEOH´ and she expressed a desire to write a novel about such a woman. ³:KDW LV PRUH FRPLF DQG WHUULEOH´ 2¶&RQQRU DVNHG ³WKDQ WKH angular intellectual proud woman approaching God inch by inch ZLWK JURXQG WHHWK"´ (CW 957-58). 2¶&RQQRU QHYHU ZURWH WKLV

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novel which would have made a wonderful companion piece to Wise Blood and its proud, angular protagonist, Haze. In her oftTXRWHG QRWH WR WKH VHFRQG HGLWLRQ RI WKH QRYHO 2¶&RQQRU describes Wise Blood LQ D GLVWLQFWO\ VLPLODU IDVKLRQ ³,W LV D comic novel about a Christian malgré lui [despite himself], and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good PXVWEHDERXWPDWWHUVRIOLIHDQGGHDWK´CW 1265). 0XFK RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V PRVW PHPRUDEOH Zork blends the tragic and the comic in a macabre fashion that often leaves UHDGHUV XQFHUWDLQ ZKHWKHU WR ODXJK RU VKLYHU DQG 2¶&RQQRU¶V stylized use of the grotesque has received more attention than any other aspect of her fiction except her Christianity.1 2¶&RQQRU IUHTXHQWO\ XVHV WKH JURWHVTXH WR HPSKDVL]H KHU FKDUDFWHUV¶GHSUDYHGH[LVWHQFHoutside faith. This relationship is HYLGHQW LQ ³*RRG &RXQWU\ 3HRSOH´ ZKHQ D EDFNZRRGV confidence man disguised as a Bible salesman steals the wooden leg of a pretentious girl who thinks she is seducing him. A similar mix of the hilarious and the macabre dominates 2¶&RQQRU¶VPRVWIDPRXVVKRUWVWRU\³$*RRG0DQ,V+DUGWR )LQG´ 7KH FRPLF LQWHUDFWLRQV RI DQ REQR[LRXV IDPLO\ RQ vacation end in a massacre when they encounter the escaped convict, The Misfit, whose lack of faith in Christ propels him to perform acts of evil. Likewise, in Wise Blood, Asa +DZNV¶V grotesque scars constantly remind us of his spiritual failings with an ironic mixture of the tragic and comic. Numerous critical appraisals of the novel identify the grotesque²with varying degrees of attention to the comic aspects²as an expression of distorted, mistaken, or bankrupt morality.2 $OWKRXJK 2¶&RQQRU¶V XVH RI WKH JURWHVTXH LQ Wise Blood does function in this fashion, this critical focus has tended to overshadow the comic aspects of the novel, a trend Lucinda 0DF.HWKDQ LGHQWLILHV LQ 2¶&RQQRU VWXGLHV DV D WHQGHQF\ WR SUHIHUHQFH³WKHGDUNQHVVWKHVLQWKHPRUDOLVPRUGHPRQLVPRU Puritanism that are assumed to be the main products of her UHOLJLRXVFRQYLFWLRQV´ 0DF.HWKDQZURWHWKLVLQDQG in the intervening years scholars have begun paying more

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DWWHQWLRQ WR WKH VXEVWDQFH RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V KXPRU3 This essay examines the extensive and multi-faceted comedy of Wise Blood as part of her condemnation of existential philosophy. $ &DWKROLF QRYHOLVW OLYLQJ LQ ³DQ XQEHOLHYLQJ DJH´ 2¶&RQQRU VDZ KHUVHOI DW RGGV ZLWK WKH LQWHOOHFWXDO DQG OLWHUDU\ FOLPDWHGRPLQDWHGE\³VXFKQRYHOLVWVDV+HPLQJZD\DQG.DIND and Gide and &DPXV´ ³1RYHOLVW DQG %HOLHYHU´    While these authors did not necessarily align themselves in overt fashion with existential philosophy, their works featured alienated individuals struggling for meaning in a Godless world. They were examples of the modern mind ceding primacy to the individual consciousness, which as Robert H. Brinkmeyer contends, was tantamount to deifying the individual for 2¶&RQQRU ³7KH PRGHUQ FRQVFLRXVQHVV 2¶&RQQRU NQHZ ZHOO utterly devalues all existence outside itself in its radical subjectification of reality; with God dead, or at least entirely DEVHQWFRQVFLRXVQHVVEHFRPHVWKHJRGWREHZRUVKLSSHG´  It would be unfair, perhaps, to accuse the aforementioned authors of worshipping the individual consciousness when they seemed more inclined to chronicle the angst and absurdity induced by the burden of coming to terms with the isolation of modern man. Sartre, however, characterized the human consciousness in isolation as not just a burden but also an opportunity, and in KLV OHFWXUH³([LVWHQWLDOLVP IVD+XPDQLVP´ (1946), he described existentialism as an optimistic philosophy WKURXJKZKLFK³PDQFDQUHDOL]HKLPVHOIDVWUXO\KXPDQ´  The foremost proponent of existential philosophy, Sartre presented his ideas in works of fiction such as Nausea (1938) and plays such as No Exit (1944). He also delineated, promoted, and defended existentialism in numerous lectures and essays. For Sartre, it is irrelevant whether or not God exists (which he denies), because even if God does exist, He does not reveal Himself. Sartre contends that, with no God to have a concept of PDQ WKH LQGLYLGXDO¶V ³H[LVWHQFH SUHFHGHV HVVHQFH´   0DQ LVQRWERUQZLWKDQHVVHQWLDOVHOIFRQVHTXHQWO\³0DQLVQRWKLQJ else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first

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SULQFLSOH RI H[LVWHQWLDOLVP´   %DVLF PHDQLQJ WR H[LVWHQFH WKHQ LV SUHGLFDWHG XSRQ DQ LQGLYLGXDO¶V ³FKRRVLQJ ZKDW KH ZLOO EH´ DQG ZLWK WKH EXUGHQ RI WKLV UHVSRQVLELOLW\ IRU VHOIdetermination comes anguish (292). Accepting the burden and making choices of self-determination form the nucleus of 6DUWUH¶V SKLORVRSK\ ,W LV FOHDU WKDW 2¶&RQQRU KDG 6DUWUH¶V existentialism in mind to such an extent as she wrote her first novel that she openly invoked a comparison in a letter to Betty BR\G/RYH³,KDYHILQLVKHGP\RSXVQDXVHRXVDQGH[SHFWLWWR be out one of these days. The name will be Wise Blood´ HB 24). ,QKLV LQWURGXFWLRQWR 2¶&RQQRU¶V Everything that Rises Must Converge, Robert Fitzgerald notes that existential angst ZDV ³D FDWFKZRUG ZKHQ )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU EHJDQ WR ZULWH´ (xx), and Frederick Asals has highlighted the existential LQWHOOHFWXDO HQYLURQPHQW RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V GD\ WR GHPRQVWUDWH WKH influence of Christian existentialism in addition to atheistic existentialism. Other critics, such as Brian Abel Ragen, have H[DPLQHG WKH GHWDLOV RI +D]H¶V FKDUDFWHU DV UHIOHFWLRQV RI existential angst (162-65).4 The following consideration of Wise Blood places Haze and Enoch in relation to general aspects of existential thought as well as pDUWLFXODU DVSHFWV RI 6DUWUH¶V philosophy. The comedic elements and the critique of H[LVWHQWLDOLVPVKDUHDV\PELRWLFUHODWLRQVKLSQRWRQO\LQ+D]H¶V character and plot, but also in the case of Enoch. Read in UHODWLRQ WR 6DUWUH¶V QRWLRQV RI VHOI-determinatioQ +D]H¶V experience demonstrates the failure of existentialism for one who has accepted the burden of choice, while Enoch exemplifies the individual who refuses or, perhaps more accurately, is incapable of the choices required for self-determination. In the philosophy of atheistic existentialism, individual isolation extends from the non-existence of God, or at least the non-UHYHODWLRQRIKLVSUHVHQFHRUZLOO)RU2¶&RQQRUWKHQRWLRQ that God would reveal himself to the individual upon demand is ridiculoXV DQG VKH GHYHORSV +D]H¶V UHODWLRQVKLS WR *RG ZLWK this in mind. In the world of Wise Blood, God may at times seem

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to be a passive, even stubbornly remote entity, such as when the young Haze first wears rocks in his shoes and hopes for a sign IURP *RG ³That ought to satisfy Him. Nothing happened. If a VWRQHKDGIDOOHQKHZRXOGKDYHWDNHQLWDVDVLJQ´CW 36). This IODVKEDFN WR D FKLOG¶V XQDQVZHUHG UHTXHVW IRU HYLGHQFH RI *RG interrupts the narrative in the form of dream²a dream from which Haze awakes with the intent of buying a car. The Essex he purchases embodies much of his pseudo-existential ideas while also acting as a pulpit from which to preach against &KULVW DQG LWV UHODWLRQVKLS WR KLV GUHDP VXJJHVWV WKDW *RG¶V failure to reveal himself accounts IRU +D]H¶V HIIRUWV WR GHILQH himself without divinity. ,QDFRPLFLQYHUVLRQRIKLVFKLOGKRRGGHPDQGIRU*RG¶V revelation, the adult Haze continues to shut off any receptivity to VLJQVRI*RG¶VSUHVHQFH+HVXEVFULEHVWRDFKLOGLVKVXSHUVWLWLRQ that if he denies seeing what he wants to avoid, he can reduce it to non-existence or powerlessness. This strategy appears when Haze takes an afternoon drive in the country with the stowaway, Sabbath Lily Hawks. Haze refuses to see a cloud that is directly in front RIKLPDQGFOHDUO\V\PEROLFRI*RG2¶&RQQRU GHVFULEHV LW DV ³D ODUJH EOLQGLQJ ZKLWH RQH ZLWK FXUOV DQG D EHDUG´ CW 66), yet Haze remains seemingly unaware despite WKHFORXG¶VSUHVHQFHIRUPXFKRIWKHDIWHUQRRQ3RVVLEO\+D]H does not see the cloud, but a later incident shows that he is quite capable of pretending not to see what he does see. During the (VVH[¶VODVWULGHDV+D]HIOHHV7DXONLQKDPKHSDVVHVDVLJQWKDW UHDGV ³µ-HVXV 'LHG IRU W@RKLVPLQG

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an opportunity to insult a successful ape came from the hand of 3URYLGHQFH´CW 100). This series of scenes makes it clear that animal life, for Enoch, is something to be hated and continually denigrated, regardless of whether the specific objects of his ire are threatening enough to deserve it. But this hatred does not function alone in his mind; it is accompanied by another affect that initially seems out of place, that of awe. Enoch, who guards the gate to the zoo that seFXUHVWKHDQLPDOV¶FDSWLYLW\³ZDWFKHG WKHPHYHU\GD\IXOORIDZHDQGKDWH´CW 46). To be in awe of something that one hates is still to have a connection to it, still to recognize that it has a power or a significance that cannot be simply reduced to a negative judgment and the strong emotions that accompany it. If awe implies the sort of connection that consists in captivation, then in what sense could Enoch be said to be captivated by animal life? He is ultimately held in the sway of animality, despite hating it and taking every opportunity to convince himself he is separate from it, simply because he has no choice. His daily routine of passing by the caged animals is one of absolute necessity. He cannot forego this aspect of his day for even the most pressing reasons, as we see when he risks his friendship with Hazel Motes, the only friend he thinks he KDV LQ RUGHU WR SDVV WKURXJK WKH ³IRUP´ RI WKH DQLPDOV ,I WKH choice was his, he would sever the tie that binds him to the animals, given his attitudH WRZDUG DQLPDOLW\ EXW KH GRHVQ¶W 7KXV WKH VWUXFWXUH RI (QRFK¶V UHODWLRQVKLS ZLWK DQLPDO OLIH LV that of an inclusive exclusion. He is bound to animal life though it is excluded from him. His hate and his separation coexist with his awe and his captivation. As I have already indicated, this is the precise structure of the relationship between the animal life and human life of the living being that is established by the law LQ :HVWHUQ QDWLRQV DFFRUGLQJ WR $JDPEHQ¶V ELRSROLWLFDO argument. As Agamben writeV ³EDUH OLIH UHPDLQV LQFOXGHG LQ politics in the form of the exception, that is, as something that is LQFOXGHG VROHO\ WKURXJK DQ H[FOXVLRQ´ Homo Sacer 11). The

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human, in order to exist as such, has no choice but to be captivated by its own bare animal life while also being excluded from it. ,Q WKLV FRQWH[W WKH FRQQHFWLRQ WKDW 2¶&RQQRU GUDZV between animal captivity and a notorious American prison may assume a significance that exceeds that of a simple metaphor. 6KHZULWHVRIWKHDQLPDOV³WKH\ZHUHLQa long set of steel cages OLNH $OFDWUD] 3HQLWHQWLDU\ LQ WKH PRYLHV´ CW 46). If Western politics is in fact a biopolitics, then in each citizen animal life is set into play against human life. The animal must first be decided on, by the law, and then these animalistic behaviors must be guarded against and assailed. Otherwise, the conditions QHHGHGWR DWWDLQ WKHVWDWXV RIWKHKXPDQZRQ¶W EHPHWDQGWKH bare animal life of the living being will be subject to seizure, imprisonment, and other violent possibilities. Alcatraz is populated by the bare, animal lives of those that for whatever reason cannot be assimilated into the juridico-politico order. (QRFK¶V RGG EHKDYLRU WRZDUG WKH DQLPDOV LV DOVR understandable in this light. Many of his actions are determined by an obligation to position himself, in action and thought, in an antagonistic relationship with animality. But, if this is true, then how can we explain the surprising transformation by which Enoch, who has consistently ridiculed animals, turns into a JRULOOD"$FORVHUFRQVLGHUDWLRQRIFHUWDLQDVSHFWVRI$JDPEHQ¶V biopolitical argument reveals this transformation to be consistent ZLWKWKHIXQFWLRQLQJRIPRGHUQLW\¶V³DQWKURSRORJLFDOPDFKLQH´ the process by which the human is recognized as such. Turning Ape: A Failed Anthropogenesis If Western politics, in all its current and past forms, is enabled by the assumption that the human being arises when its animality is mastered and overcome, then it is probable that the most pressing political problems are fundamentally ontological problems, problems that center around a stance on the way that the human enters into Being. Agamben describes this

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implication of ontology in ³DQWKURSRJHQHVLV´+HZULWHV

politics

in

terms

of

Ontology, or first philosophy, is not an innocuous academic discipline, but in every sense the fundamental operation in which anthropogenesis, the becoming human of the living being, is realized. From the beginning, metaphysics is taken up in this strategy: it concerns precisely that meta that completes and preserves the overcoming of animal physis in the direction of human history. This overcoming is not an event that has been completed once and for all, but an occurrence that is always under way, that every time and in each individual decides between the human and the animal, between nature and history, between life and death. (The Open 79)

$JDPEHQ¶V JHQHDORJ\ RI WKLV RQWRORJLFDO VSOLW EHWZHHQ WKH human and the animal locates it as early as the Greek distinction between bios and zoe. Another site in this genealogy is found in the work of Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy. For /LQQDHXV ³ZKR GHILQHG Homo as the animal that is only if it recognizes that it is not´ WKLV RQWRORJLFDO GLYLVLRQ LV VXVWDLQHG WKURXJK WKH KXPDQ¶V RSWical recognition of itself as a being whose features exist in a distorted way in the animal, specifically in the ape (The Open 27). This distortion reminds the human of what it has overcome in order to forge its own identity. It must recognize itself in the ape because, being something that the human is not, the ape provides the suitable point of departure for the human. It is as if the living being isolates the ape within it and excludes it from itself in order to become human. As Agamben writes,

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Homo Sapiens, then, is neither a clearly defined species nor a substance; it is, rather, a machine or device for producing the recognition of the human. In line with the taste of the epoch, the anthropogenic (or²taking up Furio -HVL¶V H[SUHVVLRQ²we might say anthropological) machine is an optical one. It is an optical machine constructed of a series of mirrors in which man, looking at himself, sees his own image always already deformed in the features of an ape. Homo is a constitutively ³DQWKURSRPRUSKRXV´ DQLPDO (that is, ³UHVHPEOLQJPDQ´DFFRUGLQJWRWKHWHUP that Linnaeus constantly uses until the tenth edition of the Systema), who must recognize himself in a non-man in order to be human. (The Open 27)

If the status of the human depends on a particular subjective recognition, then the fragility of this term and identity is once again brought to light. Thus, one of the major challenges Agamben poses to contemporary political thought is the urgency of thinking community beyond any conception of humanism or any other identity. For Agamben, the humanity of a being can be lost not only by committing illegal acts or possessing illegal attributes, but also by refusing to participate in the whole process of recognition. In the context of the anthropological machine, WKHUHIRUH(QRFK¶VWUDQVIRUPDWLRQLQWRDJRULOODFDQEHYLHZHGDV VXFK D UHIXVDO $JDPEHQ ZULWHV RI WKLV VRUW RI UHIXVDO ³,Q medieval iconography, the ape holds a mirror in which the man who sins must recognize himself as simia dei [ape of God]. In /LQQDHXV¶V RSWLFDO PDFKLQH ZKRHYHU UHIXVHV WR UHFRJQL]H himself in the ape, becomes one: to paraphrase Pascal, qui fait O¶KRPPH OH VLQJH >KH ZKR DFWV WKH PDQ DFWV WKH DSH@´ The Open 27). To refuse the process of becoming human is to

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consign oneself to the animal and expose oneself to the whims of state power that accompany that status. Enoch, and anyone who would assume such a risk, would have to be motivated by the belief that this transformation would lead to a life that could not possibly be any worse than the one he was already leading. That Enoch derives this sort of hope from his PHWDPRUSKRVLVLVPDGHFOHDUE\2¶&RQQRUZKRGHVFULEHVLWDV DQ³DZDNHQLQJ´CW  6KHZULWHV³1RJRULOODLQH[LVWHQFH whether in the jungles of Africa or California, or in New York City in the finest apartment in the world, was happier at that PRPHQWWKDQWKLVRQHZKRVHJRGKDGILQDOO\UHZDUGHGLW´CW 112). This happiness is a significant departure for Enoch, who up to this point has experienced the cruelty of modern life and the humanism it sustains in an intense way. Once orphaned and FRQVLJQHG WR D ³>:HOIDUH@ ZRPDQ WKDW WUDGHG PH IURP P\ GDGG\´(QRFKOLYHVDORQHSRRUDQGZLWKRXWDVLQJOHIULHQGLQ Taulkinham, a city he describes in bluntly uncomplimentary teUPV ³, DLQ¶W QHYHU EHHQ WR VXFK DQ XQIULHQGO\ SODFH EHIRUH´ (CW 23, 25). His troubles in the city reach an extreme point during his first encounter with Gonga. All set to ridicule the gorilla, Enoch ZDV³WU\LQJIUDQWLFDOO\WRWKLQNRIDQREVFHQHUHPDUNthat would EHVXLWDEOHWRLQVXOWKLPZLWK´CW 102). As he is groping for an LQVXOW WKH JRULOOD RIIHUV KLV KDQG ³WKH ILUVW KDQG WKDW KDG EHHQ H[WHQGHG WR (QRFK VLQFH KH KDG FRPH WR WKH FLW\´ CW 102). 7KHQ LQ D WRXFKLQJ VFHQH 2¶&RQQRU GHVFULEHV WKH HIIect that this commonplace gesture of friendliness has on Enoch: For a second he only stood there, clasping LW7KHQKHEHJDQWRVWDPPHU³0\QDPH LV (QRFK (PHU\´ KH PXPEOHG ³, DWWHQGHG WKH 5RGHPLOO %R\V¶ %LEOH Academy. I work at the city zoo. I seen two RI \RXU SLFWXUHV ,¶P RQO\ HLJKWHHQ year old but I already work for the city. 0\GDGG\PDGHPHFRP«´DQGKLVYRLFH cracked. (CW 102)

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The emotion that begins to pour out is stifled when he UHFRJQL]HVWKDW*RQJDLVDFWXDOO\DKXPDQ2¶&RQQRUZULWHV The star leaned slightly forward and a change came in his eyes: an ugly pair of human ones moved closer and squinted at Enoch from behind the celluloid pair. ³WKH ZULWHU@ VHHV LQ WKH ZRUOG´ FODLPLQJ LQVWHDG WKDW LW ³IUHHV WKH VWRU\WHOOHU WR REVHUYH´ CW 804). But as we have seen, Wise Blood¶V SUHGHWHUPLQHG structure follows the rules of redemptive Christian comedy; PRUHRYHU ZKLOHWKHVHFXULW\RI2¶&RQQRU¶VIDLWKGRHV IUHHKHU WRREVHUYHWKDWµIUHHGRP¶LVVWLOOLQIXVHGZLWKDQGFLUFXPVFULEHG by Christian ideology. 0RWHV¶V HOHYHQWK KRXU FRQYHUVLRQ LOOXVWUDWHV WKHVH inherent contradicWLRQV 2¶&RQQRU¶V UHODWLRQVKLS WR KLP LV DNLQ WRWKDWGHSLFWHGLQ*HRUJH+HUEHUW¶VSRHP³7KH&ROODU´ZKHUH the unruly speaker, eager to break the bonds of Christian duty and set out on his own, is eventually admonished and brought to heel by the call of his God: %XWDV,UDY¶GDQGJUHZPRUHILHUFHDQGZLOG At every word, 0HWKRXJKW,KHDUGRQHFDOOLQJ³&KLOG´ $QG,UHSOLHG³0\/RUG´

1R H[WHUQDO SRZHU SHUVXDGHV WKH VSHDNHU RI +HUEHUW¶V SRHP WR abandon his insurrection; he heeds his conscience. So, too, with 0RWHV WKH FDOO FRPHV IURP ZLWKLQ $V 2¶&RQQRU WROG -RKQ +DZNHV³+D]HLVVDYHGE\YLUWXHRIKDYLQJZLVHEORRGLW¶VWRR ZLVHIRUKLPXOWLPDWHO\WRGHQ\&KULVW´CW 1107). In ascribing 0RWHV¶VVDOYDWLRQWRKLVZLVHEORRG2¶&RQQRUDFFRUGVKLPIUHH will, which is apposite to her religious beliefs and to the overall PHDQLQJ RIWKHQRYHO ³WKHIHHOLQJRIWKHERRN>@LV FHUWDLQO\ that human beings do have free choice [...] in the end the man himself must choose what is sin DQGZKDWLVQ¶WLHFRQVFLHQFH

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LV WKH XOWLPDWH VDQFWLRQ´ CW 920-21). For all intents and SXUSRVHVKRZHYHU2¶&RQQRUis 0RWHV¶VFRQVFLHQFHVKHPDNHV the choice for him; she is the agent of his redemption. Ralph :RRG EHOLHYHV WKDW 0RWHV¶V FRQYHUVLRQ LOOXVWUDWHV 2¶&RQQRU¶V ³XQVZHUYLQJ FRQYLFWLRQ WKDW KXPDQLW\ LV LQHYLWDEO\ LQFOLQHG WRZDUGV *RG´   7KLV LV WUXH EXW :RRGPD\ QRW UHDOLVH WKH full implications of his remark, for the conviction belongs to 2¶&RQQRU QRW KHU FKDUDFWHU 0RWHV KDV QR FKRLFH Eut to obey his creator, in the same ZD\ WKH VSHDNHU RI ³7KH &ROODU´ PXVW act according to the will of George Herbert. 2¶&RQQRU¶V DGPLUDWLRQ IRU 0RWHV OLHV QRW RQO\ LQ KLV VWUHQJWK RI SXUSRVH EXW LQ KLV IDLOXUH WR ZLWKVWDQG *RG¶V ZLOO ³'RHV RQH¶V LQWHJULWy ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be aVNHG WR GHHSHQ´ CW 1265). These remarks are relevant only in the abstract; in the novel, there is no such mystery: free will can EH FRQFHLYHG VLPSO\ 0RWHV¶V ZLOO ZDUVZLWK*RG¶VZLOOZKLFKPD\EHWKHZLOORIDVHSDUDWHHQWLW\ another name for conscience, or a hybrid of the two. But as the author of Wise Blood, 2¶&RQQRULVWKHSULPHPRYHUXOWLPDWHO\ hers is the only will that matters, and Motes is slave to her GHVLJQV ,I 2¶&RQQRU KHUVHOI ZHUH VXEMHFW WR D FRQWHVW RI ZLOOV this would complicate matters, but there is no evidence to suggest this; on the contrary, her Christian faith was XQVKDNHDEOH ³, DP QR GLVEHOLHYHU LQ VSLULWXDO SXUSRVH DQG QR YDJXHEHOLHYHU´CW 804). 7KLV DXWKRULDO DXWRFUDF\ QRW RQO\ DIIHFWV WKH QRYHO¶V structure, but has a direct EHDULQJ RQ LWV KXPRU :LWK 0RWHV¶V redemption assured, the narrator is relegated to the role of VSHFWDWRU D PHUH UHFRUGHU RI HYHQWV 7KLV VXLWV 2¶&RQQRU¶V purposes: to paraphrase Flaubert, like God in His world, the author is everywhere and nowhere, invisible and omnipresent. It VHUYHVDVDFRQYHQLHQWDQDORJXHIRUWKHZD\2¶&RQQRUSHUFHLYHV *RG¶VSUHVHQFHLQWKHZRUOGVKHEHFRPHVDVLQVFUXWDEOHDVWKH

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God she believes in. However, from the point of view of the narrative, this rhetorical strategy leads to a distant, detached storyteller, secure in her faith to the point of callousness. This can create a cold-hearted, condescending kind of comedy, a comedy easy to misconstrue, and, in order to counter any DFFXVDWLRQV WKDW PD\ DULVH 2¶&RQQRU KDV WR FORVH WKH distance somehow and show that she, like her God, is not without compassion for her characters²that she counts herself among their number.1 7KDW2¶&RQQRUIHHOVWKLVZD\DQGKDVDVWURQJempathy with her subject matter despite its comic value, is revealed in a remark she makes when discussing Wise Blood in the previously cited letter to Hawkes: The religion of the South is a do-ityourself religion, something which I as a Catholic find painful and touching and JULPO\ FRPLF ,W¶V IXOO RI XQFRQVFLRXV pride that lands [my characters] in all sorts of ridiculous religious predicaments. [...] If this were merely comic to me, it would be no good, but I accept the same fundamental doctrines of sin and redemption and judgment that they do. (CW 1107)

2¶&RQQRU ILQGV 0RWHV¶V SULGH DQG SUHGLFDPHQW FRPLF EXW QRW ³PHUHO\´FRPLFWKHTXDOLILFDWLRQLVFUXFLDOWRRXUXQGHUVWDQGLQJ RI KHU FRPLF YLVLRQ $V &DUWHU : 0DUWLQ QRWHV ³2¶&RQQRU¶V humor, if it is to be understood, should be accounted for in terms of its organic relationship to the narrative structure as a whole; one should be able to perceive the propriety of the wit, humor, PRFNHU\ DQG ODXJKWHU´ ³&RPHG\´   ,I WKH UHDGHU IDLOV WR SHUFHLYH WKLV VKH ZLOO WKLQN WKDW 2¶&RQQRU LV LQYLWLQJ WKHP WR laugh at Motes unreservedly, which is not the case. Her humor is not superior and scornful; she does not hold Motes in contempt for his spiritual rebellion, as the God represented in Psalm 2

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does those who oppose Him; it is ultimately sympathetic, deriving from an acknowledgment of the human condition. ([DPLQLQJ 2¶&RQQRU¶V UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI 0RWHV EULQJV these issues into focus and helps clarify her attitude toward him. ,Q DSSURDFKLQJ WKLV VXEMHFW +HQUL %HUJVRQ¶V WKHRUHWLFDO HVVD\ on the comic, Le rire [Laughter] (1900), proves useful. $FFRUGLQJWR%HUJVRQ ³The attitudes, gestures and movements of the human body are laughable in exact proportion as that body reminds us of a mere machine´   )RU H[DPSOH LQGLYLGXDOVZKRVHOLYHVDUH³RUJDQLVHGDURXQGRQHFHQWUDOLGHD´ (6 DQGZKRFRQWLQXHSXUVXLQJWKDWLGHD³OLNHDPDFKLQHLQWKH VDPHVWUDLJKWOLQH´ GHVSLWHFRQWLQXRXVPLVKDSVHOLFLW³E\D VHULHV RI FXPXODWLYH HIIHFWV D KLODULW\ RI XQOLPLWHG H[SDQVLRQ´   7KLV ODXJKWHU LV ³D PHDQV RI FRUUHFWLRQ´   E\ EHLQJ ridiculed, the errant individual is encouraged to rejoin the social JURXSIRU³LWLVWKHEXVLQHVVRIODXJKWHUWRUHSUHVVDQ\VHSDUDWLVW tendency. Its function is [...] to readapt the individual to the ZKROH´  ,I ZH DSSO\ %HUJVRQ¶V WKHRU\ WR Wise Blood, we can clearly see the parallels. Motes rejects the group (Christianity) in favour of an individualistic creed (the Church Without Christ). He is resolute in his pursuit of this creed despite the obstacles he encounters, and his single-minded approach makes for many comic moments. Although most of his mishaps do not relate directly to his rejection of God, they combine to make him a figure of fun. The suit he buys in the dark depths of a store, for H[DPSOHWXUQV³JODUH-EOXH´LQWKHVXQCW 13); when sleeping in the shell of his family home, a board falls on his face and cuts him (CW 13); when lurching up the train carriage towards a GLQLQJWDEOHKHSXWVKLVKDQGLQVRPHRQH¶VFRIIHHCW 7); the train pulls away while he is stretching his legs and he is forced to wait six hours for another (CW 15); his used car develops a ³WLF´ZKLFKPDNHVLW´JRIRUZDUGDERXWVL[LQFKHVDQGWKHQEDFN DERXWIRXU´UXLQLQJDGUDPDWLFH[LWCW 87). Striving for tragic seriousness, Motes is brought back down to earth at every turn.

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Compounding his own comic mishaps, some of the other characters openly make fun of Motes: the train steward and female passengers mock his awkwardness (CW 7-8); a street peddler suggests that he buy a potato peeler to keep himself company, given his lack of family (CW 20); a policeman ridicules his inability to recognize the difference between a red and a green light at a crosswalk (CW 24); a truck driver suggests that Motes is an escapee from a zoo (CW 43); Mrs. Watts mocks his status as a preacher (CW 18, 34); and Asa Hawks scorns him for thinking he can escape God (28, 30, 31). For the most part, Motes is unaware of his comic value, and this, of course, makes LW HYHQ IXQQLHU IRU WKH UHDGHU :KLOH (PRU\¶V REVHUYDWLRQ ³µ«@ WKDW WKH irony is directed against Haze for having decided there was no falO\RXDUHFRUUHFW´VKHH[SODLQHGCW  QHYHUWKHOHVV³,I the irony is directed against him, this is because he is the only RQHLQWKHERRNZKRFDQVWDQGLW´CW 921-922). Her real target OD\HOVHZKHUH³,KDYHGLUHFWHGWKHLURQ\DJDLQVWWKLV3URWHVWDQt world or against the society that reads the Bible and the Sears 5RHEXFN FDWDORJXH ZURQJ EXW +D]H >@ WUDQVFHQGV LW´ CW 921). 7KDW RQH KDV WR WXUQ WR 2¶&RQQRU¶V SULYDWH correspondence in order to prove these points is telling: it is not readily apparent in her stories. Disengaged narrators are common in her work, making interpretation difficult; as Martin REVHUYHV VKH W\SLFDOO\ UHJLVWHUV ³QHLWKHU DSSURYDO QRU GLVDSSURYDO´ IRU KHU FKDUDFWHUV VKH VLPSO\ DVNV XV WR DFFHSW WKHPDVSDUWRIWKH³FRPLFWH[WXUH´RIKHUVWRULHV³&RPHG\´  0DUN %RUHQ FRQFXUV ³2 &RQQRU V VWULFW XVH RI WKLUG SHUVRQ narrative not only maintains a distinction between reader and character but also separates the site of narration from the actions DQG LPDJHV GHVFULEHG´   Since the narrator occupies an undefined space, it is difficult to locate the source of the ODXJKWHUWKDW2¶&RQQRU¶VVWRULHVJHQHUDWHEXWDV%RUHQH[SODLQV this is precisely the point: 2¶&RQQRU XQGHUVWRRG TXLWH ZHOO WKDW specific laughter by a character or by a narrator would be viewed as either derogative or separatist, and thus laughter occurring on a textual level in 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN GRHV QRW RULJLQDWH with a character or narrator. Directed neither at someone nor aligned with someone (which would intimate

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complicity), it is a general laughter of ³WKHVLWXDWLRQ´DQGRISDUWLDONQRZOHGJH /DXJKWHULQ2¶&RQQRULVQHLWKHUSRVLWLYH nor negative but supremely accepting (perhaps even indifferent). [...] Aimed directly at the human condition, it is antithetical to the excesses of sentimentality. [...] Such situational ODXJKWHU LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN LV DOZD\V anti-hierarchical. In contrast to laughter WKDW³SXWVVRPHERG\GRZQ´LWHPEUDFHV the entire situation of humanity. This umbrella of laughter spans even the most ³VHULRXV´PRPHQWVLQKHUZRUNDQGWKXV treats everyone and everything as on the same level; there is nothing above it² QRW UHOLJLRQ DQG FHUWDLQO\ QRW 2¶&RQQRU herself. (115)

%RUHQ¶VUHPDUNVUHTXLUHTXDOLILFDWLRQDVDOUHDG\VKRZQLQWise Blood, laughter does at times originate with the characters, is derogative, and is directed at Motes. That said, Boren is right to highlight the more pervasive laughter in 2¶&RQQRU¶V work, the all-HPEUDFLQJ OHYHOOLQJ ODXJKWHU WKDW LV XQVHQWLPHQWDO ³DLPHG directly at the KXPDQ FRQGLWLRQ´ DQG LV ³VXSUHPHO\ DFFHSWLQJ (perhaSVHYHQLQGLIIHUHQW ´7his seeming indifference, a crucial DVSHFW RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V FRPLF YLVLRQ LV D GRXEOH-edged sword: VKHLQWHQGVLWWREHDUHIOHFWLRQRI*RG¶VLQVFUXWDEOHQDWXUHEXW for precisely thDW UHDVRQ LW SUHYHQWV 2¶&RQQRU +LV DXWKRULDO stand-in, from expressing compassion for her characters in an overt fashion; the responsibility of interpretation lies solely with WKHUHDGHU7KLVSRVHVDFKDOOHQJHVKDULQJ2¶&RQQRU¶V³H[WUHPH comic detachmenW´ 0DUWLQ ³&RPHG\´   GHPDQGV D OHYHO RI objectivity that not all readers are able (or willing) to reach, either because they misconstrue her comedy as being unnecessarily cruel; because they feel they need to bond with fictional characters on an emotional level before they can

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appreciate a work of art; or (what is just as unreasonable) EHFDXVHWKH\DUHDWYDULDQFHZLWK2¶&RQQRU¶VZRUOGYLHZ(LWKHU way, their resistance is unfortunate, since this comic detachment is vital to understanding her fiction. This apparent impasse brings us back to Bergson, whose theory of laughter, as Martin suggests, ³PD\ EH WKHEDVLVXSRQ which one can resolve the aesthetic, structural, and generic SUREOHPV´ SUHVHQWHG E\ WKLV DVSHFW RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN ³&RPHG\´   )RU ODXJKter to thrive, Bergson believes that there must be an absence of feeling, for ³ODXJKWHUKDVQRJUHDWHU IRHWKDQHPRWLRQ´  Try, for a moment, to become interested in everything that is being said and done; act, in imagination, with those who act, and feel with those who feel; in a word, give your sympathy its widest expansion [...] you will see the flimsiest of objects assume importance, and a gloomy hue spread over everything. Now step aside, look upon life as a disinterested spectator: many a drama will turn into a comedy [...] To produce the whole of its effect, then, the comic demands something like a momentary anesthesia of the heart. (63-64) 2

Empathy is anathema to the comic spirit, according to Bergson: laughter only becomes possible when one frees oneself from fellow-feeling and lays compassion aside. By withholding sympathy and distancing oneself from people, objects and events, they lose their importance, relatively speaking; the drama of life becomes a comedy. The people, objects and events do not alter; only the angle of vision by which they are viewed. /DXJKWHULQVKRUWGHSHQGVRQRQH¶VSHUVSHFWLYH It is easy to recognize the relevance of this theory to 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILFWLRQ EXW a number of other theorists have

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explored the comic in a religious context, and have come to similar conclusions that are even more pertinent to her work, given its Christian dimensions.3 Reinhold Niebuhr, for example, EHOLHYHVWKDW³KXPRXUDQGIDLWKDUHH[SUHVVLRQVRIWKHIUHHGRP of the human spirit, of its capacity to stand outside of life, and itself, and view the whole scene (135): Humour is a proof of the capacity of the self to gain a vantage point from which it LVDEOHWRORRNDWLWVHOI>«@,IPHQGRQRW take themselves too seriously, if they have some sense of the precarious nature of the human enterprise, they prove that they are looking at the whole drama of life not merely from the circumscribed point of their own interests but from some further and higher vantage point. (140, 145)

)RU2¶&RQQRUWKLV³KLJKHUYDQWDJHSRLQW´LVKHU&KULVWLDQIDLWK which allows her to maintain a humorous perspective on the SUHFDULRXVQHVVRIWKH³KXPDQHQWHUSULVH´6KHZRXOGQRWEHDEOH to take a comic approach to the events depicted in Wise Blood if she was not secure in her religious beliefs and had faith in an RUGHUHG KLJKHU UHDOP RI EHLQJ E\ ZKLFK 0RWHV¶V DFWV DUH measured. The novel thus expresses what M. Conrad Hyers calls ³ODXJKWHUZLWKLQWKHFRQILGHQFHRIIDLWK´  &RPHG\SOD\VXSRQDEVXUGLW\>«@7KLV however, is absurdity and nonsense set in relation to a transcendent ground of meaning and reason; it is chaos in the overarching context of cosmos, the comic intermission that presupposes the VDFUHGQHVV RI WKH ODUJHU GUDPD >«@ +XPRU>«@ calls attention to faith in an ultimate meaning and purpose in things that transcends both tragedy and

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Incongruity has long been established as a primary source of humor, and the primary incongruity of life is the human condition. Many black humorists respond to this incongruity negatively, playing on existential themes that express a SHVVLPLVWLFYLVLRQRIKXPDQNLQG¶VLQVLJQLILFDQFHEXW2¶&RQQRU views it in the context of an overarching congruity, that is, from WKHKLJKHUYDQWDJHSRLQWRIKHUIDLWK³,VHHIURPWKHVWDQGSRLQW of Christian orthodoxy. This means that for me the meaning of life is centered in our redemption by Christ and that what I see LQ WKH ZRUOG , VHH LQ LWV UHODWLRQ WR WKDW´ CW 804-805). As a ³ZULWHUZLWK&KULVWLDQFRQYLFWLRQV´KHU³WUXHFRXQWU\´LV³ZKDW LVHWHUQDODQGDEVROXWH´&: DQGHYHU\WKLQJLVJDXged in relation to this plane of being. Temporal trials of the kind experienced by Motes are irrelevant, and thus comical, when seen in this context; they become nothing more than temper tantrums. At its most SURIRXQG UHDFKHV 2¶&RQQRU¶V KXPRU LV DQ H[SUHssion of her belief in a higher reality where such finite affairs are judged against the infinite and put into redemptive perspective. In her philosophical study of the comic, Marie Collins Swabey describes how this kind of humor functions: The standpoint of the comic raises itself, as it were, above the world [...] adopting an implicitly universal outlook and [...] survey[ing] events with an impartial eye [...] the humorist is a laughing philosopher out of this world [...] who grasps incongruities in a more comprehensive congruity [...] In brief, he takes the world both from an over-all view and from a slant, both locally, empirically, and as a logician and metaphysician. (12)

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7KLV ³LPSOLFLWO\ XQLYHUVDO RXWORRN´ RU ZKDW 0DUWLQ FDOOV 2¶&RQQRU¶V³FRPLF-FRVPLFYLHZRIPDQ´³&RPHG\´ OHQGV an ironic playfulness to her work and allows her, as a narrator, WRWUHDW0RWHV¶VUHOLJLRXVUHEHOOLRQLQUHODWLYHWHUPV$V0DUWLQ notes, Humor is often used to express religious themes and religious situations without sentimentality or obvious didacticism; and just as humor provides distance from religion to achieve a sympathetic response to it, so is humor used to establish a distance from blasphemy and atheism to demonstrate its narrow and sometimes ludicrous dialectic. And in nearly all of WKLV KXPRU WKHUH LV WKH WKHPH RI PDQ¶V triviality when he appears against the background of eternity. Such a Christian perspective informs most of the humor arising from idiocy, death, and suffering, which can be humorous only if one can see through them to truths that render them insignificant and fleeting. Grim humor, then, is one of Flannery 2¶&RQQRU¶V GHYLFHV WR RSHQ D ZLQGRZ through which one can see the true country, and her comic humor is a goodnatured and objective means of enjoying the countryside. (True Country 214)

7KH VWUHQJWK RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V FRPLF YLVLRQ OLHV LQ LWV UHIXVDO WR flinch from one reality while simultaneously pointing toward another, but it is possible that she asks too much of her readers, QRW DOO RI ZKRP DUH DEOH WR VHH SDVW WKH ³LGLRF\ GHDWK DQG suffHULQJ´LQWKHILFWLRQDOIRUHJURXQGRIWKHVWRU\WRWKHHWHUQDO truths shared by WKH QDUUDWRU DQG KHU FUHDWRU 2¶&RQQRU ZDV writing against the prevailing secular spirit of her times (CW

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805), and in order to get her point across, she felt that her humor had to be fierce and unsentimental. It is ironic, then, that these very factors prevent some readers from appreciating the Christian perspective from which her humor springs. 7R ODXJK ZKHQ UHDGLQJ 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILFWLRQ LV WR surrender oneself willingly to her way of seeing things, and this requires one to establish distance and cultivate a certain coldness LQ RQH¶V DSSURDFK WR FKDUDFWHU DQG VLWXDWLRQ EXW LW LV DOVR WR believe that her stories are not willfully perverse, and that she writes from a morally unimpeachable position. It is, in short, to trust her as a guide. Resisting the invitation to share her comic vision may only be postponing the inevitable, and ironically, such resistance reinforces the worldview that is expressed in the overarching plot and structure of Wise Blood. In their reluctance WR WUXVW WKH DXWKRU WKHVH GRXEWLQJ UHDGHUV UHVHPEOH 0RWHV¶V initial position vis-à-vis God. +HLVQRWSUHSDUHGWRJR³LQWRWKH dark where he was not sure of his footing, where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it DQGGURZQ´ +HSUHIHUVWKHWHUUDILUPDRIXQEHOLHI³KLVWZR eyes open [...] his hands always handling the familiar thing, his IHHWRQWKHNQRZQWUDFN´ 2QO\E\UHOLQTXLVKLQJFRQWURODQG trusting his Author does Motes achieve redemption. As with Motes, so too with the reluctant reader: weakness may eventually prove a strength. If 2¶&RQQRU¶VDGPLUDWLRQIRU0RWHV OLHV LQ KLV IDLOXUH WR ZLWKVWDQG *RG¶V ZLOO SHUKDSV KHU admiration for her readers lies in their failure to withstand hers. One thing, at least, is certain: the relationship between her humor and her faith is such that one can only fully appreciate 2¶&RQQRU¶V &KULVWLDQ YLVLRQ E\ EHDULQJ ZLWQHVV WR KHU GDUN comedy.

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Notes 1

This sense of callousness was characteristic of the black humorists of WKHVDQGµVZKLFKLQFOXGHG2¶&RQQRU¶VIULHQG-RKQ+DZNHV According to Hawkes, the instabilities of life made it necessary for KLPDQGKLVIHOORZKXPRULVWVWRDSSURDFKWKHLUZRUNZLWK³DTXDOLW\RI coldness, detachment, ruthless determination to face up to the enormities of ugliness and potential failure within ourselves and in the world around us, and to bring to this exposure a savage or saving FRPLF VSLULW DQG WKH VDYLQJ EHDXWLHV RI ODQJXDJH´ -6). Although 2¶&RQQRU HPSOR\V WKH VDPH GLVWDQFLQJ WHFKQLTXHV VKH XVHV LW WR different ends. Her religious faith further distinguishes her work from this group; in black humor texts, religion is often mocked, and humor LV W\SLFDOO\ DQ H[SUHVVLRQ RI OLIH¶V DEVXrdity and meaninglessness, ZKLFKUXQVFRXQWHUWR2¶&RQQRU¶VZRUOGYLHZ 2 Horace Walpole expressed the same view over a century before %HUJVRQ ³7KLV ZRUOG LV D FRPHG\ WR WKRVH ZKR WKLQN D WUDJHG\ WR WKRVH ZKR IHHO´   %HUJVRQ¶V WKHRU\ ZDV DOVR DQWLcipated by 5DOSK:DOGR(PHUVRQLQDOHFWXUHHQWLWOHG³7KH&RPLF´  The perpetual game of Humor is to look with considerate, condescending good nature at every object in existence aloof [...] comparing it with the eternal Whole. [...] The activity of our sympathies may for a time hinder our perceiving the fact intellectually and so deriving mirth from it. But it is worthy of remark that all falsehoods, all vices seen at sufficient distance, seen from the point where our moral sympathies do not interfere, become ludicrous. (124-125) For a comparative study of the humor theories of Emerson and %HUJVRQ VHH -RVHSK -RQHV¶V ³(PHUVRQ DQG %HUJVRQ RQ WKH &RPLF´ [Comparative Literature 1 (1949), 63-72]. 3 In his study of the relationship between comedy, tragedy and religion, for example, John Morreall discusses the advantages of a FRPLFSHUVSHFWLYHLQWHUPVSHUWLQHQWWR2¶&RQQRU

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Paul Benedict Grant &RPHG\ DQG WUDJHG\ >«@ HPERG\ GLIIHUHQW visions of the human FRQGLWLRQ >«@ )DFHG ZLWK VRPH SUREOHP >«@ WKH WUDJLF UHVSRQVH LV WR EH fully engaged with it, while the comic response is to step back and see it as part of the big picture. >«@ 7KRVH ZLWK FRPLF YLVLRQ VKLIW WKHLU perspective often, especially from close-up, practical positions to distanced, playful positions. From those disengaged perspectives, they enjoy incongruous experiences that would otherwise be disturbing. (19, 26, 136)

Works Cited Bergson, Henri. Le rire [Laughter] in Comedy. ed. Wylie Sypher. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U P, 1994. (61-190) Boren 0DUN ³)ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU /DXJKWHU DQG WKH :RUG 0DGH )OHVK´ Studies in American Fiction 26:1 (1998): 115-28. Emerson5DOSK:DOGR³7KH&RPLF´LQ The Early Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Vol. 3, 1838-1842. eds. Robert E. Spiller and Wallace E. Williams. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press, 1972. (121-37) Hawkes, John. Interview with John J. Enck, 20 March 1964, in The Contemporary Writer: Interviews with Sixteen Novelists and Poets. ed. L. S. Dembo and Cyrena N. Pondrom. Madison: U Wisconsin P, 1972. (3-17) Herbert, George. The English Poems of George Herbert. ed. Helen Wilcox. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 2007. Hyers0&RQUDG³7KH'LDOHFWLFRIWKH6DFUHGDQGWKH&RPLF´ in Holy Laughter: Essays on Religion in the Comic Perspective. ed. M. Conrad Hyers. New York: Seabury Press, 1969. (208-40) McDonald 5XVV ³&RPHG\ DQG )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU´ South Atlantic Quarterly 81:2 (1982): 188-201.

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Martin&DUWHU:³&RPHG\DQG+XPRULQ)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶V )LFWLRQ´FlDQQHU\2¶&RQQRU%XOOHWLQ 4 (1975): 1-12. _______. The True Country: Themes in the Fiction of Flannery 2¶&RQQRU. Nashville: Vanderbilt U P, 1994. [originally published in1969]. Morreall, John. Comedy, Tragedy, and Religion. Albany, NY: State U of New York P, 1999. Niebuhr 5HLQKROG ³+XPRXU DQG )DLWK´ LQ Holy Laughter: Essays On Religion in the Comic Perspective. ed. M. Conrad Hyers. New York: Seabury Press, 1969. (134-49) 2¶&RQQRU, Flannery. Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. Swabey, Marie Collins. Comic Laughter: A Philosophical Essay. New Haven: Yale U P, 1961. Walpole, Horace. The Correspondence of Horace Walpole. eds. George L. Lam, W. S. Lewis and Warren Hunting Smith. New Haven: Yale U P, 1967. Wood, Ralph C. The Comedy of Redemption: Christian Faith and Comic Vision in Four American Novelists. Notre Dame: U Notre Dame P, 1988.

Section III: Influences on Wise Blood

Flannery & Franz: Tracing the Kafkaesque ,QIOXHQFHVRQ2¶&RQQRU¶VWise Blood Jordan Cofer Abraham Baldwin College :KHQ)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRUSXEOLVKHGWise Blood in 1952, it was to a stunned public, and the reactions of both friends and family in Savannah and Milledgeville, Georgia, were almost wholly QHJDWLYH2¶&RQQRU¶VELRJUDSKHU-HDQW. Cash noted that when WKHQRYHO FDPHRXW ³6DYDQQDKZDV VFDQGDOL]HG ,W WRRk a long WLPH IRU SHRSOH WR EHJLQ WR XQGHUVWDQG WKDW ERRN´ ZKLOH D GLVWDQW FRXVLQ RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRQGHUHG ³ZKHUH VKH µKDG HYHU learned anything like that²that they had never known people OLNH WKDW¶´ TWG LQ &DVK    The novel received similar reactions as the reading public focused on the more grotesque aspects of the novel. W@KHPDLQ VRXUFHRIKLV >.DIka¶V] misery was the guilt feelings cultivated by this domineering and insensitive PDQ´+D\PDQ .DIND¶VWKHPHVRIDOLHQDWLRQDQGIXWLOLW\OHG WR WKH WHUP ³.DINDHVTXH´ $OWKRXJK KH UDUHO\ SXEOLVKHG ³.DIND %URG %DXP DQG )HOL[ :HOWVFK ZRXOG PHHW IDLUO\ UHJXODUO\ DW ZHHNHQGV WR UHDG IURP WKHLU ZRUN´ +D\PDQ   Ironically, when Kafka read his stories to his friends, they recognized his exaggerated comic portrait of his own sufferings and consequently laughed, understanding his religious LQWHQWLRQV³-HZish self-hatred, Jewish anti-Semitism, and status anxiety«ZHUH IUHTXHQW WRSLFV RI GLVFXVVLRQ DPRQJ .DIND¶V

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IULHQGV´ %UXFH   +RZHYHU WKLV ZDV QRW WKH FDVH ZLWK .DIND¶V PDLQVWUHDP DXGLHQFH RQFH KLV ZRUNV EHJDQ WR EH published posthumously. .DIND¶V ZRUNs were misread²in a scenario strikingly VLPLODU WR 2¶&RQQRU²because many of them were read out of context. On his deathbed, Kafka requested his closest friend and literary executor, Max Brod, to burn all of his uncompleted manuscripts. Instead, Brod edited the works, sometimes changing titles and making other substantive alterations while also publishing interpretations of those works that simplified their original attitudes toward religion. Despite his editorial changes, Brod insisted that Kafka be read in religious terms. For LQVWDQFH ZKHQ .DIND¶V ³$ 5HSRUW WR DQ $FDGHP\´ ZDV published in Der Jude %URG ³LPPHGLDWHO\ LGHQWLILHG LW DV µWKH most original satire of assimilation which has ever been ZULWWHQ¶ FODLPLQJ WKDW µ7KH DSH 5RWSHWHU FDQ EH VHHQ DV D caULFDWXUHRIWKH-HZLVKDVVLPLODWLRQLVW¶´TWGLQ%UXFH  0XFK OLNH WKH LQLWLDO UHFHSWLRQ RI .DIND¶V ZRUN, it took UHDGHUV VHYHUDO \HDUV WR UHFRJQL]H 2¶&RQQRU¶V RZQ UHOLJLRXV intentions often evident in Wise Blood. Upon publication, the initial comparisons between Wise Blood DQG .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ ZHUH H[DFHUEDWHG E\ &DUROLQH *RUGRQ¶V EOXUE IRU WKH QRYHO ³, was more impressed by Wise Blood than any novel I have read for a long time. Her picture of the modern world is literally terrifying. Kafka is almost the only one of our contemporaries ZKR KDV DFKLHYHG VXFK HIIHFWV´ TWG LQ (OLH   6HYHUDO reviewers also noted the affinities between Kafka and 2¶&RQQRU 2QH RI WKHP +DUYH\ & :HEVWHU FODLPHG WKDW ³DOO the characters [in Wise Blood@ DUH V\PEROV OLNH .DIND¶V .´ (23). Perhaps the most famous comparison was not Caroline *RUGRQ¶VULQJLQJHQGRUVHPHQWEXWWKHLQIOXHQWLDOFULWLF5:% LeZLV¶V  UHYLHZ RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN ZKLFK FODLPHG WKDW ³1DWKDQDHO :HVW DQG .DIND KDYH FRQWULEXWHG JHQHURXVO\ WR Wise Blood´  Most of the early readers of Wise Blood believed the QRYHO WR VXJJHVW WKH RSSRVLWH RI ZKDW 2¶&RQQRU DFWXDOO\

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anticipated. For example, Harvey C. Webster asserted that Asa +DZNVSURYLGHGDQDSWH[DPSOHRIRQH³ZKRFDQVSHDNEXWQRW DFW KLV IDLWK´ ZKLOH0DUWKD6PLWK SUDLVHGWKHQRYHO DV DQ ³DOOHJRU\ RI PRGHUQ OLIH´ )  ,Q D OHWWHU WR %HWW\ +HVWHU 2¶&RQQRUUHIHUHQFHV&DUO+DUWPDQ¶VUHYLHZPRFNLQJO\VD\LQJ WKDWKH³IRXQGLWGDQG\DQGDNLQGRIPDQLIHVWRH>sic] for all us DWKHLVWV´ CW 999). In fact, the novel of Hazel Motes and his heretical Church Without Christ received so many misreadings WKDW 5REHUW *LURX[ DVNHG 2¶&Rnnor to write a preface to the VHFRQG HGLWLRQ WR FODULI\ KHU LQWHQWLRQV RI +D]HO¶V VWDWXV DV D Christian malgré lui rather than a nihilist hero.

2¶&RQQRU.DIND, and Religion as a Mechanism for Social Critique :KLOH .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ FHUWDLQO\ LQIOXHQFHG VRPH RI WKH themes found within Wise Blood2¶&RQQRUZDVDOVRLQIOXHQFHG by his use of religious satire and dark humor as a means of VRFLDO FULWLTXH $V 'DYLG )RVWHU :DOODFH QRWHV ³.DIND¶V humor²not only not neurotic but anti-neurotic, heroically sane²is finally religious humor, but religious in the manner of Kierkegaard and Rilke and the Psalms, a harrowing spirituality DJDLQVWZKLFKHYHQ0V2¶&RQQRU¶VEORRG\JUDFHVHHPVDOLWWOH ELW HDV\´   ,Q D VHQVH WKH way Kafka subverts Judaism is YHU\ VLPLODU WR 2¶&RQQRU¶V VXEYHUVLRQ RI &KULVWLDQLW\ particularly the Church Without Christ in Wise Blood, although both writers have different intentions and different endings.1 2¶&RQQRU LV FRQFHUQHG ZLWK WKH SUDFWLFH RI contemporary Christianity and especially interested in reaching a non-&KULVWLDQ DXGLHQFH ,Q ³7KH )LFWLRQ :ULWHU  +LV &RXQWU\´VKHIDPRXVO\VWDWHV When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more

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normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock²to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures. (MM 34)

Throughout her writing FDUHHU VKH ZDV LQVLVWHQW WKDW ³>W@KH &KXUFK VKRXOG PDNH WKH QRYHOLVW D EHWWHU QRYHOLVW´ MM 170). EHFDPH@ LQYROYHG ZLWK´ (Bruce 33). Paradigmatically, Kafka was concerned with the direction mainstream Judaism takes in the early twentieth FHQWXU\2QHQRWDEOHH[DPSOHRI.DIND¶VFULWLTXHRI-XGDLVPLV IRXQGLQKLVVWRU\³$5HSRUWWRDQ$FDGHP\´7KHHQWLUHVWRU\LV the keynote lecture of an ape who describes his own transformation from ape to human. Shortly after being captured, while being shipped from Africa to Europe, the ape learns to imitate humans, arrives in Europe, and becomes a musician. The former ape concludes his lecture asserting that while he is not FRPSOHWHO\ FRQWHQW ³µ, DP QRW FRPSODFHQW HLWKHU¶ UDWKHU µ2Q the whole, at any rate, I have achieved what I set out to DFKLHYH¶´ .DIND Stories 258-59). This story, one of few SXEOLVKHG GXULQJ .DIND¶V OLIHWLPH ILUVW DSSHDUHG LQ D =LRQLVW magazine in a context that makes it a harsh critique of Jewish assimilation in the early twentieth-century. The story is intended as a parody of Jewish assimilation into Western culture during the Diaspora, while Walter H. Sokel notes that for the ape, ³LGHQWLW\ LV SHUIRUPDQFH >«@ a constantly reenacted selfUHSUHVHQWDWLRQ´  KafND¶V³$5HSRUWWRDQ$FDGHP\´RIIHUVDQLQWHUHVWLQJ SDUDOOHOWR2¶&RQQRU¶VRZQWise Blood. Within their respective

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ZRUNVERWK.DINDDQG2¶&RQQRUXVHGUHOLJLRXVSDURG\DVDWRRO IRU VRFLDO SDURG\ .DIND¶V VWRU\ RI DQ DSH¶V HYROXWLRQ LQWR D human seems to bHWKHLQYHUVHRI2¶&RQQRU¶VVXESORWLQYROYLQJ (QRFK (PRU\ ZKR EHFRPHV D ³VDWLULF LQYHUVLRQ RI WKH HYROXWLRQDU\ SURFHVV´ 6KLQQ   :KLOH .DIND¶V DSH EHFRPHV KXPDQ2¶&RQQRU¶V(PRU\KDSSLO\EHFRPHVDQDSH³1RJRULOOD LQH[LVWHQFH«ZDVKDSSLHUDWWKDWPRPHnt than this one, whose JRGKDGILQDOO\UHZDUGHGLW´CW  $V.DIND¶VDSHFULWLFL]HV twentieth-century European Jews for their abating practice of -XGDLVP2¶&RQQRU¶V+D]HO0RWHVFULWLFL]HVYDSLG&DWKROLFVDQG the fear of Catholicism in the South. In much the same way that Kafka was anxious of the practice of Judaism in Central Europe becoming a social FRQVWUXFW UDWKHU WKDQ D UHOLJLRQ 2¶&RQQRU LQWHQGHG IRU Wise Blood to serve as a rebuttal against nihilist traditions and as a refutation against those who possessed a shallow understanding of their own religious beliefs. On the train towards Taulkinham, +D]HO 0RWHV WHOOV 0UV :DOO\ %HH +LWFKFRFN ³, UHFNRQ \RX WKLQN \RX EHHQ UHGHHPHG« ,I \RX¶YH EHHQ UHGHHPHG«, ZRXOGQ¶WZDQWWREH´CW 6, 7). Yet her response seems typical RI WKRVH 2¶&RQQRU WDUJHWV VKH FDQ RQO\ PDQDJH WR WXJ ³DW KHU FROODU´ DQG EOXVK DW KLV PHUH PHQWLRQ RI WKH VXEMHFW CW 6). Mrs. Hitchcock does not feel uncomfortable because he implies that he would not want to spend an eternity in Heaven if she is there. Rather, his broaching of the subject of Christianity, specifically redemption, is what makes Mrs. Hitchcock uncomfortable. :KLOH 2¶&RQQRU SDURGLHV WKH VKDOORZ SUDFWLFH RI Christianity, Hoover Shoats becomes the most obvious parody. To KLP³>L@WGRQ¶WPDNHDQ\GLIIHUHQFHKRZPDQ\&KULVWV \RX DGG WR WKH QDPH >RI WKH FKXUFK@ LI \RX GRQ¶W DGG QRQH WR WKH PHDQLQJ´ CW 89). With his message of sweetness, combined with his guitar and his own homespun sophistry, Shoats H[SODLQV ³«@´CW 124-25). She HYHQ WHOOV +D]HO ³µ,¶P DV JRRG 0U 0RWHV¶ VKH VDLG µQRW EHOLHYLQJ LQ -HVXV DV D PDQ\ D RQH WKDW GRHV¶´ CW 125). 2¶&RQQRUXVHV0UV)ORRGWRVDWLUL]HWKHEHOLHIVRIREjectivism and existentialism which she believed to be the spiritual zeitgeist of the 1950s. In Wise Blood 2¶&RQQRU DOVR SDURGLHV 6RXWKHUQ attitudes towards Catholicism. For instance, when Hazel decides WRUHQWDURRPLQ0UV)ORRG¶VKRXVHKHLQIRUPVKHU that he is a preacher: ³:KDWFKXUFK"´>0UV)ORRG@DVNHG He said the Church Without Christ.

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3URWHVWDQWV DUH NQRZQ IRU WKHLU ³&KULVW-FHQWULF´ approach, and Hazel is no different, since his Church Without Christ is still extremely Christ-centric. Although Hazel has tried to escape IURP&KULVWEHOLHYLQJWKDW³WKHZD\WRDYRLG-HVXVZDVWRDYRLG VLQ´ LQ WKH EDFN RI KLV PLQG KH NQHZ WKDW ³-HVXV ZRuld have KLPLQWKHHQG´CW  7KXVOLNH.DIND¶V-RVHSK.0RWHV has failed before he even started, and his entire crusade against Christ is futile. It is the innate absurdity of his interaction with Mrs. Flood that presents readers with a veiled religious truth revealed by ironic subversion.

2¶&RQQRU¶V6RXWKHUQ*URWHVTXHDQGWKH.DINDHVTXH 7KH ILQDO FRQQHFWLRQ EHWZHHQ .DIND¶V ZRUNV DQG Wise Blood FDQ EH IRXQG LQ )UHGHULFN +RIIPDQ¶V DVVHUWLRQ WKDW WKH JURWHVTXHDFWLRQRI2¶&RQQRU¶VILFWLRQ³UHPLQGVRQHVRPHZKDW RI)UDQ].DINDDWOHDVWLQLWVYLRODWLRQRIQRUPDOH[SHFWDWLRQV´ (33). R. W. B. Lewis also FRPSDUH .DIND DQG 2¶&RQQRU WKLV way³,QWKHZRUOGRI0LVV2¶&RQQRU¶VQRYHO²the Kafkaesque village removed to the American South²there are nothing but eccentrics, individuals who pass their time hoping to trick VRPHERG\ LQWR VKDNLQJ KDQGV ZLWK WKHP´   Through their mutual attraction to dark humor, both authors violate typical H[SHFWDWLRQV .DIND¶V KXPRU ZDV ODEHOHG ³.DINDHVTXH´ ZKLOH 2¶&RQQRU¶V humor ZDV RIWHQ ODEHOHG ³JURWHVTXH´ 7KH PRVW likely reason for some of these initial comparisons is due to the fact that the terms Kafkaesque and grotesque had been used almost interchangeably. While grotesque refers to an exaggerated image or bizarre distortion, the term Kafkaesque LPSOLHV D V\VWHP ³UHPLQLVFHQW RI OLWHUDU\ UHDOLVP H[FHSW LQ LWV

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GUHDPOLNHPLQLPDOLVP´ZKHUH³SHRSOHWU\WRFRQWURODQGSRVVHVV WKHLU HQYLURQPHQW´ :KLWODUN   $V -DPHV :KLWODUN DVVHUWV .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ GHFRQVWUXFWV OLWHUDU\ UHDOLVP E\ ³FUHDWLQJ DQ ungovernable world where any struggle for control becomes QLJKWPDULVK´   6SHFLILFDOO\ :KLWODUN¶V GHILQLWLRQ RI Kafkaesque descrLEHV+D]HO¶VUHOLJLRXVYLHZV Although Wise Blood presents readers with a unifying structure differing from the constructs of The Trial and The Castle, one can see why many readers felt that it was UHPLQLVFHQW RI .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ ,W LQFOXGHV HOHPHQWV RI Whe Kafkaesque. Wise Blood¶V SULPDU\ VWUXJJOH +D]HO¶V IDLOXUH WR ³JHWULGRIWKHUDJJHGILJXUHZKRPRYHVIURPWUHHWRWUHHLQWKH EDFN RI KLV PLQG´ WKH ILJXUH RI &KULVW FHUWDLQO\ LQGLFDWH WKH .DINDHVTXH LQ ZKLFK ³SHRSOH WU\ WR FRQWURO DQG SRVVHVV WKHLU eQYLURQPHQW´ CW 1265, Whitlark 13). Admittedly, Wise %ORRG¶V cohesive construction disqualifies the work from meeting the usual Kafkaesque prerequisites. However, while not the archetypical Kafkaesque novel, Wise Blood still maintains Kafkaesque elements and undercurrents. .DIND¶V LQIOXHQFH RQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood becomes most obvious when the reader considers the themes that 2¶&RQQRUERUURZVIURPWKH&]HFKZULWHUHVSHFLDOO\LQUHJDUGV WR +D]HO 0RWHV $V VRRQ DV 2¶&onnor published her debut novel, many questioned the source material for Hazel. Though VKHFLWHVWKH6RXWKDVKHULQVSLUDWLRQ(OLHQRWHVWKDW2¶&RQQRU ZDVTXLFNWRLQVLVWWKDW0RWHV³ZDVQRWW\SLFDORIWKHSUHDFKHUV found there. Some say he came from Kafka²EXW RI .DIND¶V influence on her she would allow only that he made her bolder DV D ZULWHU´   )URP .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ²including the XQQDPHG QDUUDWRU IURP ³7KH 3DUDEOH RI WKH *DWH .HHSHU´ . from The Castle, Josef K. from The Trial, and Gregor Samsa of The Metamorphosis²various characters struggle futilely against VRPHXQVHHQIRUFHLWLVWKLVVDPHFRQIOLFWVSHFLILFDOO\+D]HO¶V FUXVDGH DJDLQVW &KULVW DQG KLV XOWLPDWH IDLOXUH WR GHQ\ &KULVW¶V existence, which elicits comparisons to Kafka.

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Wise Blood actuaOO\EHJLQVZLWK0RWHV¶VRZQIDLOXUHVWR elude the image of a clergyman. Motes arrives in Taulkinham ZHDULQJ D GDUN VXLW DQG KLV ³-HVXV-VHHLQJ KDW´ CW 34), and those surrounding him believe Motes is a preacher. Externally, Motes desperately and unsuccessfully attempts to convince others that he is not a preacher. Internally, he struggles between the divinity of a resurrected Christ who brings redemption, YHUVXVD-HVXV ZKRLV ³DOOPDQDQGDLQ¶W JRW DQ\*RGLQ KLP´ echoing a theme of futility pervasive throughout the novel (CW   2¶&RQQRU WHOOV UHDGHUV WKDW VRPH PD\ EHOLHYH WKDW ³+D]HO 0RWHV¶ LQWHJULW\ OLHV LQ KLV WU\LQJ ZLWK VXFK YLJRU WR JHW ULG RI the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back of his PLQG >&KULVW@  )RU WKH DXWKRU +D]HO¶V LQWegrity lies in his not EHLQJ DEOH WR´ CW 1265). Ironically, Motes²in the vein of Kafka protagonists²gives in to the futility and eventually becomes a preacher, starting his own church. However, 2¶&RQQRU DVVHUWV WKDW +D]HO¶V IDLOXUH²KLV LQDELOLW\ ³WR DYRLG -HVXV´ WKH ³ZLOG UDJJHG ILJXUH PRWLRQLQJ KLP WR WXUQ DURXQG and come off into the dark where he was not sure of his IRRWLQJ´²is actually his source of integrity (CW 11). Hence, +D]HO¶VIXWLOLW\LVXOWLPDWHO\WKHUHGHPSWLYHWKHPHRIWKHQRYHO .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ ZKLFK LV NQRZQ IRU LWV LQHIIHFWXDOLW\ ³H[SUHVVHVWKHWUDJLFDOLHQDWLRQRIWKH-HZLQWKHPRGHUQZRUOG´ +RUZLW]   7KLV LV WKH IXWLOLW\ WKDW .DIND ZKRVH SDUHQWV¶ native tongue was Yiddish, often felt as a Jew living in the Czech Republic on the outskirts of a rising German empire. It is this physical alienation created by being a Jew in anti-Semitic Eastern Europe that led him to write such nightmarish stories. Because of this alienation and futility often felt by Kafka, his writing seems to be a search for meaning. For instance, The Trial LQFOXGHV -RVHSK .¶V IUXLWOHVV VHDUFK IRU DQVZHUV RU PHDQLQJZKLFKFDQ³EHXQGHUVWRRGDVGHDOLQJZLWKWKHGHVWLQ\ RIWKHPRGHUQ-HZZKRORVWKLVZD\KLV7RUDK´+RUZLW]  Hazel Motes himself seems to be reminiscent of several RI .DIND¶V IUXLWOHVV FKDUDFWHUV DV KLV IDLOXUHV FRQWLQXH throughout the novel²+D]HO¶VRZQVHDUFKIRUPHDQLQJLQWise

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Blood is a search that begins with his early and constant denials RYHU -HVXV¶ H[LVWHQFH DQG KLV RZQ QHHG Ior redemption. +RZHYHU +D]HO¶V IDLOXUHV EHJLQ DV VRRQ DV KH DUULYHV LQ Taulkinham. When Motes leaves the train station to visit a prostitute, he cannot convince the cabdriver that he is not a SUHDFKHUWKHGULYHUFRPPHQWV³,WDLQ¶WDQ\ERG\SHUIHFWRQWKLs JUHHQ HDUWK RI *RG¶V SUHDFKHUV QRU QRERG\ HOVH $QG \RX FDQ tell people better how terrible sin is if you know from your own SHUVRQDOH[SHULHQFH´CW 16). These disappointments continue after Hazel purchases a car and his first drive is interrupted by a ³VWULQJ RI SLJV´ D ORDGHG ELEOLFDO V\PERO FRPPRQ WR 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILFWLRQ CW   'HVSLWH +D]HO¶V EHOLHI WKDW ³QRERG\ZLWKDJRRGFDUQHHGVWREHMXVWLILHG´UHDGHUVDUHVRRQ PDGHDZDUHRIWKHVRUU\FRQGLWLRQRI+D]HO¶VUDW-colored Essex. One mechanic tellV0RWHV³WKDWWKHUHZDVDOHDNLQWKHJDVWDQN and two in the radiator and that the rear tire would probably last WZHQW\ PLOHV LI KH ZHQW VORZ´ CW   +RZHYHU +D]HO¶V inability to come to terms with the terminal state of his automobile only echoes this theme of futility. When the PHFKDQLF WHOOV +D]HO ³,W DLQ¶W DQ\ XVH WR SXW ZDWHU LQ LW«EHFDXVHLWZRQ¶WKROGLW´+D]HOUHVSRQGV³«@EXWQRRQHKDGIROORZHGKLP´H[FHSWIRU ³DER\DERXWVL[WHHQ \HDUVROGZKRKDGZDQWHGVRPHRQHWR JR WRDZKRUHKRXVHZLWKKLP´CW 83). +D]HO¶VODFN of followers

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reflects his ultimate ODFNRIIDLWKLQKLVRZQFDXVH³,I+D]HKDG EHOLHYHGLQ SUD\LQJKH ZRXOGKDYHSUD\HGIRUDGLVFLSOH´CW 83). Unable to inspire a single parishioner, Hazel decides to ³PRYH LPPHGLDWHO\ WR VRPH RWKHU FLW\ DQG SUHDFK WKH Church :LWKRXW &KULVW ZKHUH WKH\ KDG QHYHU KHDUG RI LW´ CW 105). However, his car is destroyed before he can even leave Taulkinham In fact, his lack of success in any endeavor²sexual liaisons, ruining Sabbath Lily Hawks, starting his own church, buying ³D JRRG FDU´²DOO UHLQIRUFH +D]HO¶V RZQ IXWLOLW\ +RZHYHU WKHVH FRPLFDO HQFRXQWHUV DOVR HVWDEOLVK 2¶&RQQRU¶V RZQ UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI +D]HO DV D ³&KULVWLDQ malgré lui´ CW   2¶&RQQRU¶V RZQ QRWHV RQ WKH VHFRQG HGLWLRQ RI Wise Blood VHHP WR VXJJHVW WKHPDWLF SDUDOOHOV EHWZHHQ .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ DQG 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN %RWK ZULWHUV IHDWXUH FKDUDFWHUV who ultimately are destined to fail. Although they both use religious subversion as a social critique to emphasize their own respective beliefs, their beliefs are quite different; hence, there is not much crossover in their respective anagogical visions. However, there is one striking VLPLODULW\EHWZHHQWKHUHOLJLRXVYLVLRQIRXQGLQ.DIND¶VILFWLRQ and that of Wise Blood: the futile struggle agDLQVW ³WKHODZ´RU authority. The struggles found in the fiction of both writers can certainly be read in a religious context. 2QHVXFKH[DPSOHRIWKHIXWLOHVWUXJJOHDJDLQVW³WKHODZ´ FDQ EH IRXQG LQ .DIND¶V VKRUW VWRU\ ³$ &RPPHQWDU\´ ZKLFK Brod aptly rHWLWOHG ³*LYH ,W 8S´  ³$ &RPPHQWDU\´ H[SUHVVHV the same futilities Hazel experiences throughout his time in 7DXONLQKDP.DIND¶VVWRU\GHWDLOVDQXQQDPHGSURWDJRQLVWZKR arrives in an unnamed city and gets lost. Upon asking a SROLFHPDQIRU³WKHZD\´WKHSROLFHPDQUHVSRQGV³R@IUHODWLQJ

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to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings²especially, KDYLQJ D QLJKWPDULVKO\ FRPSOH[ EL]DUUH RU LOORJLFDO TXDOLW\´ (617). According to J. A. Cuddon, Kafkaesque aesthetics is FKDUDFWHUL]HGE\³WKHNLQGRIQLJKWPDULVKatmosphere which [is created] through the pervasive menace of sinister, impersonal forces, the feeling of loss of identity, the evocation of guilt and fear, and the sense of evil that permeates the twisted and µDEVXUG¶ORJLFRIUXOLQJ SRZHUV´  ,Q After Kafka, Shimon 6DQGEDQN FKDUDFWHUL]HV WKH .DINDHVTXH DV ³WKH WKHPDWLFV RI alienation and anxiety, the décor of labyrinthine corridors and RIILFHV WKH SURSKHFLHV RI WRWDOLWDULDQLVP´   0HDQZKLOH LQ KLV IRUHZRUG WR .DIND¶V The Complete Stories, novelist John 8SGLNHVHHVDGUHDGIXODVSHFWRIWKHPRGHUQPLQGVHWLQ.DIND¶V fiction, that is, >«@ D VHQVDWLRQ RI DQ[LHW\ DQG VKDPH whose center cannot be located and therefore cannot be placated; a sense of an infinite difficulty within things, impeding every step; a sensitivity acute beyond usefulness, as if the nervous system, flayed of its old hide of social usage and religious belief, must record every touch as pain. (ix)

Based on the definitions above, Wise Blood may be called Kafkaesque in its use of bizarre, horrifying, and grotesque FKDUDFWHUVVLWXDWLRQVDQGHYHQWV%RWK.DINDDQG2¶&RQQRUXVH a number of animal images and images of ill health and death. What sets the two authors apart from each other is that, in Wise Blood 2¶&RQQRU XVHV JURWHVTXHQHVV WR UHYHDO WKH VSLULWXDO emptiness and misdirection of modern humanity, while Kafka portrays psychological terror through his grotesquerie. Before discussing the anti-Kafkaesque elements in Wise Blood, we will first consider Kafka as a modernist and existentialist. 7KH SURWDJRQLVWV LQ .DIND¶V The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle typically suffer from psychological horror

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that comes from a sense of estrangement, societal oppression, and a conflict between real and ideal. Gregor Samsa of The Metamorphosis, for instance, is a modern man living in a city seized by his familial and professional obligations. In this story of magic realism,1 Gregor wakes up in the morning from ³XQVHWWOLQJ GUHDPV´ WR ILQG KLPVHlf having been transformed LQWR ³D PRQVWURXV YHUPLQ´ Metamorphosis 3). The account of this unearthly experience is immediately followed by a realistic account of what is developing in his life: Gregor wonders what happened to him overnight, he checks the alarm clock in the room, he worries about being late for work, and his mother tells him that it is time to go to work. Then, the story reverses back to a fantasy world; lifting himself out of bed is difficult because ³KH KDG RQO\ KLV QXPHURXV OLWWOH OHJV which were in every different kind of perpetual motion and which, besides, he could QRW FRQWURO´Metamorphosis 7). Gregor becomes a burden and embarrassment for his family members, although he worked hard to support them before he became an insect. He eventually dies a lonely death, and feeling relieved, his cold-hearted father H[FODLPV ³:HOO QRZ ZH FDQ WKDQN *RG´ FURVVLQJ KLPVHOI (Metamorphosis   *UHJRU¶V PRWKHU DQG VLVWHU IHHO WKH VDPH way, and the three of them set out on an excursion to the countU\VLGH GLVFXVVLQJ WKHLU ³H[FHHGLQJO\ DGYDQWDJHRXV DQG HVSHFLDOO\ SURPLVLQJ´ SURVSHFWV IRU WKH WLPH WR FRPH (Metamorphosis 58). The Trial and The Castle also portray psychological terror that haunts modern humanity. The former is a story of a hard-working bank official, Joseph K., who is suddenly arrested and a year later executed in the name of the Law for a crime he knows he never committed²a crime never revealed to him. In WKLV QRYHO WKH ZRUOG LV D ³FRXUW RI MXVWLFH´ (PULFK   LQ which an innocent person is indicted for simply being a human being. Before his death, Joseph K. says to the court chaplain, ³%XW,DPQRWJXLOW\LW¶VDPLVWDNH+RZLVLWUHDOO\SRVVLEOHIRU a human being to be actually guilty? After all, we are all human beings here, each RQH OLNH WKH QH[W´ 7KH FKDSODLQ¶V DQVZHU LV

A Roman Catholic Response to Nihilism and Protestantism 187

³7KDW LV FRUUHFW EXW WKDW LV KRZ JXLOW\ SHRSOH XVXDOO\ WDON´ (Trial 253). In The Castle.DIND¶VXQILQLVKHGQRYHOWKHSURWDJRQLVW named K. arrives at a snow-covered village intending to enter the castle of Count Westwest as his new land surveyor. The FDVWOH LV ³YHLOHG LQ PLVW DQG GDUNQHVV´ 7KHUH LV QRW HYHQ D ³JOLPPHURIOLJKW´IURPWKHFDVWOHWKHRQO\WKLQJKHFDQVHHLV ³WKHLOOXVRU\ HPSWLQHVVDERYHKLP´Castle 3). It turns out that the position of land surveyor was vacant several years ago but is QRORQJHURSHQ7KHSURWDJRQLVW¶VUHSHDWHGDWWHPSWVWRHQWHUWKH castle are denied by the mysterious bureaucratic authority within. K. remains in the village as a confused, frustrated stranger with no resident permit²and facing the hostility and contempt from the community despite his desire to become part of it. In the final chapter of the definitive fourth edition of the novel, K. awakes from a twenty-hour sleep riddled with LQVRPQLD DQG DUJXHV ZLWK KLV ODQGODG\ 6KH DVNV KLP ³:KDW DFWXDOO\ LV LW \RX DUH"´ ³/DQG-6XUYH\RU´ KH UHSOLHV $IWHU \DZQLQJ VKH UHWRUWV ³,@W LV MXVW exactly the absence of dénouement and conclusions that is his subject matter. His story is about death, but death that is without dénouement, death that is merely a spiritually inconclusive SHWHULQJRXW´*UHHQEHUJ-70). 8QOLNH .DIND¶V ILFWLRQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO LV PRUH traditionally structured with an exposition, crisis, and then resolution. A good example can be found in the last paragraph RI WKH QRYHO LQ ZKLFK 2¶&RQQRU GHVFULEHV KRZ 0UV )ORRG experiences a kind of spiritual awakening through Hazel: 6KHKDGQHYHUREVHUYHGKLV>+D]HO¶V@IDFH more composed and she grabbed his hand and held it to her heart. It was resistless and dry. The outline of a skull was plain under his skin and the deep burned eye sockets seemed to lead into the dark

A Roman Catholic Response to Nihilism and Protestantism 201 tunnel where he had disappeared. She leaned closer and closer to his face, looking into them, trying to see how she had been cheated or what had cheated her, EXW VKH FRXOGQ¶W VHH DQ\WKLQJ 6KH VKXW her eyes and saw the pin point of light but so far away that she could not hold it steady in her mind. She felt as if she were blocked at the entrance of something. She sat staring with her eyes shut, into his eyes, and felt as if she had finally got to the beginning of something she coXOGQ¶W begin, and she saw him moving farther and farther away, farther and farther into the darkness until he was the pin point of light. (CW 131)

+HUH 2¶&RQQRU QRW RQO\ REVHUYHV EXW WKHRUL]HV 0UV )ORRG¶V actions and thoughts; her readers glimpse the mysterious vision IRUOLIHWKHODQGODG\UHFHLYHVWKURXJKZLWQHVVLQJ+D]HO¶VDFWLRQV of penance. 7KHFRQWUDVWLQJILFWLRQDOZRUOGVRI.DINDDQG2¶&RQQRU FDQ EH JOHDQHG LQ ,KDE +DVVDQ¶V HVVD\ ³7KH 'LDO DQG 5HFHQW $PHULFDQ )LFWLRQ´   +H FODVVLILHV SRVW-war American novels into five genres: the slapstick novel, the neo-picaresque novel, the ironic novel, the gothic novel, and the novel of outrage. HassDQ FRQVLGHUV 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood and The Violent Bear it Away as gothic novels, along with John +DZNHV¶V The Cannibal and The Lime Twig.4 These works ³GHSLFW WKH PRXUQIXO IUROLFV RI WHUURU DQG QLJKWPDUH 7KHLU forms, if symbolic, are nonetheless acutely relevant. For the gothic novel, by refusing the comforts of irony, pushes negative WUDQVFHQGHQFH WRZDUG LWV ILQDO JRDO ZKLFK LV KHOO´ +DVVan 1). By contrast, the novel of outrage, which follows in the footsteps RI.DINDDQGWKH)UHQFKSRHW&RPWHGH/DXWUHDPRQW³DVVDXOWV not only self and society, but also the human form itself, the root RI %HLQJ´   $V DQ H[DPSOH +DVVDQ FRQVLGHUV :LOOLDP

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%XUURXJK¶VWULORJ\ Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine, and Nova ExpressLQZKLFKWKHQRYHOLVW³SURMHFWVDZRUOGRILQVHFWSHRSOH and sentient ooze, drained wholly of life. Nothing in this world retains its identity; all forms are metamorphosed into more loatKVRPH IRUPV´   $FFRUGLQJ WR +DVVDQ WKH ILYH W\SHV RI post-ZDU $PHULFDQ ILFWLRQ ³UHIHU WR PRGHV RI UDGLFDOLVP LQ WKH FRQWHPSRUDU\ QRYHO´   DQG ³KRUURU DQG VODSVWLFN PLQJOH IUHHO\ LQ WKH VWUDLQ RI GDUN ODXJKWHU ZKLFK SHUYDGHV WKHP DOO´ (3). As Hassan¶V HVVD\ VKRZV SRVW-war American fiction is generally dark in its mood, and comic and horrific elements coexist in many Americans novels of the twentieth century, including Wise Blood. The essay also shows that Kafka and 2¶&RQQRU EHORQJ WR WZR GLIIHUHQW traditions of modern fiction, the novel of outrage and the gothic novel, respectively. Further, DV D QRYHOLVW ZLWK &DWKROLF &KULVWLDQ FRQFHUQV 2¶&RQQRU XVHV the grotesque in order to highlight her theological perspective, not to express her personal anxiety or to portray modern-day angst whose remedy seems unattainable. In other words, the mere presence of nightmarish elements in a novel, such as Wise Blood, does not necessarily make the work Kafkaesque.

Notes 1

In his discussion of Gabriel García Márquez as a magic realist, notable poet and critic Dana Gioia examines the elements of magic UHDOLVPLQ6ZLIW¶V*XOOLYHU¶V7UDYHOV DQG1LNRODL*RJRO¶VVKRUW VWRU\³7KH1RVH´ DVZHOODVLQWKHILFWLRQDOZRrks of Charles Dickens, Honoré de Balzac, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Guy de Maupassant, Kafka, Mikhail Bulgakov, Italo Calvino, John Cheever, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. To this list, one could add a number of contemporary novelists in the Western hemisphere such as Jorge Luis Borges, Jorge Amado, Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, Günter Grass, and John Fowles. After Dark (2008), a novel by bestselling Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, is also written in the tradition of magic realism.

A Roman Catholic Response to Nihilism and Protestantism 203 2

As Henry T. Edmondson III rightly notes, the meaning of Wise Blood ODFNVWUDQVSDUHQF\ 2¶&RQQRU herself explains in her note for the second edition of the novel that Wise Blood ³ZDVZULWWHQZLWK zest and, if possible, it should be read that way. It is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui [in spite of himself], and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters RIOLIHDQGGHDWK´CW 1265). 3 2¶&RQQRUZRXOGKDYHFDOOHG+D]HO0RWHVDORQJVLGHROG7DUZDWHULQ her The Violent Bear It Away, D ³FU\SWR-&DWKROLF´ HB 407). According to her, those who truly believe in Christ are cryptoCatholics despite themselves²even if they may not believe in the Pope, may not accept the articles of Catholic faith. In her letter to William Sessions, she writes that old Tarwater is not a member of 6RXWKHUQ 3URWHVWDQWLVP WKDW KDV EHHQ WDLQWHG ZLWK ³VHFXODULVP´ DQG ³UHVSHFWDELOLW\´DQGZLWKDOONLQGVRIKHUHWLFDOVHFWV1RWDPHPEHURI WKH &DWKROLF &KXUFK 2OG7DUZDWHU LV VWLOO³DSURSKHW´ DQG WKHUHIRUH KH³KDVWREHDQDWXUDO&DWKROLF´HB 407). 4 The genre of Gothic fiction has flourished particularly in the South. ,Q DGGLWLRQ WR 2¶&RQQRU 6RXWKHUQ JRWKLF QRYHOLVWV LQFOXGH :LOOLDP Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, and Truman Capote.

Works Cited Cash, Jean W. )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU $ /LIH. Knoxville: U Tennessee P, 2002. Collins, James. The Existentialists: A Critical Study. Gateway Edition. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1952. Cuddon, J. A. revised by C. E. Preston. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1998. 'DYLV -RH /HH ³2XWUDJHG RU (PEDUUDVVHG´ >5HY RI Wise Blood and This Happy Rural Seat.] Kenyon Review 15 (1953): 320-26. Driskell, Leon V. and Joan T. Brittain. The Eternal Crossroads: 7KH $UW RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU. Lexington: U P Kentucky, 1971.

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Edmondson III, Henry T. Return to Good & Evil: Flannery 2¶&RQQRU¶V 5HVSRQVH WR 1LKLOLVP. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2002. Emrich, Wilhelm. Franz Kafka: A Critical Study of His Writings. trans. Sheema Zeben Buehne. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1968. ³)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU´>5HYRIWise Blood.] Library Journal 15 Feb. 1952: 354. Gioia, Dana. ³*DEULHO *DUFtD 0iUTXH] DQG 0DJLF 5HDOLVP´ http://www.danagioia.net/essays/emarquez.htm Greenberg, Martin. The Terror of Art: Kafka and Modern Literature. New York: Basic Books, 1968. Hassan, ,KDE ³7KH 'LDO DQG 5HFHQW $PHULFDQ )LFWLRQ´ CEA Critic Oct. 1966: 1, 3. Hyman, Stanley Edgar. )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU. Minneapolis: U 0LQQHVRWD 3  ³.DINDHVTXH´ Merriam-:HEVWHU¶V Encyclopedia of Literature. 1995 ed. Kafka, Franz. The Castle. trans. Willa Muir and Edwin Muir. Definitive Ed. New York: Knopf, 1969. _______. The Metamorphosis. trans. and ed. Stanley Corngold. New York: Bantam, 1972. .XQD )UDQ] ³9LHQQD DQG 3UDJXH -´ Modernism: A Guide to European Literature 1890-1930. eds. Malcolm Bradbury and James McFarlane. New York: Penguin, 1991. (120-33) 0DQQ 7KRPDV ³+RPDJH´ LQ )UDQ] .DIND The Castle. trans. Willa Muir and Edwin Muir. definitive ed. New York: Knopf, 1969. (ix-xvii) Muller, Gilbert H. Nightmares and Visions: Flanner\2¶&RQQRU and the Catholic Grotesque. Athens: U Georgia P, 1972. 2¶&RQQRU)ODQQHU\ Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. _______. The Habit of Being /HWWHUV RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, 1979.

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_______. Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose. eds. Sally Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, 1969. Sandbank, Shimon. $IWHU .DIND 7KH ,QIOXHQFH RI .DIND¶V Fiction. Athens: U Georgia P, 1989. Simpson, Melissa. )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU$%LRJUDSK\. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. ³6RXWKHUQ 'LVVRQDQFH´ >5HY RI Wise Blood and The Family.] Time 9 June 1952: 108, 110. Spivey, Ted R. )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU 7KH :RPDQ WKH 7KLQNHU the Visionary. Macon: Mercer UP, 1997. 8SGLNH-RKQ³)RUHZRUG´Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories. ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. New York: Schocken Books, 1988. (ix-xxi)

Flannery 2¶&RQQRUDQGGerard Manley Hopkins on the Virtues of Blindness and Silence1 Henry T. Edmondson III Georgia College & State University

Introduction Though a century apart, Southern writer Flannery 2¶&RQQRU -64) and Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89) were fellow travelers in their belief in and GHPRQVWUDWLRQ RI OLWHUDWXUH¶V DELOLW\ WR JXLGH WKH UHDGHU LQWR DQ H[SHULHQFHRI*RG¶VWUDQVFHQGence. Both devout Catholics, they XVHG WKHLU ZULWLQJV WR UHIOHFW WKHLU FRQYLFWLRQ WKDW *RG¶V JUDFH ZDV SDOSDEO\ HYLGHQW LQ WKH FUHDWHG ZRUOG +RSNLQV¶V ZRUN LV QRWDEOHIRULWVGHSLFWLRQ RI*RG¶V SUHVHQFHWKURXJKWKHVRDULQJ beauty and profound tragedy of mDQ¶V H[LVWHQFH 2¶&RQQRU however, demonstrates how God works through the ugliness of IDOOHQPDQDQGPDQ¶VPXQGDQHVXUURXQGLQJV In this essay, I draw upon another common theme in +RSNLQV¶V DQG 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUNV &RQVLGHULQJ +RSNLQV¶V Ignatian formation and the Carmelite heritage to which both had access given their Catholic piety, the two authors employed literature to underscore the essential role of silence in the spiritual life of the believer. First, though, as a matter of human interest, it is worth noting the several instances in which 2¶&RQQRUUHIHUUHGWR*HUDUG0DQOH\+RSNLQV 2¶&onnor and Hopkins 7KRXJK 2¶&RQQRU¶V SXEOLVKHG FRUUHVSRQGHQFH infrequently mentions Hopkins, the few citations are obviously LPSRUWDQW WR 2¶&RQQRU :KLOH VKH VHHPV WR KDve admired his VW\OH LW ZDV +RSNLQV¶V VSLULWXDO LPSDFW RQ 2¶&RQQRU WKDW ZDV conspicuous. For example, at one stage of her life, she was having trouble sleeping because of treatments for her physical

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ailment of disseminated lupus erythematosus, the auto-immune disease that took her life at the untimely age of thirty-nine. In WKDW SHULRG RI WURXEOHG UHVW 2¶&RQQRU DOOXGHG WR +RSNLQV¶V LQVSLULQJ SRHP ³7KH %OHVVHG 9LUJLQ &RPSDUHG WR WKH $LU :H BreathH´ The business of broken sleep is interesting but the business of sleep generally is interesting. I once did without it almost all the time for several weeks. I had high fever and was taking cortisone in big doses, which prevents your sleeping. I was starving to go to sleep. Since then I have come to think of sleep as metaphorically connected with the mother of God. Hopkins said she was the air we breathe, but I have come to realize her most in the gift of going to sleep. Life without her would be equivalent to me to life without sleep and as she contained Christ for a time, she seems to contain our life in sleep for a time so that we are able to wake up in peace. (HB 112)

2Q DQRWKHU RFFDVLRQ 2¶&RQQRU ZURWH WR D IULHQG UHFRPPHQGLQJ +RSNLQV¶V SUDFWLFDO GHILQLWLRQ RI FKDULW\ 6KH DVNHG ³'R \RX NQRZ WKH +RSNLQV-Bridges correspondence? >+RSNLQV¶V IULHQG 5REHUW@ %ULGJHV ZURWH +RSNLQV DW RQH SRLQW and asked him how he could possibly learn to believe, expecting, I suppose, a metaphysical answer. Hopkins only said, µ*LYHDOPV¶´HB 164). 2¶&RQQRUEHOLHYHGWKDWVXFKDSUDFWLFH of charity cut through intellectual rationalization. She wrote to Alfred Corn, D \RXQJ VNHSWLF ³>+RSNLQV@ ZDV WU\LQJ WR VD\ WR Bridges that God is to be experienced in Charity (in the sense of love for the divine imaJH LQ KXPDQ EHLQJV  'RQ¶W JHW VR

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entangled with intellectual difficulties that you fail to look for God in this way´HB 476-77). 2¶&RQQRU¶VPRVWWRXFKLQJTXRWation from Hopkins was in a letter dated June 19, 1964, from her hospital bed. At this point, O¶&RQQRU¶V KHDOWK ZDV SUHFDULRXV 6KH ZRXOG UHTXHVW extreme unction three weeks later and then die the following month of kidney failure, one of the many complications of her LOOQHVV ,Q WKLV OHWWHU VKH UHFDOOHG OLQHV IURP +RSNLQV¶V SRHP about human mortalLW\ ³6SULQJ DQG )DOO WR D «@ The mail lady just arrived (they call them Pink Ladies here²they wear pink smocks & work 2 days a week voluntarily in hospitals²mostly society women with not enough to do at home² good souls really) with 3 letters from you which I was cheered to get. I do enjoy your letters. They are much more interesting than anything I have the energy to cook up in return. I realize I GRQ¶W HYHQ DQVZHU KDOI \RXU TXHVWLRQV ,W is not lack of interest but lack of energy² mental & physical right now. I have always been a terrible conversationalist. I like to be around people who talk all the time because when somebody else is GRLQJLW,GRQ¶WKDYHWR I like Hopkins (to answer one) particularly a sonnet beginning Margaret, are you grieving

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³7KH+DELWRI3HUIHFWLRQ´ ,Q +RSNLQV¶V HDUO\ SRHP ³7KH +DELW RI 3HUIHFWLRQ´ KH describes the process by which the five senses are suppressed in the interest of a deeper awareness of the transcendent God. This sensory self-GHQLDO LQ LWVHOI D NLQG RI ³SRYHUW\´ LQYLWHV DQ experience of voluntary Silence. Hopkins writes,2 ELECTED Silence, sing to me And beat upon my whorlèd ear,

Silence, as Hopkins personified it, is entreated to perform a paradoxical task. The poem continues, Pipe me to pastures still and be The music that I care to hear. Shape nothing, lips; be lovely-dumb: It is the shut, the curfew sent From there where all surrenders come Which only makes you eloquent.

After dealing with the sense of hearing, Hopkins then addresses the other senses, exhorting them to abandon their given function in the interest of a more important experience. He turns to the faculty of sight: Be shellèd, eyes, with double dark And find the uncreated light: This ruck and reel which you remark Coils, keeps, and teases simple sight.

Then taste is commanded to abandon the sweetness of wine so as to enjoy a different kind of divine feast:

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Palate, the hutch of tasty lust, Desire not to be rinsed with wine: The can must be so sweet, the crust So fresh that come in fasts divine!

The sense of smell is next in line: Nostrils, your careless breath that spend Upon the stir and keep of pride, What relish shall the censers send Along the sanctuary side!

Finally, both hands and feet must anticipate a nobler pursuit than the physical comfort they might ordinarily enjoy: O feel-of-primrose hands, O feet That want the yield of plushy sward, But you shall walk the golden street, And you unhouse and house the Lord.

This process of self-forgetfulness and penury of the senses aids WKHVRXO¶VFRPPXQLRQZLWK*RG And, Poverty, be thou the bride And now the marriage feast begun, And lily-coloured clothes provide Your spouse not laboured-at, nor spun.

+RSNLQV¶V GHVFULSWLRQ RI WKLV VSLULWXDO GLVFLSOLQH LV UHPLQLVFHQW RI 6W -RKQ¶V GHVFULSWLRQ RI ³VWLOOLQJ KLV VHQVHV´ LQ KLV SRHP ³'DUN 1LJKW RI WKH 6RXO´ DQG RI KLV GHVFULSWLRQ RI FRQWHPSODWLRQ LQ ³WKH UHVRXQGLQJ VLOHQFH´ 2¶&RQQRU KDV D similar experience in mind in her first novel, Wise Blood, when her character Hazel Motes undergoes repentance and penance. His conversion comes after his futile attempt to abandon God in a desperate nihilistic sacrilege, which he commits by attempting to proselytize those around him into his self-SURFODLPHG ³the

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Church WLWKRXW &KULVW´ %HIRUH WXUQLQJ WR WKH FRPSDULVRQ RI +RSNLQVDQG2¶&RQQRUKRZHYHULWLVLPSHUDWLYHWRXQGHUVWDQG WKDW2¶&RQQRUFRQVLGHUHGKHUVHOIDSURSKHWIRUWKHPRGHUQDJH she was most artistic when she employed the device of grotesqueness to demand the attention of an apathetic world. Prophecy and the Grotesque 2¶&RQQRU RQFH VKDUHG ZLWK D IULHQG KHU H[FLWHPHQW ZKHQVKHPDGHD³OXFN\ILQG´LQ6W7KRPDV$TXLQDV¶VHFWLRQV of the Summa and the De Veritate on prophecy, in which he H[SODLQHG WKDW WKH ³SURSKHWLF YLVLRQ LV GHSHQGHQW RQ WKH imagination of the prophet, not his moral life´ HB 367).3 2¶&RQQRU¶V H[FLWHPHQW XQGRXEWHGO\ VWHPPHG IURP WKH VHOIrecognition that she had something to say of a prophetic nature to the world, and she possessed the imagination to do so aesthetically. In fact, in her correspondence to her friend Maryat Lee, she often signed her letters with variations of the name of Tarwater, the prophet in her second novel, The Violent Bear It Away.4 Nonetheless, despite her prophetic leanings, she never seemed to take herself too seriously. She commented on her LQVSLUDWLRQ ³, ZLVK , KDG 9RLFHV RU DQ\ZD\ GLVWLQFW YRLFHV , have something that might be a continuing muttering snarl like cats courting under the house, but no clear Voice in years´/HH 49). Despite having no dramatic vision or revelations, she was inspired in her craft insofar as she believed she was invested ZLWK WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ RI VHUYLQJ DV D NLQG RI ³SURSKHW´ In this role, the writer is one who speaks forth truth to his society, not only basing his prophecy on the truth as it is needed and relevant to the reader, but also employing the faculty of the imagination in the service of the prophetic act. The artist has the opportunity, then, to speak like the Old Testament prophets since the poet²if he is indeed a poet²KDV WKH IDFXOW\ RI ³VLJKW´ WKDW LV ³HVVHQWLDOO\ SURSKHWLF´ TWG LQ *HW]   2¶&RQQRU QRWHG ³$FFRUGLQJ WR 6W 7KRPDV SURSKHWLF YLVLRQ LV QRW D PDWter of

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VHHLQJFOHDUO\EXWRIVHHLQJZKDWLVGLVWDQWKLGGHQ´HB 365). Recognizing that many other writers saw no transcendent purpose in their art, VKHH[SODLQHGLQDOHFWXUH³(YHU\ZKHUH,JR ,¶PDVNHGLI,WKLQNWKHXQLYHUVLWLHVVWLIOHZULWHUV0\RSLQion is WKDWWKH\GRQ¶WVWLIOHHQRXJKRIWKHP7KHUH¶VPDQ\DEHVW-seller WKDWFRXOGKDYHEHHQSUHYHQWHGE\DJRRGWHDFKHU´MM 84-85).5 2¶&RQQRUHPSOR\VWKHWHFKQLTXHRIJURWHVTXHQHVVWRJHW the attention of an audience moderately literate, morally dull, and satisfied with vague discussion and lazy thinking about LPSRUWDQW PDWWHUV 6KH ZULWHV ³>7@R WKH KDUG RI KHDULQJ \RX shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling ILJXUHV´CW 806). She also writes, ³,FDQ¶WVHHDQ\ZD\WRZULWH as a Catholic unless you make what you write brutal, since now WKHUHDUHQ¶WDQ\PXWXDOO\XQGHUVWRRGZRUGVDERYHDFHUWDLQOHYHO´ (Stephens 6). According to Walker Percy, the traditional religious vocabulary has been rendered meaningless by overuse; hence, as soon aV WKH ZULWHU XVHV WKH ZRUGV ³VDOYDWLRQ RU redemption >«@WKHMLJLVXS´ (Lee 54). 7KXV2¶&RQQRUVWUDLQV for new and alarming ways to get the Christian message across WR KHU DXGLHQFH )RU H[DPSOH LQ KHU VKRUW VWRU\ ³7KH 5LYHU´ and in her second novel The Violent Bear It Away, drowning comes to symbolize baptism, because, as Walker Percy noted, ³+RZ HOVH FDQ RQH SRVVLEO\ ZULWH RI D EDSWLVP DV DQ HYHQW RI immense significance when baptism is already accepted but accepted by and large as a minor tribal rite somewhat secondary to taking the kids to see Santa at the department store?´/DZVRQ and Kramer 214). Wise Blood ,Q UHIHUHQFH WR KHU QRYHOV 2¶&RQQRU FRQIHVVHG ³, GR SUHIHU WR JR ZKHUH IHZ FKRRVH WR IROORZ´ HB 371). Her first novel, Wise Blood, is an unusual combination of the grotesque, the comical, and the philosophical. The novel is an allegory in ZKLFKWKHVWRU\¶VSURWDJRQLVW+D]HO0RWHVXVXDOO\VKRUWHQHGWR Haze), illustrates the dangerous pursuit of nihilism through the

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rejection of God and traditional morality. The other characters in the novel represent important elements of this ill-advised HQGHDYRU 2¶&RQQRU H[SODLQHG WKLV PDQQHU RI ZULWLQJ ILFWLRQ ZKHQVKHZURWH³>$@Q\FKDUDFWHULQDVHULRXVQRYHOLVVXSSRVHG to carry a burden of meaning lDUJHU WKDQ KLPVHOI´ MM 167). Since the novel deals with such a disturbing phenomenon as the ³GHDWK RI *RG´ LW VKRXOG QRW EH VXUSULVLQJ LI WKH QRYHO LV WURXEOLQJDVZHOO7KHDXWKRUZURWHWRDIULHQG³,KDYHILQLVKHG my opus nauseous and expect it to be out one of these days. The name will be Wise Blood´HB 24). 2QHUHYLHZHUQRWHGWKDW³WKHEHVWRI>2¶&RQQRU¶V@ZRUN sounded like the Old Testament would sound if it were being ZULWWHQWRGD\´HB 109). If so, Wise Blood most resembles the story of Jonah, an DOOHJRU\WHDFKLQJWKHFRQVHTXHQFHVRIPDQ¶V flight from God: if one should flee from God, he will end up right where he began, but only after spending three days in the dark and dangerous belly of the whale.6 It is not surprising, then, WKDW2¶&RQQRUGHVFribed Wise Blood DV³DFRPLFQRYHODERXWD Christian malgré lui´CW 1265). A malgré lui is someone who does that which he is most trying to avoid. So, too, Hazel Motes concludes his life by surrendering to the thing he has put all of his energy into destroying. Wise Blood adapts the timeless notion of a malgré lui to the modern age by adding the contemporary innovation of QLKLOLVP +D]HO 0RWHV¶V IOLJKW IURP *RG LV H[SUHVVHG WKURXJK his nihilistic pursuit, and his manner of running from God is to deny his existence and to rush headlong into a defiant belief in ³QRWKLQJ´ +LV DUURJDQFH FRQVLVWV of his assertion that he can EHOLHYH LQ QRWKLQJ DQG VWLOO DYRLG HYLO 2¶&RQQRU XQGHUVFRUHV 0RWHV¶VVKULOOLQVLVWHQFHWKDWKHGRHVQRWEHOLHYHLQ*RGEXWDOO the while he is being relentlessly drawn toward a final and costly encounter with Him. Motes illustrates, as Eric Voegelin H[SODLQHG WKDW PDQ OLYHV LQ DQ LQHVFDSDEOH ³WHQVLRQ´ ZLWK WKH Divine, a tension that pulls all men toward Himself (Ecumenic 6).

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$OWKRXJK 2¶&RQQRU ZDV WURXEOHG E\ VRPH RI WKH reviews of this novel, she was grateful for one reviewer, Brainard Cheney, and she wrote him to express her appreciation. 2¶&RQQRU¶V JUDWHIXOQHVV VSDUNHG D IULHQGVKLS EHWZHHQ WKH DXWKRUDQG&KHQH\DQGKLVZLIHWKDWFRQWLQXHGXQWLO2¶&RQQRU¶V GHDWK &KHQH\ ZURWH WKDW ³QR ZLVHU EORRG >KDV@ EURRGHG DQG beat over the meaning of the grim rupture in our social fabric than that of this twenty-six year old Georgia girl in this, her first novel´6WHSKHQV The review continued, Wise Blood is >«@ about the persistent FUDYLQJRIWKHVRXO>«@ ,WLVDERXWPDQ¶V inescapable need of his fearful, if blind, search for salvation >«@ Didactically stated her story seems over-simple: Hazel Motes, an hysterical fringe preacher, tries WR IRXQG D FKXUFK ³:LWKRXW &KULVW´ DQG progressively preaching nihilism, negates his way back to the cross. (Stephens 197)

Mrs. Flood After Hazel Motes has abandoned his fight with God and KDV YROXQWDULO\ EOLQGHG KLPVHOI VR WKDW KH PLJKW EHWWHU ³VHH´ God, he rents a room in a boarding house. His landlady, Mrs. )ORRG RIIHUV WKH UHDGHU D XQLTXH SHUVSHFWLYH RQ +D]H¶V pilgrimage. Mrs. Flood UHSUHVHQWV DOO WKRVH LQ QHHG RI ³7KH )ORRG´RI*HQHVLVFKDSWHUV-9. In these chapters, the incessant forty-day rain wiped out all of mankind except Noah and his family. Thus, this woman stands for all of those in need of judgment and redemption²the entire human race. Haze now becomes a kind of pioneer who is emerging from his long dark night of nihilism and is, by the sheer grace of God, walking the long slow road of reconciliation with the Divine. The reader should identify with Mrs. Flood, not only in her self-righteous complacency, but also in the incipient and unsettling recognition

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of her spiritual poverty. Haze, albeit in comic, exaggerated fashion, demonstrates the difficult path of return to God. Mrs. Flood is a narrow, self-righteous woman who will not hesitate to take pecuniary advantage of a tenant, even a blind one. Yet the appearance of the enigmatic Hazel Motes unsettles her. Her priggish self-assurance begins to slip away because she comes to understand that the sightless Hazel sees something she GRHV QRW $OWKRXJK³WKH PHVVKHKDGPDGHLQ KLV H\HVRFNHWV´ repulses her, she finds herself involuntarily ³OHDQLQJ IRUZDUG staring into his face as if she expected to see something she KDGQ¶WVHHQEHIRUH´CW 120). At first, her cynicism disposes her to think, as she habitually did, that if she does not understand something, she is SUREDEO\ EHLQJ FKHDWHG LQ VRPH ZD\ DQG ³ZKDW SURYRNHG KHU most was the thought that there might be something valuable KLGGHQ QHDU KHU VRPHWKLQJ VKH FRXOGQ¶W VHH´ CW 120). The irony is that she is correct: although her estimation of value is a material calculation, the wealth close by belongs to the province RI WKH VRXO 6KH QRWLFHV WKDW ³>K@LV IDFH KDG D SHFXOLDU SXVKLQJ look, as if it were going forward after something it could just GLVWLQJXLVK LQ WKH GLVWDQFH´ CW 120-21). He seems to be ³VWUDLQLQJWRZDUGVRPHWKLQJ´WKLVSHUSOH[HVDQGXQVHWWOHV0UV )ORRG EHFDXVH ³VKH NQHZ KH ZDV WRWDOO\ EOLQG´ CW 121). Although Hazel has no vision, she is the one who is confounded: ³6KH GLGQ¶W XQGHUVWDQG LW 6KH GLGQ¶W OLNH WKH WKRXJKW WKDW something was being put over her head. She liked the clear light RIGD\6KHOLNHGWRVHHWKLQJV´CW  6KHZRQGHUV³+RZ would he know if time was going backwards or forwards or if he was goLQJZLWKLW"´CW 123). 0UV)ORRG¶VSUREOHPLVWKDWVKHFDQRQO\³VHH´ZKDWLV material; she has no sight for the spiritual. Hazel, by this time, can see beyond the material, and this is what she does not understand. The landlady begins to imagine that Hazel sees no PRUHWKDQ³DSLQSRLQWRIOLJKW´CW 123). At first, she interprets this as indicative of his desperate blind state, but this image persists and takes on a new meaning for her, as if there is

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something in the distance to which he has access but she does not. Leisure and Contemplation Before his conversion and self-mutilation, the defiant +D]HO LQVLVWHG WKDW LW ³ZDV QRW ULJKW WR EHOLHYH DQ\WKLQJ \RX FRXOGQ¶WVHHRUKROGLQ\RXUKDQGVRUWHVWZLWK\RXUWHHWK´CW 116). Haze Motes also preached that there was no reality beyond the material, and he encouraged his scattered listeners to limit their vision to the most material object of all: their own bodies. ,Q WKLV LQVWDQFH 2¶&RQQRU UHYHDOV KHU SUHVFLHQFH DV VKH anticipates the cult of the human body that has marked the turn of the millennium. Haze argues for radical materialism in contrast to the Christian doctrines of sin, redemption, judgment, and eternal life: ³1RWKLQJ RXWVLGH \RX FDQ JLYH \RX D SODFH´ KH VDLG ³«@ In \RXUVHOIULJKWQRZLVDOOWKHSODFH\RX¶YH got. If there was a Fall, look there, if there was any Redemption, look there, and if you expect any Judgment, look there, because they all three will have to be in your time and your body and where in your time and your body can they be? (CW 93)

The repentant Haze has begun to reject the material by his indifference to any money beyond his immediate needs. When Mrs. Flood finds his leftover cash in the wastebasket, +D]HO H[SODLQV ³,W ZDV OHIW RYHU >«@ , GLGQ¶W QHHG LW´ CW  ,QFRQWUDVWWR+D]HO³>Z@KHQ>0UV)ORRG@IRXQGDVWUHDP of wealth, she followed it to its source and before long, it was not distinJXLVKDEOHIURPKHURZQ´CW 120).

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0UV )ORRG¶V DWWLWXGH WRZDUG WKH OHLVXUH WKDW +D]H¶V EOLQGQHVV DIIRUGV GLIIHUV PDUNHGO\ IURP +D]H¶V XVH RI KLV IUHH time. Hazel finds in it an opportunity to sit quietly, while if Mrs. )ORRGKDGEHHQEOLQG³VKHZRXOGKDYH sat by the radio all day, HDWLQJFDNHDQGLFH FUHDP DQGVRDNLQJKHUIHHW´CW 122). In 2¶&RQQRU¶V HFRQRPLFDO ZULWLQJ VKH KDV LQ WKLV VKRUW SDVVDJH suggested the contemporary misuse of leisure time. Classical SKLORVRSK\ GLYLGHV KXPDQ DFWLYLW\ LQWR ³ZRUN´ ³SOD\´ DQG ³OHLVXUH´ EXW WKLV FRQFHSWLRQ RI OHLVXUH LV ODUJHO\ XQNQRZQ WRGD\:KHUHDVZHHTXDWHLWZLWKSOD\RUUHFUHDWLRQWKHZRUG¶V etymology reveals its true meaning: the Greek word is schole, and like our ideal of liberal education, leisure is the time spent in personal improvement: moral, intellectual, and spiritual. Work is performed to provide opportunity for leisure, and play is used as relief from work.7 2¶&RQQRUPDUNHGLQ RQHRI(ULF9RHJHOLQ¶V ZRUNV D SDVVDJH WKDW EHJLQV ³/HLVXUH LV QRW SOD\WLPH >«@ Education must >«@equip a man with knowledge and train him in intellectual pursuits [, for leisure is the time to shape the] man of excellencH´Plato 355). 0UV )ORRG¶V K\SRWKHWLFDO XVH RI OHLVXUH V\PEROL]HV WKH worst in the experience of contemporary men and women. Her ILUVW SULRULW\ ZRXOG EH WR VLW E\ WKH UDGLR ,Q WKLV 2¶&RQQRU points to the Western infatuation with passive entertainment, a trend identified in post-war Europe and America by Josef Pieper in his important work Leisure: The Basis of Culture, and a phenomenon incisively diagnosed by Neil Postman in his precocious Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Such a passive attitude to free time DQG HQWHUWDLQPHQW SURPRWHV 0UV )ORRG¶V VHFRQG DQG WKLUd priorities, interests that cater only to her sensuality² to eat and soak her feet. 3DVFDOQRWHVWKDWPDQ¶VJUHDWHVWSUREOHPLVKLVLQDELOLW\ WR XVHKLV IUHHWLPHTXLHWO\ DQGUHIOHFWLYHO\+H ZULWHV ³,KDYH discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one VLQJOHIDFWWKDWWKH\FDQQRWVWD\TXLHWO\LQWKHLURZQFKDPEHU´ Instead, Pascal observes, a man must surround himself with all

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VRUWVRI³GLYHUVLRQV´MXVWWRNHHSDWDUP¶VOHQJWKWKHRSSRUWXQLW\ for reflection because he is likely to find such meditative opportunities horribly depressing when confronted with the truth of his condition.8 ,Q 2¶&RQQRU VKRUW VWRU\ ³-XGJPHQW 'D\´ 7DQQHU¶V GDXJKWHU LV FRQIOLFWHG EHWZHHQ KHU GXW\ WR KHU DJHG father and the allure of a more superficial, less thoughtful life. She succumbs to the latter when she admonishes the old man WKDW KLV WURXEOH LV VLWWLQJ ³LQ IURQW RI WKDW ZLQGRZ DOO WKH WLPH ZKHUH WKHUH¶V QRWKLQJ WR ORRN RXW DW´ CW 685). In her GLDJQRVLV KH QHHGV ³µVRPH LQVSLUDWLRQ DQG DQ RXW-OHW¶´ DQG VR she DGYLVHV³µ,I\RXZRXOGOHWPHSXOO\RXUFKDLUDURXQGWRORRN at the TV, you would quit thinking about morbid stuff, death and KHOODQGMXGJPHQW¶´CW 685-86). $IWHU +D]H EOLQGV KLPVHOI 0UV )ORRG ³REVHUYHG KLV KDELWV FDUHIXOO\´ 'HVSLWH WKH GHFOLQH LQ KLV KHDOWK ³KH ZDONHG RXWHYHU\GD\>«@´)URPGRZQVWDLUVVKHFRXOGWHOOWKDWKH³JRW XSHDUO\LQWKHPRUQLQJDQGZDONHGLQKLVURRP>«@DQGWKHQKH went out and walked before breakfast and after breakfast, he ZHQW RXW DJDLQ DQG ZDONHG XQWLO PLGGD\´ 6KH determines by IROORZLQJKLPWKDWKH³NQHZWKHIRXURUILYHEORFNVDURXQGWKH KRXVHDQGKHGLGQ¶WJRDQ\IDUWKHUWKDQWKRVH´6KHWKLQNV³+H could have been dead and get all he got out of life but the H[HUFLVH´CW 122-23). 0UV)ORRGFRQFOXGHV³+Hmight as well be one of them PRQNV´OLYLQJLQD³PRQNHU\´2¶&RQQRUREVHUYHV³6KHGLGQ¶W XQGHUVWDQGLW´CW 123). Indeed she did not, and she urges him to do something, be it learning to strum a guitar or preaching again. Mrs. Flood is certain that Haze LV ³RXW RI FRQQHFWLRQ´ ZLWKWKH³UHDOZRUOG´2IFRXUVHLQDVHQVHKHLV Engagement in leisure, in the classical sense, may at times look like idleness. Hazel rarely speaks, and Mrs. Flood is annoyed by this. He mystifies her. She would not be able to unGHUVWDQG3LHSHU¶VH[SODQDWLRQWKDW Leisure is a form of silence, of that silence which is the prerequisite of the

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Henry T. Edmondson III apprehension of reality: only the silent hear and those who do not remain silent do not heaU >«@ [T]here is certain serenity in leisure. [«@ That serenity springs precisely from our inability to understand, from our recognition of the mysterious nature of the universe; it springs from the courage of deep confidence, so that we are content to let things take their course. (Pieper 41)

Darkness 7KH³SLQSRLQW RIOLJKW´WKDW +D]HIROORZV DQGWKDW 0UV Flood finds so alluring represents the beginning of contemplation, a state to which Haze arrives through the SHQDQFH WKDW IDFLOLWDWHV UHGHPSWLYH JUDFH 2¶&RQQRU RQFH WULHG to straighten out her former philosophy professor on the meaning of Wise Blood: The theme of this book is expiation and the form of life in it is penance. The light Haze is traveling toward is the light of Bethlehem by way of the cross. To my mind, tenderness, beauty, and love are contained within his suffering, and as much absolution as the writer, not being God, can give.9

6KHUHLQIRUFHV WKLV SRLQWE\UHYHDOLQJWKDW+D]HO 0RWHV ³ZDVD P\VWLF´ HB 116). She once expressed mild concern that the grotesque element of Wise Blood may have been overdone and for that reason, the connection with mysticism overlooked. If WKHUHZDVDIDLOXUHWRWKHQRYHOLWVHHPHG³WREHWKDWKHLVQRW believable enough as a human being to make his blinding KLPVHOIEHOLHYDEOHIRUWKHUHDVRQVKHGLGLW´HB 116). In light of this emphasis upon contemplation, it is fair to DVNLI2¶&RQQRUKHUVHOISXUVXHGVRPHPHDVXUHRIFRQWHPSODWLYH

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practice. It appears that she did. She prized the spiritual teachings of the great Spanish contemplatives St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, and she offered the teaching of ERWKDVDQDQWLGRWHWR³IDOVHP\VWLFLVP´HB 113). In respect to WKH WHDFKLQJ DXWKRULW\ RI KHU FKXUFK VKH H[SODLQV ³)RU PH D dogma is only a gateway to contemplation and is an instrument of freedom DQG QRW RI UHVWULFWLRQ´ 2¶&RQQRU¶V FRQWHPSODWLYH opportunity, moreover, was most likely the Eucharist, which she attended often, even though it may have been physically difficult to do so. For St. John of the Cross, the Eucharist was ³DOOKLVJORU\DOOKis happiness, and for him far surpassed all the things of the eartK´6W-RKQ  /LNHZLVH2¶&RQQRUUHYHDOHG LQFRUUHVSRQGHQFHWKDWWKH(XFKDULVW³LVWKHFHQWHURIH[LVWHQFH IRU PH DOO WKH UHVW RI OLIH LV H[SHQGDEOH´ HB 125). Undoubtedly, her reading of the University of Munich philosopher and theologian Romano Guardini deepened her GHYRWLRQ WR WKH (XFKDULVW 6KH ZURWH 6DOO\ )LW]JHUDOG ³, DP UHDGLQJHYHU\WKLQJ,FDQ´RI*XDUGLQLDQGVKHUHYLHZHGDWOHDVW six of his books for her diocesan periodical (HB 74). In her review of his Meditations Before Mass, she includes his FRQWHQWLRQ WKDW ³WKH ZRUGV VSRNHQ DW WKH FRQVHFUDWLRQ DUH µWKH equals of those which once brought the universe into existence´ 2¶&RQQRUPG 28). 2¶&RQQRU ZDV IDPLOLDU ZLWK 6W -RKQ¶V Weaching and recommended it to friends, so it is reasonable to suppose the P\VWLF¶VPHWDSKRUVFRXOGEHLQWKHEDFNJURXQGRIKHUQDUUDWLYH of Hazel Motes. She also suggests an intense interest in St. John when she calls Edith Stein, the brilliant philosopher and scholar RI WKH 6SDQLVK P\VWLF RQH RI  ³WKH WZR th²century women ZKRLQWHUHVWPHPRVW´HB 93).10 ,QKHUUHYLHZRI(GLWK6WHLQ¶V book on St. John of the Cross, The Science of the Cross, 2¶&RQQRU GHVFULEHV WKH VDLQW LQ D PDQQHU WKDW VXJJHVWV WKH difficulty Mrs. Flood experiences in trying to understand Haze: ³$V IRU 6W -RKQ RI WKH &URVV KLV OLIH ZDV OLYHG VR YHU\ QHDU eternal realities that it seems an impossible life to understand´ 2¶Connor, PG 97).

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St. John of the Cross writes a great deal about darkness. He describes the journey to God as consisting of two important H[SHULHQFHV WKH³GDUNQLJKW RIWKHVHQVHV´ DQGWKH³GDUNQLJKW RIWKHVRXO´7KLV³ILUVWQLJKWRISXUJDWLRQ´FRQFHUQVthe sensory part of the soul. He describes it poetically in the first stanza of KLVIDPRXV³'DUN1LJKWRIWKH6RXO´LQZKLFKKLV³VHQVHV´KDYH EHHQGDUNHQHGDQGKLV³KRXVH´WKDWLVKLVVRXOLV³VWLOOHG´ One dark night, )LUHGZLWKORYH¶VXUJHQWlongings ²ah, the sheer grace!² I went out unseen, My house being now all stilled. (St. John 113)

This darkness is not an end in itself, but a beginning of the SURFHVVRIFRQWHPSODWLRQGHVFULEHGV\PEROLFDOO\DVKLV³VHFUHW ODGGHU´ 7KH VHFRQG GDUNQHVV LV that which facilitates a more intimate encounter with the divine presence. It is described in the second stanza of his poem: In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised, ²ah, the sheer grace!² in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled. (St. John 119)

St. John describes the sequence of these two events as follows: The first night is the lot of beginners, at the time God commences to introduce them into the state of contemplation>«@ The second night or purification takes place in those who are already proficients, at the time God desires to lead them into the state of divine union. (St. John 119)

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Perhaps Hazel Motes, by his self-inflicted blindness, has entered WKH ILUVW ³QLJKW´ LQ ZKLFK ³WKH VHQVRU\ SDUW´ RI KLV EHLQJ has EHHQ³VWLOOHG´DQGLV³DVOHHS´7KLVSURPRWHVDNLQGRIVWLOOQHVV LQ KLV VRXO 7KH ³SLQ-SRLQW RI OLJKW´ VXJJHVWV WKDW KH LV approaching the second dark night in which true contemplation begins (St. John 119). As he begins to enter into this darkness, hLV SURJUHVV URXVHV VRPHWKLQJ LQ KLV ODQGODG\ ³:DWFKLQJ KLV face had become a habit with her; she wanted to penetrate the GDUNQHVV EHKLQG LW DQG VHH IRU KHUVHOI ZKDW ZDV WKHUH´ CW 127). 6LQFHWKHILUVWQLJKWLVDNLQGRI³SRLQWRIGHSDUWXUH´LW also invoOYHV WKH YROXQWDU\ GHSULYDWLRQ RI WKH FUDYLQJ ³IRU ZRUOGO\ SRVVHVVLRQV´ ,W LV QRW WKH SRVVHVVLRQV WKHPVHOYHV WKDW must be forsaken; it is the distracting materialistic appetite or the longing for such possessions that must be put away. Accordingly, St. JoKQ UHIHUV WR ³WKH GHQXGDWLRQ RI WKH VRXO¶V DSSHWLWHVDQGJUDWLILFDWLRQV´DSURFHVVVXJJHVWHGE\+D]H0RWHV when he discards his leftover cash and pursues a harsh penance by walking on broken glass and wearing barbed wire. It is important to reiterate at this point the significance RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V XVH RI WKH JURWHVTXH 7KH UHDGHU PXVW QRW EH GLVWUDFWHGE\WKHUHSXOVLYHQDWXUHRI+D]H¶VP\VWLFDOSXUVXLWVRU even by his self-PXWLODWLRQ 7KHVH H[WUHPHV DUH 2¶&RQQRU¶V literary technique, meant to jolt the reader and to capture his attention. If the reader is so offended by these events so as to turn away from the novel, he will have allowed himself to be ³VFDQGDOL]HG´ WKDW LV KH ZLOO KDYH EHHQ HQVQDUHG RU ³WULSSHG XS´ EHIRUH UHDFKLQJ WKH XQGHUVWDQGLQJ WR ZKLFK 2¶&RQQRU wishes to lead him. St. John of the Cross and Blindness St. John even offers a fascinating discussion of the FRQFHSW RI VSLULWXDO ³EOLQGQHVV´ VSHDNLQJ RI WZR W\SHV RI EOLQGQHVV 7KH ILUVW LV D ³VSLULWXDO EOLQGQHVV´ LPSRVHG E\ inordinate sensuality that leaves one separated from God. He

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ODPHQWV³2KLISHRSOHEXWNQHZZKDWDWUHDVXUHRIGLYLQHOLJKW this blindness caused by their affections and appetites takes from them and the number of misfortunes and evils these appetites occasion each day whHQ OHIW XQPRUWLILHG´ 7KLV FRQFHUQ DULVHV IURP KLV EHOLHI WKDW ³WKHVH DSSHWLWHV ZHDNHQ DQG EOLQG´  134). He continues: We have felt our way along the wall as though blind, we have groped as if without eyes, and our blindness has reached the point that we stumble along in broad daylight as though walking in the dark. For this is a characteristic of those who are blinded by their appetites; when they are in the midst of the truth and of what is suitable for them, they no more see it than if they were in the dark. (St. John 137)

Eventually, though, the believer must experience another kind of blindness, a condition that, if not self-imposed, is at least willingly embraced. This is a blindness to everything that might distract one from God, and it is requisite to mature faith. Faith, manifestly, is a dark night for souls, but in this way it gives them light. The more darkness it brings on them, the more light it sheds. For by blinding, it illumines them, according to those words of Isaiah that if you do not believe you will not understand; that is, you will not have light. (St. John 158)

7KLVEOLQGQHVVFRPHVDERXWEHFDXVHRQH¶VMRXUQH\WRZDUG*RG eventually requires that faith, hope, and charity have no other support than God. This austerity of belief leads one into an ³DE\VVRIIDLWK´7RDGYDQFHLQWKLVVSLULWXDOPDQQHUPHDQVWKDW

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WKRVH ZKR ORQJ IRU *RG PXVW OLNH +D]HO 0RWHV ³GDUNHQ DQG blind themselveV´6W-RKQ  $WILUVW0UV)ORRGDVNV³>:@KDWSRVVLEOHUHDVRQFRXOG a person have for waQWLQJ WR GHVWUR\ WKHLU VLJKW"´ 2¶&RQQRU¶V SURVHGULSVZLWKLURQ\ZKHQVKHUHYHDOVWKHODQGODG\¶VUHDFWLRQ WR+D]H¶VVHOI-LQIOLFWHGWUDXPDWLFORVV³$ZRPDQOLNHKHUZKR was so clear-VLJKWHGFRXOGQHYHUVWDQGWREHEOLQG´%XWHYHQDW this early juncture, +D]H¶V UDGLFDO DFW XQVHWWOHV KHU VHOIULJKWHRXVQHVV ZKHQ ³6KH UHFDOOHG WKH SKUDVH µHWHUQDO GHDWK¶ that preachers used, but she cleared it out of her mind LPPHGLDWHO\ ZLWK QR PRUH FKDQJH RI H[SUHVVLRQ WKDQ WKH FDW´ (CW 119). Mrs. Flood begins to sense there is something to this state of blindness that she does not understand. One night at GLQQHU VKH DVNV ³'R \RX WKLQN 0U 0RWHV WKDW ZKHQ \RX¶UH GHDG\RX¶UHEOLQG"´+HDQVZHUV³,KRSHVR´CW 125-26). ³:K\"´ 6KH DVNHG VWDULQJ DW him. After a ZKLOH KH VDLG ³,I WKHUH¶V QRERWWRPLQ\RXUH\HVWKH\KROGPRUH´ The landlady stared for a long time, seeing nothing at all. (CW 126)

:KHQ KH VD\V ³,I WKHUH¶V QR ERWWRP LQ \RXU H\HV WKH\ KROG PRUH´+D]HPHDQVWKDWLQVHOI-imposed spiritual blindness, one can see more than if he had sight. St. John explains that those who have not undertaken this self-inflicted blindness, like Mrs. )ORRG VHH ³QRWKLQJ DW DOO´ 6KRUWO\ EHIRUH +D]H¶V GHDWK KLV landlady concludes that her tenant can see and she cannot²at least in matters of the soul. As she admits to herself that she is in the dusk of her own life, she concludes that she should ally KHUVHOIZLWK+D]HEHFDXVH³,IVKHZDVJRLQJWR EHEOLQGZKHQ VKHZDVGHDGZKREHWWHUWRJXLGHKHUWKDQDEOLQGPDQ"´CW 130).

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$VWDQ]DIURPRQHRI6W-RKQ¶VOHVVHU-known poems might have provided a fitting epitaph for Haze Motes: And though I suffer darknesses In this mortal life, That is not so hard a thing; For even if I have no light I have the life of heaven. For the blinder love is The more it gives such life, Holding the soul surrendered, Living without light in darkness. (St. John 70)

Conclusion %RWK+RSNLQVDQG2¶&RQQRULQVSLUHGE\WKHSUDFWLFHRI Ignatian retreat silence and the Carmelite mysticism of St. John of the Cross, offer an alternative to a generation of men and women suffering from sensory overload. In a world filled with the inescapable noise of television, the ever-present ringing of cell phones, and the ubiquitous presence of digitally recorded music, these two literary artists recommend silence. Such silence comes at a price, which is the willful denial of the superficial gratification of the senses as a preparation for the spiritual communion that comes in contemplation.

Notes 1

Some material in this essay is taken from Henry T. Edmondson III¶V 5HWXUQWR*RRGDQG(YLO)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶V5HVSRQVHWR1LKLOLVP [Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2002]. Part of this essay also comes from a lecture delivered at the 16th Annual Gerard Manley Hopkins Conference in Monasterevin, Ireland, July 2003. 2 The text of ³7KH +DELW RI 3HUIHFWLRQ´ FRPHV IURP http://www.bartleby.com/236/193.html. 3 In her copy of the Summa, 2¶&RQQRUKDVDQQRWDWHGWKHVHFWLRQWKDW associates prophecy with the imagination. It is Question 12, Article 11.

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She also owned a three-volume edition of De Veritate, and she seems WR KDYH KDG LQ PLQG ³,V 6RPH 1DWXUDO 'LVSRVLWLRQ 1HHGHG for Prophecy´DQG³$QVZHUVWR'LIILFXOWLHV´ 4 See Sarah GordoQ¶V HVVD\ ³0DU\DW DQG -XOLDQ DQG WKH µQRW VR EORRGOHVVUHYROXWLRQ¶´ in )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ 21 (1992), pp. 25-36. 5 With this sentiment in mind, Henry King Stanford wrote to thank 2¶&RQQRUIRUKHUDSSHDUDQFHDWKLVXQLYHUVLW\%LUPLQJKDP-Southern, RQ 1RYHPEHU   +H TXLSSHG ³$OO RI XV KHUH DUH JUDWHIXO WR you for taking time out to speak to our students and budding (?) writers. You may have done literature a great service if you nipped VRPHRIWKHPLQWKHEXG´'HFHPEHU  6 7REHVXUH2¶&RQQRUH[SOLFLWO\OLNHQVWZRRIKHURWKHUFKDUDFWHUVWR Jonah as well, Tarwater (CW 462) and Parker (CW 672). Although I am not aware of such an explicit reference linking Hazel Motes to Jonah, he is cast in a similar role. It is worth noting Romano *XDUGLQL¶V SURSRVDO WKDW DW WKH HQG RI WKH PRGHUQ DJH WKH 2OG Testament will take on a new significance. (See Roman Guardini¶V The End of the Modern World [Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 1998], p. 107-08.) 7 See Aristotle¶VThe Politics, Book 8. 8 See Blaise Pascal¶VPensées and the Provincial Letters, Numbers 139 and 142. 9 To Dr. George Beiswanger, August 22, 1952; no location supplied. 10 The other woman was Simone Weil. Edith 6WHLQ¶VVWXG\RQ6W-RKQ, The Science of the Cross, LVLQ2¶&RQQRU¶VSHUVRQDOOLEUDU\

Works Cited Aquinas, St. Thomas. Truth. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1953. Edmondson III, Henry T. Return to Good and Evil: Flannery 2¶&RQQRU¶V 5HVSRQVH WR 1LKLOLVP Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2002. Getz, Lorine M. )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU +HU /LIH /LEUDU\ DQG Book Reviews. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1980.

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*RUGRQ 6DUDK ³0DU\DW DQG -XOLDQ DQG WKH µQRW VR EORRGOHVV UHYROXWLRQ¶´ )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ 21 (1992): 2536. Guardini, Romano. The End of the Modern World. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 1998. Hopkins, Gerard Manley. ³7KH +DELW RI 3HUIHFWLRQ´ http://www.bartleby.com/236/193.html Lawson, Lewis A. and Victor A. Kramer, eds. Conversations with Walker Percy. Jackson: U P Mississippi, 1985. Lee, Maryat. ³)ODQQHU\ ´ 7KH )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU Bulletin 5 (Autumn 1976): 49. 2¶&RQQRU)ODQQHU\Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. _______. 7KH +DELW RI %HLQJ /HWWHUV RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, 1979. _______. Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose. eds. Sally Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, 1969. _______. The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews. comp. Leo J. Zuber. ed. Carter W. Martin. Athens: U Georgia P, 1983. Pieper, Josef. Leisure: The Basis of Culture. trans. Alexander Dru. New York: A Mentor Book, 1952. Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Viking Press, 1986. St. John of the Cross. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1991. Stephens, C. Ralph, ed. The Correspondence of Flannery 2¶&RQQRU DQG WKH %UDLQDUG &KHQH\V Jackson: U P Mississippi, 1986. Voegelin, Eric. The Ecumenic Age. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P, 1974. _______. Plato and Aristotle: Volume Three, Order and History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P, 1957.

Section IV: Structural Issues

The Ambiguity of Vocation: 2U:KDW)ODQQHU\0HDQWE\³0DOJUp/XL´ W. A. Sessions Georgia State University

I ³1DZ,GRQ¶WWKLQNOLIHLVDWUDJHG\´ZURWH)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU a few years after Wise Blood ZDV SXEOLVKHG ³7UDJHG\ LV something that can be explained by the professors. Life is the will of God and this cannot be defined by the professors; for which all thanksgiving´CW 928). ,I2¶&RQQRUPHDQVZKDWVKH says here, she is as Augustinian as ever²and as ornery as ever in playing her popular role of the mid-twentieth-century Southern country primitive. ,QWKLVFRPPHQWDU\,ZDQWWRDUJXHWKDW2¶&RQQRU¶VILUVW QRYHOILQGVLWVXQLW\SUHFLVHO\WKURXJKWKLVTXHVWLRQRI³OLIH´DV WKHXQIROGLQJRI³WKHZLOORI*RG´DQGXQIROGLQJLQVSLWHRIWKH SURWDJRQLVW¶VVHOIRULQ)ODQQHU\¶VOLWHUDU\WDJIRUWKHKHURRIKHU ILUVWQRYHO³malgré lui´CW 1265). Wise Blood is essentially a conversion story; in a fashion never before attempted, )ODQQHU\¶VILFWLRQDOVDJDRI+D]HO0RWHVKDVUHSULVHGWKHVXEMHFW matter and, in one major aspect, the literary form of St. $XJXVWLQH¶VConfessions. From her early reading, especially her reading in philosophy and theology which helped her maintain her GHIHQVHVDVD&DWKROLF2¶&RQQRUNQHZWKHVSHFWDFXODUPRPHQW LQ KXPDQ KLVWRU\ WKDW $XJXVWLQH¶V Confessions represented. With its cultural and rhetorical structures, the Middle Ages could imagine more easily and extend its own belief system, as )ODQQHU\¶V EHORYHG 6W 7KRPDV $TXLQDV HVSHFLDOO\ XQGHUVWRRG In the Confessions, the Hebraic/Pauline vision of destined vocation is framed in classical culture; it is written in late classical Latin as a cultural document of Rome, and thereby in the fifth century, possesses universal significance. For the first

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time, universal audiences²society, the body politic²could read WKH HYROXWLRQ RI D YRFDWLRQ RU ³FDOOLQJ´ WR XVH WKH /DWLQ URRW 7KH ³FDOOLQJ´ ZDV not all outward but instead was an inward realization²the growth of a self. 2¶&RQQRU¶VQRYHOLVQRVLPSOHLPLWDWLRQRI$XJXVWLQH¶V famous autobiographical work. She too felt she was at a spectacular moment²her first work. The age demanded, 2¶&RQQRUKDGUead in Ezra Pound, new works and experiments; and so she used the Confessions for her own daring purposes. She would create subject matter totally original in serious American literature²an outright religious conversion tale. She ZRXOG XSGDWH $XJXVWLQH¶V Srototype of conversion through modernist framing that the Georgia writer had learned and then RULJLQDWHGLQ WKH:ULWHUV¶:RUNVKRS DW WKH 8QLYHUVLW\RI ,RZD This update may have been made without any conscious intent of imitating Augustine; the story had long since become part of Western literature and art and, for her, the theology learned from childhood. She certainly knew ritual forms of serial progression, not least, as Richard Giannone has shown LQ KLV HVVD\ ³Paul, Francis, and Hazel Motes: Conversion and Taulkinham´in her devotions of the Stations of the Cross. All she had to do then, as a novelist seeking a radical new form, was to imitate $XJXVWLQH¶V IUDPH RI FRQYHUVLRQ ZKLFK LV WKH GLVFRYHU\ RI D vocation that was achieved only through serial ambiguity or suffering, inward as well as outward. Augustine was only one DOOXVLYH IUDPH IRU 2¶&RQQRU RI FRXUVH EXW FUXFLDO IRU WKH conversion story she wanted to write in Wise Blood. 2¶&RQQRU¶VVKRUWQRYHOWRRNILYHORQJ\HDUVWRZULWH$W no point does iW DSSHDU 2¶&RQQRU GRXEWHG KHU RULJLQDO experimental method of composition. Writing a friend shortly after Wise Blood was published, she describes the primitivism VKH KDG LQ PLQG IRU VXFK DQ DPELWLRXV SURMHFW ³[Y]ou must know I wrote the book just like Enoch would have, not knowing too well why I did ZKDW EXW NQRZLQJ LW ZDV ULJKW´ (CW 919). 2¶&RQQRUQHYHUORVWWKDWDVVXUDQFHDERXWKHURZQ³ZLVH EORRG´

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PHWKRG ³, WKLQN´ VKH FRQFOXGHG ³HYHU\WKLQJ LQ WKH ERRN LV right and I am astounded by it´CW 919). 2¶&RQQRUZDVDOVRTXLWHFOHDUDERXWKHU³SKLORVRSKLFDO QRWLRQV´ LQ ZULWLQJ Wise Blood. They derived neither from Kafka nor Kierkegaard, as she wrote to Helen Greene, her most admired professor at her undergraduate college, Georgia State College for Women. 7KH\ FDPH IURP ³6W 7KRPDV $TXLQDV´ WKH³'RFWRU´RIWKH&DWKROLF&KXUFKZKRVHWHDFKLQJVRULJLQDWHG directly and indirectly from Augustine, as countless studies WKURXJKWKHFHQWXULHVKDYHVKRZQ6KHDOVRGLG QRW³LQWHQGWKH tone of the book to be pessimistic. It is after all a story about redemption and if you admit redemption, you are no pessimist. 7KHJLVWRIWKHVWRU\LVWKDW+0RWHVFRXOGQ¶WUHDOO\EHOLHYHWKDW KHKDGQ¶WEHHQUHGHHPHG´CW 897). ,URQLFDOO\ KRZHYHU 2¶&RQQRU¶V VHYHUHO\ PRGHUQLVW form has made the story more genuinely Augustinian. When she EHJDQ KHU QRYHO DW ,RZD 2¶&RQQRU ZDV UHDGLQJ .DIND intensely, contrary to what she later said. With primitivist brevity used LQ.DIND¶VDOOHJRULFDOWDOH-WHOOLQJ2¶&RQQRUFXWWR the Pauline roots of the Christian conversion story. Here, as she knew, the African Augustine had begun. In fact, as she continued the writing of her first novel at Yaddo, later continuing the composition in New York and Connecticut, she learned even more the value of a modernist form for her fiction of conversion. She saw its eccentricity as a proper form in her time and place for her subject. In those years of composition, she had the immediate direction of Robert and Sally Fitzgerald DQGVKHERUURZHGIURP5REHUW¶VUHFHQWO\ translated Oedipus to FUHDWH KHU KHUR¶V VHOI-blinding). She also had the enormous intellectual support of her close friends Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Hardwick, both of whom were considered among the most avant-garde writers in America in the 1950s. So, with a grotesque primitive irony such as she had also IRXQG LQ )DXONQHU¶V As I Lay Dying, 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood gives us a series of disparate and frequently comic scenes about the life, ultimate (and painful) conversion, and then absurd death

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of Hazel Motes. Each scene appears built on a special ambiguity for the hero as he seeks a means to deny and then fulfill his YRFDWLRQ ,Q WKLV PDQQHU 2¶&RQQRU KDV UHGXFHG KHU VWRU\ WR D disjunctive narrative as primitive and elemental as its Augustinian subject mattHU ³OLIH´ DV ³WKH ZLOO RI *RG´ 2¶&RQQRUWRRNIURPWKH Confessions for her experimental novel not only her subject matter of vocation but also aspects of $XJXVWLQH¶V RZQ UHODWLYHO\ GLVMXQFWLYH OLWHUDU\ VWUXFWXUH 6KH especially took his concept of serial progression to dramatize his VXEMHFW $XJXVWLQH¶V KHUR DOVR ³FRXOGQ¶W UHDOO\ EHOLHYH WKDW KH KDGQ¶WEHHQUHGHHPHG´(CW 897). Through his spiritual autobiography, a genre Augustine invented for the West, the African saint intended to show the moral educatioQ DQG FRQYHUVLRQ RI D VHOI +H FRXOG ³UHQGHU´ WKLV WR XVH D WHUP 2¶&RQQRU ERUURZHG IURP &DUROLQH *RUGRQ and Henry James, only in terms of his concept of time. This was developed from his Christianity and from the experience of the Jews, especially as recorded in the Psalms and the Hebraic prophets. That experience determined the content and style of $XJXVWLQH¶V Confessions, as Jean Guitton noted in The Modernity of St. Augustine ³$XJXVWLQH LV WKH ILUVW PDQ LQ WKH West to have attained, in personal fashion, the experience the -HZLVKSHRSOHKDGUHDFKHGLQDFROOHFWLYHZD\´ 2¶&RQQRU NQHZVHYHUDORI*XLWWRQ¶VZRUNVHVSHFLDOO\KLVFODVVLFERRNRQ the Virgin Mary. In her copy of this book, she marked the VHFRQG SDUDJUDSK DIWHU WKLV TXRWDWLRQ ³6W $XJXVWine may be said to have tried to apply the rules of this kind of prophetical writing to his own personal history; he tried to watch his own history unfold itself within the eternity which knows no change´ HPSKDVLVWKHDXWKRU¶V  So this self telling his story involved memory and operated through memory, but, as Augustine showed in Book XI of his Confessions, the idea of time arises not from our past or, for that matter, our present. It arises from our future; to borrow 2¶&RQQRU¶V RZQ wordV ³(YHU\WKLQJ That Rises Must &RQYHUJH´ $V D UHVXOW RI WKH Confessions and its theory of

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convergent time, the West became open to an entirely new concept of meaningful history. In fact, Augustine invented for the West the idea of a documented progressing self²not one fated by the gods. This idea of a progressing self, with a will freed from arbitrary duty, would radically transform Western culture, as imitators of the Confessions (from Dante to Rousseau WR 1HZPDQ WR 3URXVW  ZRXOG GHPRQVWUDWH 7KXV 2¶&RQQRU would make her own bold variation on an inherited cultural topos OLNH$XJXVWLQH¶VVKHKDGDPRGHUQWDOHRIDKHUR¶VPRUDO HGXFDWLRQ EXW ZLWK D GLIIHUHQW IRUP DQG HQGLQJ $XJXVWLQH¶V idea of self would have to be transformed in her modernist narrative. The unity of Wise Blood would proceed from the progressing Augustinian plot, but in an utterly new form few have been able to discern. II 7KLV TXHVWLRQ RI XQLW\ LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILUVW QRYHO KDV produced a perennial controversy. Arguments about its unity have provided a range of interpretations of Wise Blood. Of these, in this limited study, I take only one²possibly the earliest²to demonstrate how this question of the ambiguity of +D]HO 0RWHV¶V YRFDWLRQ HQWHUHG Wise Blood criticism from the start. ,VDDF 5RVHQIHOG¶V UHYLHZ RI Wise Blood in the prestigious New Republic (7 July 1952) devastated 2¶&RQQRU Writing to Robert Fitzgerald in July 1952, just after the review FDPH RXW VKH DGGHG D SRVWVFULSW ³0U ,VDDF 5RVHQIHOG unburdened himself on the subject of Wise Blood in the New Republic +H IRXQG LW FRPSOHWHO\ ERJXV DW OHQJWK´ (HB 39). %RWK 5REHUW DQG )ODQQHU\ UHFRJQL]HG 5RVHQIHOG¶V UHYLHZ DV pecXOLDUO\FULSSOLQJWR2¶&RQQRU¶VUHSXWDWLRQDWWKHRQVHWRIKHU career, although in later years, referring to the trauma of this UHYLHZ )LW]JHUDOG FRXOG DPHOLRUDWH WKH HIIHFW ³%XW 5RVHQIHOG and everyone else knew that a strong new writer was at large´ ³,QWURGXFWLRQ´[Y 

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Fitzgerald was a journalist and literary figure sensitive to the volatile currents of American criticism in the early 1950s. +H NQHZ 2¶&RQQRU¶V DOPRVW PHWHRULF ULVH LQ WKH \HDUV EHIRUH the publication of her first novel. Not only had the Agrarians taught her at Iowa²in an almost providential sequence²and then acclaimed her in their considerably influential circuits, but Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Hardwick had directly intervened to help her. They both had brought her into the purview of Philip Rahv and into the pages of the Partisan Review, which Rahv edited. There, excerpts from Wise Blood were published in what was probably the most avant-garde journal of the day. For a young woman only in her mid-20s, the journey from Milledgeville to the inner circles of New York literary life was a fantasy story in itself. 7KHQ FDPH 5RVHQIHOG¶V UHYLHZ :KDWHYHU WUDFWLRQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V FDUHHU KDG LQ WKHVH FLUFOHV ZRXOG EH OLPLWHG DIWHU 5RVHQIHOG¶VUHYLHZDQGYLUWXDOO\HQGHGDIWHU The Violent Bear It Away). She was considered eccentric at best, far from the mainstream of Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, and John Updike; at worst, with her subject matter, which she incredibly appeared to take seriously, she was in such critical circles just what many Milledgeville FRQWHPSRUDULHVFRQVLGHUHGKHUD³NRRN´WRTXRWH a childhood friend. Isaac Rosenfeld was an incisive critic and remarkably honest. In his review of Wise Blood, Rosenfeld also reviewed an early collection of short stories by Nadine Gordimer, who, unlike O¶&RQQRU ZRXOG ULVH LQ IDPH LQ KHU OLIHWLPH XQWLO LQ 1991 she would win the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his UHYLHZ 5RVHQIHOG GLUHFWO\ UHFRPPHQGV WR *RUGLPHU ³(YHQ D little of Wise Blood¶V DJRQ\ PLJKW GR >*RUGLPHU@ JRRG´   The truth is that in RoseQIHOG2¶&RQQRUPHWWKHVHFXODUUHDGHU who would challenge her powers of dramatization and composition, not necessarily her passionately held ideas. As much as any other critic²because of his historical place in her career²Rosenfeld represents a special auGLHQFH 2¶&RQQRU KDV seldom captured. In one sense, he epitomizes that elusive reader

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DERXWZKRPVKHRQFHQRWHGWRKHUIULHQG%HQ*ULIILWK³:KHQ, sit down to write >«@ a monstrous reader looms up who sits GRZQEHVLGHPH DQGFRQWLQXDOO\PXWWHUV ,GRQ¶W JHW LW ,GRQ¶W VHHLW,GRQ¶WZDQWLW´*ULIILQ/  For Rosenfeld, tKH SUREOHP LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO ZDV that, to use the terms of this argument, it was all ambiguity and vocation with no realistic representation of either. The title the young critic gave KLV DWWDFN ³7R :LQ by Default.´1 Rosenfeld IDXOWV2¶&RQQRU¶VFRQFHSWLRQRIKHUZRUOGDQGKHUODFNRIDUWWR match it: There is an unfortunate tendency among religious writers to take everything as grist for the mill; and this is particularly unfortunate ZKHQDVLQ0LVV2¶&RQQRU¶V novel, the extremely important distinction between religious striving and mania is ground away. (19)

So, unsurprisingly 5RVHQIHOG IRXQG ³WKH DXWKRU¶V VW\OH LQP\RSLQLRQLVLQFRQVLVWHQW´ZLWKKHUFHQWUDOWKHPHZKLFKKH VSHOOV RXW GLUHFWO\ ³+D]HO 0RWHV¶ PXWLODWLRQ LV WKH LQHYLWDEOH consequence of his religious position; there is no escaping Christ´ (19). Rosenfeld is as fierce in his attack as Haze himself in his search: Everything she says through image and metaphor has the meaning only of degeneration, and she writes of an insane world, peopled by monsters and submen [sic], Motes the first among them²a world cut off from God, where the escape is complete. (19)

5RVHQIHOG FRPHV WR WKH SRLQW ³,Q SODLQ ZRUGV 0RWHV LV Slain FUD]\DQG0LVV2¶&RQQRUKDVDOODORQJSUHVHQWHGKLPWKLVZD\´ (19).

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The text itself is no help IRU 5RVHQIHOG ³Wise Blood is not a clear book to be read´ KH ZULWHV   It is not the true UHDOLVWLF QRYHO WKDW ZDV 5RVHQIHOG¶V PRGHO IURP WKH nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He REVHUYHV WKDW 2¶&RQQRU¶V FKDUDFWHUV³WHQGWRUXQWRJHWKHULQDVDQG\EOXUOLNHILJXUHVVHHQ in passing by the side of the road´)RUKLP2¶&RQQRU¶VQRYHO ³KDV DOPRVW QR VXUIDFH WKH IHZ ILJXUHV RQH FDQ PDNH RXW LQ Lt show in a pallid light >«@ and most of the transactions are conveyed in a symbolism which does not derive from the underlying meaning of the novel.´ At this point, this remarkable FULWLFZKRZRXOGGLH\RXQJHUWKDQ2¶&RQQRUPDNHVDSURIRXQG observation: Wise Blood ³UDWKHU ZRUNV WKH RWKHU ZD\ constructing its meaning as it goes along´HPSKDVLVPLQH  5RVHQIHOG¶V DVWXWH REVHUYDWLRQ JRHV GLUHFWO\ WR WKH question of unity in Wise Blood. It tells us that we may need to rethink our preconceptions of just how unity works in any literary work and, with it, how this author expected her readers to approach her first novel. Rosenfeld is, of course, attacking the PHWKRG HPSOR\HG LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO DQG WKH FULWLFDO DQG philosophical premises of that attack are distant from 2¶&RQQRU¶V ,Q IDFW 5RVHQIHOG¶V FDOO IRU ILFWLRQ ZLWK JUHDWHU realism and more pronounced naturalism appears to stem from a dominant literary theory of his day: a philosophical view of history as essentially one-dimensional and energized as actual social reality by inevitable forces in culture, especially those the Hegelian Marx had defined in his dialectic. A writer can have these energized realities as subject matter, whether the novel represents social protest, political engagement, or sexual liberation. But to imitate such fermenting history at work, that is, the inevitable Hegelian-0DU[LVW ³ZLOO´ UHYHDOHG LQ ³OLIH´ itself, any work of art should be gauged by how well its realistic texture²OLNH-RKQ6WHLQEHFN¶VGrapes of Wrath, for example² illustrates the absolute truth of such energized material and social phenomena. The realistic novel brings the truth of this WUDQVIRUPLQJVRFLDODQGKLVWRULFDO³ZLOO´WROLIHLWGHPRQVWUDWHV the greater justice necessary for righteous change.

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So, in this review, Rosenfeld appears to be working from a theory of the novel that presupposes a unity as a given, but not D XQLW\ UHYHDOHG LQ DUW ³as it goes along´ 8OWLPDWHO\, 5RVHQIHOG¶V FRQFHSW RI XQLW\ ZRXOG DSSHDU WR H[LVW RXWVLGH WKH artwork and should be illustrated in the way that a mathematical theorem is worked out in a problem or a Hegelian principle UHYHDOHGLQDVHULHVRIKLVWRULFDOIDFWV2¶&RQQRU¶VVHQVHRIXQLW\ appears to be a mystery only revealed as her work progresses. Revealed only in specific material creation, and then only ambiguously, this mystery of art surprises (even the artist) by its disclosing paradox, irony, or even absurdity as its reality, however absurdity is grounded in history. In this sense, the art, especially comic art, has a IUHHGRPHYHQJUHDWHUWKDQWKHDUWLVW¶V In its paradoxical truth, art cannot be utilized as illustration or GRJPDWLF SDUDGLJP ,WV IUHHGRP FRPHV LQ 5RVHQIHOG¶V RZQ terms: Wise Blood FRQVWUXFWV ³its meaning as it goes along´ Comic art especially can reverse preconceived and idealized meaning by a joke. The surprise of the joke²WKHKHUR¶VDEVXUG a mixed bag²UHYHDOVDUHDOLW\RWKHUWKDQWKHVHOI¶VLGHDOL]DWLRQ of how a hero should be or where truth is. As in any art, it takes several looks or contemplations to get the painting and its progression clear. In the spring of 1957, Flannery wrote a friend with whom she often discussed critical problems. He had sent her another article about Rosenfeld from the New Republic. 2¶&RQQRUUHSOLHG , GLGQ¶W NQRZ ,VDDF 5osenfeld had died. I had thought he was relatively young>«@ ,GRQ¶WUHDOO\NQRZDQ\WKLQJ about him. I suppose anyone who did not believe in the divinity of Christ would FRUUHFWO\ VD\ WKDW 2HGLSXV¶ ZRUGV DW &RORQXV DQG &KULVW¶V RQ WKH FURVV PHDQW the same thing: but to the believer, 2HGLSXV¶ ZRUGV UHSUHVHQW WKH NQRZQ

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6R5RVHQIHOGKDGEHHQULJKWLQRQHWKLQJFRQVWUXFWLQJ³meaning as it goes along´ LV WKH RQO\ ZD\ WR XQUDYHO P\VWHU\ Mystery can only be approached through the literal, the actual progressive; it cannot be abstracted into meaning or, for that matter, leap time in any way. Mystery needs the waiting necessary for contemplation.

III :KHUH GLG 2¶&RQQRU GHULYH WKLV H[SHULmental form Rosenfeld describes with its aim as contemplation? For instance, ZHUHWKHUH$XJXVWLQLDQVRXUFHVIRUGHYLVLQJWKLVQRYHO¶VUDGLFDO experiment in mid-century America? The answer is yes and no. Besides reading her nineteenth-century Anglican translation (by Edward B. Pusey) of the Confessions 2¶&RQQRU KDG DOVR UHDG from earliest education the variations of the Augustinian conversion form, as it was transformed over time in Western literature. By the twentieth century, variations were everywhere: IURP 'DQWH¶V Commedia DQG WKH $UWKXULDQ WDOHV WR WKH VDLQWV¶ legends and pilgrimage stories, especially renewed by Protestants and resulting in the literary masterpiece The 3LOJULP¶V 3URJUHVV by the seventeenth-century Baptist John Bunyan. This Baptist work in turn had great influence on Daniel 'HIRH¶VUHDOLVWLFQRYHOVDQGRQDVHULHVRI3URWHVWDQWK\PQVVXFK DV³$PD]LQJ*UDFH´DOORIZKLFKFDPHWR 2¶&RQQRU¶V0LGGOH Georgia world and her education at GSCW. She could not have missed them. 2¶&RQQRUDOVR NQHZWKHLQIOXHQFHRI$XJXVWLQH¶V /DWLQ narrative of moral formation on the Bildungsroman (the novel of education or formation) popular since Defoe¶V WLPH 7hese manifestations of the traditional and modern novel were everyZKHUHIRUKHU2¶&RQQRUKDGDOVRUHDGWKHPLQSLFDUHVTXH

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narratives, not least in works like Tom Jones, David Copperfield, Huckleberry Finn, and, more recently for her, Saul %HOORZ¶V EHVW-selling and revolutionary novel, The Adventures of Augie March (1948). Whether she was or was not conscious of using the Augustinian sources (Augie March was probably KHURQO\LPPHGLDWHVRXUFH 2¶&RQQRU¶VOLWHUDU\LQVWLQFWVFDPH from their traditions, inculcated from her days at GSCW. Non-literary variations of Augustine could have easily OHG 2¶&RQQRU WR DQ H[SHULPHQWDO ILFWLRQDO IRUP $V VKH ZDV writing Wise Blood in New York and Connecticut in 1949-50, 2¶&RQQRU YLVLWHG WKH &ORLVWHUV DQG WKH ILUVW IORRU PHGLHYDO section of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.2 The Confessions, with roots grounded so very early in Christianity, had become transfigured in the Middle Ages for simpler audiences. The method of presentation involved, for example, a QDUUDWLYH ³VOLGH-VKRZ´ RI D VDLQW¶V SURJUHVVLQJ OLIH WKH OHJHQG (from the Latin leggier, ZKLFKPHDQV³to read´>the holy life]). The representation of the saint as subject came through icons, visual images in mosaics, figures in sculpture, and stories in stained glass or paintings. One frequent visual narrative method involved a tableau of images often surrounding the saint herself or himself in a larger representation. 7KXV ZKDW 2¶&RQQRU FRXOG ILQG LQ WKH PHGLHYDO emblematic structures at the Cloisters or the Metropolitan Museum was art with flat direct scenes, little detailed context, and almost cartoon-like, exaggerated characters. Many were clearly intended to be read in circular design, but all seem to OHDG HLWKHU WR WKH VDLQW¶V GHDWK RU WR VRPH VRUW RI DSRWKHRVLV with the saint herself or himself in the center. Until the Renaissance and the Reformation dominated cultural sensibilities, this was an appropriate way for audiences to read. ,WPHDQWFRQWHPSODWLQJVXFKDZKROHSLFWXUHRIDVDLQW¶VOLIHQRW only sequentially but in a circle, the wholeness of holiness. This act of reading was expected to lead to the most important act of all: contemplation.

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In this act, circular perception would lead to interpreting a whole, as in a meditative ritual, whether medieval or Buddhist. The unity perceived came through a simple amplifying emblem or through multiplex anagogical images that could be interpreted in a tale of allegory within the artwork. In the most complex and mysterious contemplation of all, the meditative structure might reveal a cohesive analogical symbol that would keep opening and opening, like the final Bethlehem image of Wise Blood, into light and knowledge beyond cognitive meaning. In Wise Blood WKH ³OLIH´ RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V KHUR RU PRUDO figure is generally represented for the reader through an RPQLVFLHQW GLVWDQW QDUUDWRU 7KH XQIROGLQJ ³OLIH´ RU OHJHQG RI Hazel Motes reveals itself through a serial progression of scenes, all circling a central figure similar to the method employed in painted medieval legends. In such scenes, as in the root structure of the Confessions with Monica, Alypius, and Deodatus, minor characters operate primarily to reveal this ³OLIH´DQGLWVYRFDWLRQDV³WKHZLOORI*RG´$VLQPHGLHYDODUW LWLVWKHFHQWUDO³OLIH´KRZHYHUWKDWJDWKHUVXSDOOWKHDFWLRQRI the Wise Blood. IV +D]HO 0RWHV LV WKH ILUVW RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V VHYHUDO fictionalized heroes more certain than most other human beings RI WKHLU IDWH WKHLU ³FDOOLQJ´ 7KH H[-World War II serviceman leads the procession of heroes from The Misfit to Tarwater and Rayber to O. E. Parker and Ruby Turpin, each of whom deliberately seeks the meaning of a vocation. In their separate SHUYHUVH SDWKV WKH\ VHHN WKH JUHDWHU ³OLIH´ WKDW 2¶&RQQRU GHILQHV DV ³WKH ZLOO RI *RG,´ IROORZLQJ 6W 3DXO¶V GHILQLWLRQ RI himself in the opening of the First Letter to the Corinthians: ³3DXO ZKRP WKH ZLOO RI *RG KDV FDOOHG WR DQ DSRVWOH RI -HVXV Christ>«@´ 7KHVHTXHQFHRI³ZLOO´²call²identity is logical, but the IROORZLQJ RXW RI RQH¶V GHHSHVW LGHQWLW\ RQH¶V YRFDWLRQ LV

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anything but obvious and logical. ThDW LV LI 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood LV FHUWDLQ RI D FDOOLQJ WR D IUHHU OLIH +D]H¶V XQFHUWDLQW\ about progressing into the certainty he needed for his life never leaves him: He knew by the time he was twelve years old that he was going to be a preacher. Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he was not sure of his footing, where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown. (CW 11)

Other characters in the novel see this insistence of 2¶&RQQRU¶V KHUR VXUYLYLQJ WKURXJK IDUFH DQG GDQJHU +H remains their center, and they watch his eyes. As Sabbath tells KHU GDGG\ DQG ORYHU WKH IDNH EOLQG PDQ +DZNV +D]H¶V H\HV ³GRQ¶WORRNOLNHWKH\VHHZKDWKHLVORRNLQJDWEXWWKH\NHHSRQ looking´ CW 61). It is this constant emphasis on the seeking H\HV RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V KHUR WKDW RSHQ DQG FORVH WKH novel, as the Southern country primitive hero is viewed through the eyes of Mrs. Wally Bee Hitchcock and then Mrs. Flood. In fact, the eyes RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILUVW ILFWLRQDO KHUR WHOO WKHVH ZRPHQ WKH FHQWUDO IDFW LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V FRQYHUVLRQ YDULDWLRQ RQ WKH WUDGitional English and European Bildungsroman: this young hero seeking true manhood is in a special agony and ambiguity because of the FRQWUDGLFWLRQV WKH ³ZLOO RI *RG´²WKH VRXUFH RI KLV ³OLIH´² raises up against the vocation he knows is his. The task before the young Georgia writer beginning her novel in late 1946 was to find the method for dramatizing such contradiction in fiction. She could certainly not follow the Augustinian plot in its development of subjectivity. The contradiction had to be objective, social, a story of a specific time and place, believable. In one sense, it was not the young Haze Motes who had to find conversion but the world in which

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he lived. There was no question of an Augustinian self being developed with contradictions but a time and place, wherein the hero existed, adding verisimilitude for the reader. Furthermore, if she were to dramatize such contradiction in the progression of this hero in a twentieth-century setting and depict, as one of 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILUVW FRPPHQWDWRUV DUJXHV D PRdern anchorite (Hyman 9), she had to employ the violent disjunctions of modern art: for the near-deaf, shouting; for the near-blind, large pictures. She wanted neither Proust nor the kind of Proustian QRYHO5REHUW/RZHOO¶VILUVWZLIH-HDQ6WDIIRUGZDVZULWing in the late 1940s. There was no shouting in Proust. If a narrative of conversion like Wise Blood needed a OLWHUDU\IRUP2¶&RQQRUFRXOGQRWILQGLQ+HQU\-DPHV¶V ³PLVHen-VFqQH´VKHFRXOGILQGWKHH[SHULPHQWDOIRUPVVKHZDQWHGLQ the poetry of T. S. ElLRW(OLRWSURYLGHG2¶&RQQRUZLWKKHUILUVW and major lessons in modernism, in radical form as well as startling subject matter, as Sally Fitzgerald and J. O. Tate have demonstrated. 3 $IWHU(OLRW2¶&RQQRUUHDGWZRRWKHUVRXUFHVIRU KHU QRYHO LQ KHU ILUVW PRQWKV DW ,RZD :LOOLDP )DXONQHU¶V As I Lay Dying DQG 1DWKDQDHO :HVW¶V Miss Lonelyhearts. These works taught her not only the uses of objectivity and stark expressionism of style (as opposed to the impressionist novel) but also the value of a cohesive emblematic structure like medieval art. Truncated episodes and abrupt transitions dominate the formal turns of both of these narratives, and Miss Lonelyhearts struggles with the contradictory ambiguities of his own vocation in 1930s Los Angeles, a landscape West powerfully evokes as a spiritual emblem and as a model for the *HRUJLD ZULWHU 2¶&RQQRU DOVR OHDUQHG IURP WKH IODW DEUXSW sequences of both works the device of grotesque presentation and ongoing narrative. The result of these Iowa influences is that Wise Blood has confrontational, not lyric, structures; philosophical and formal gaps exist between sequences, unlike the Jamesian and Proustian networking of a scene. The gaps work more abruptly and symbolically, like those in the dramas RI2¶&RQQRU¶V,ULVKFRQWHPSRUDU\6DPXHO%HFNHWW

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2¶&RQQRU¶VIRUPIRUKHUILUVWQRYHOWKXVUHIOHFWVKHUQRQAugustinian plot, a story without overt subjectivity. Although Wise Blood takes up the same unified progressive rubric for DFWLRQ DV GLG $XJXVWLQH¶V Confessions, it operates through comedy and particularly the instruments of farce and absurdity. Her hero performs and exists in a world of constant displacement, like a vaudeville comic perpetually slipping on banana peelings. Not least of his pratfalls is the violence of VSLULWXDO FRQIXVLRQ$OWKRXJK+D]H¶VOLIHDSSHDUVOLNHDFRVPLF MRNH WKH UHDO SDUDGR[ LV WKDW 2¶&RQQRU¶V KHUR PD\ EH OLNH WKH young African Roman at the fall of Classical Rome. Like AugXVWLQH +D]H¶V XQLW\ OLHV LQ KLV VHDUFK KH PXVW DQG FDQ only survive by and through this ambiguity of vocation that keeps trapping him. For Hazel Motes, however, unlike Augustine, no transcendence²no apotheosis of any kind² exists in the plot of the novel. In actuality, he begins to GLVDSSHDUIURPWKHVFHQH,I2¶&RQQRU¶VKHURLVKRO\KHDSSHDUV first of all as absurd and without apotheosis. The plot of the novel would appear to reveal, then, nothing less than an essential absurdity at the heart of reality from which there is no escape (a point Rosenfeld is dead right DERXW  )URP WKH ILUVW FKDSWHU 2¶&RQQRU¶V KHUR FRQWLQXHV through a series of ridiculous farces, whether in a dining car, a sleeper, in bed with Mrs. Watts (or Sabbath Lily), preaching before a movie theater, or driving his doomed Essex and then botching up a murder. It is precisely this continuity of inadequacy²turned into mutilation at the end of the novel²that 0UV )ORRG REMHFWV WR ³7KHUH¶V QR UHDVRQ IRU LW 3HRSOH KDYH TXLWGRLQJLW´(CW 127). 7R WKLV 2¶&RQQRU¶V IDLOHG KHUR UHSOLHV DIILUPLQJ KLV YRFDWLRQ DQG GHI\LQJ WKH DPELJXLWLHV RI WKH ZD\ ³7KH\ DLQ¶W TXLWGRLQJLWDVORQJDV,¶PGRLQJLW´CW 127). His last action and last spoken line in the novel deal precisely, in the midst of brutality, with this tension of the ambiguities of his vocation and what is nothing less than his hope in the midst of farce:

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W. A. Sessions ³0D\EHKH¶VMXVWXQFRQVFLRXV´WKHIDWWHU [policeman] said, taking out his new billy. They watched him for a few seconds. His hand was moving along the edge of the ditch as if it were hunting something to grip. He asked them in a hoarse whisper where he was and if it was day or night. (CW 131)

:KHQWKH³WKLQQHU´SROLFHPDQUHSOLHVWKDWLWZDVGD\DQG WKDWWKH\ZLOOWDNHKLPEDFN³WR SD\\RXUUHQW´WKHKHURRIWKH QRYHOREMHFWV³µ,ZDQWWRJRRQZKHUH,¶PJRLQJ¶WKHEOLQGPDQ VDLG´ 7KH DEVXUG ³KLFN´ 6RXWKHUQHU FRQWLQXHV ³JRLQJ´ XQWLO ILQDOO\ FRPSOHWHO\ EOLQG WKH \RXQJ PDQ PRYHV ³IDUWKHU DQG farther away, farther and farther into the darkness until he was the pin point of light´CW 131). Whatever the ambiguities even of self-sacrifice in the QRYHO +D]H¶V PRPHQW RI UHDO VXUUHQGHU²and therefore DFNQRZOHGJHPHQWRIWKH³ZLOO´VXUJLQJZLWKLQKLPDQGEH\RQG him²comes just before the reader experiences a shift to Mrs. Flood as the central character of the narrative. The surrender is the heart of the novel: total humiliation²absurd flattened self before the space of his destiny, like a priest being ordained, opening to an endless future without limit to which he must abase himself. Surrender to his divine nature had come through an accident, a sign²an unforeseen disaster, the destruction of his car²DQGOLNH$XJXVWLQH¶VIDPRXVVFHQHLQKLV0LODQJDUGHQ when the African hears children playing and singing the QRQVHQVH VRQJ ³WROOH OHJH´ SLFN XS UHDG  WKHQ UHDFKHV IRU scripture, and Augustine suddenly finds a passage by St. Paul, 4 VR+D]H¶VVLJQFRPHVHYHQPRUHDEVXUGO\DQGDFFLGHQWDOO\IURP WKH VXGGHQ ³SDWUROPDQ´ ZKR VHQGV WKH KHUR¶V EHloved Essex over the cliff. )RU WKLV FUXFLDO VKLIW LQ WKH QDUUDWLYH 2¶&RQQRU KDV borrowed a scene from Miss Lonelyhearts, LQ ZKLFK :HVW¶V hero/heroine stands overlooking Los Angeles and its lights, reflecting his own terrible desperation and lost identity. Hazel

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Motes has watched his car disappear over the edge of a precipice. On that edge, he dangles. Then, in an emblematic gesture, he sinks, in recognition of his own total nothingness before that space: Haze stood for a few minutes, looking over at the scene. His face seemed to reflect the entire distance across the clearing and on beyond, the entire distance that extended from his eyes to the blank gray sky that went on, depth after depth, into space. His knees bent under him and he sat down on the edge of the embankment with his feet hanging over. (CW 118)

In the modernist experiment of Wise Blood, there is then no apotheosis but a constant continuation of ambiguity. The QRYHO HQGV OLNH (OLRW¶V ³7KH +ROORZ 0HQ´ D SRHP 2¶&RQQRU UHDGILUVWDW,RZD³1RWZLWKDEDQJEXWDZKLPSHU´2¶&RQQRU is telling a modernist legend where miracles and anything ³DPD]LQJ´OLNH³JUDFH´KDYHQRYHULVLPLOLWXGH7KHUHFDQEHQR credible leap from the via negativa, only a witness like Mrs. Flood to tell us what happened, and she is left like Samuel %HFNHWW¶V FORZQV RQ VWDJH ZDLWLQJ DW WKH HQG RI Waiting for Godot. The jouUQH\ QRW WKH HQGLQJ RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO LV Augustinian. Thus, the drive in Wise Blood is toward greater and greater objectivity of the flat scenes, with personalities disappearing, as in Beckett²to the point that the hero as central character does disappear, in fact, into the responses to him by the new central consciousness, Mrs. Flood. At the end of the novel, moral education is now the prerogative of Mrs. Flood, a witness and survivor, like Noah, of an event she considers a redemptive disaster. She autKHQWLFDWHV +D]HO 0RWHV¶V YRFDWLRQ E\WKHFKDQJHVLQKHUVHOIVKHDQQRXQFHV³$QG,¶YHEHHQZDLWLQJ

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IRU\RX$QG\RXQHHGQ¶WWRSD\DQ\PRUHUHQWEXWKDYHLWIUHH KHUHDQ\ZD\\RXOLNHXSVWDLUVRUGRZQ´CW 131). ,Q WKLV VHQVH 0UV )ORRG LV 2¶&RQQRU¶V WUDnsitional SDUDGLJP IRU WKH UHDGHU RI KHU VWRU\ ,Q 2¶&RQQRU¶V expressionist ending²DZD\ IURP +D]H¶V SHUVRQDOLW\²Mrs. Flood is taking us outside the novel, to the outer limit of art, to the world where the meaning of the novel can be circled and contemplated. V Finally, two documents demonstrate how much 2¶&RQQRUXQGHUVWRRGWKHSODFHRIDPELJXLW\LQKHUWH[W,QIDFW IURPWKHEHJLQQLQJ2¶&RQQRUKHUVHOIFRQFHLYHGRIWKLVMRXUQH\ through ambiguity as providing the very meaning of vocation and therefore of the novel. ³+LV²WKDWLV+D]HO¶V²search,´VKH ZURWHLQKHU5LQHKDUWDSSOLFDWLRQ³IRUDSK\VLFDOKRPHPLUURUV his search for a spiritual one, and although he finds neither, it is the latter search which saves him from becoming a member of the Wasteland and makes him worth 75,000 words´ TWG LQ Fitzgerald³2ZO´  Then finally, in her last deliberate comment on Wise Blood in 1962, ten years after its initial publication and two \HDUV EHIRUH KHU GHDWK 2¶&RQQRU UHWXUQV WR WKH TXHVWLRQ RI vocation. HHUDXWKRU¶VQRWHWRWKHVHFRQGHGLWLRQRIWise Blood directly turns to the ambiguity of vocation and its consequences: ³>«@IRUUHDGHUVZKRZRXOGSUHIHUWRWKLQN´EHOLHIDQGD3DXOLQH ³FDOOLQJ´ E\ &KULVW LV ³D PDWWHU RI QR great FRQVHTXHQFH´ 2¶&RQQRU¶VILctional hero presents a paradox Hazel Motes, his creator asserts with emphasis, reveals LQ KHUQDUUDWLYH DQ³LQWHJULW\´WKDW ³OLHV LQ KLV WU\LQJZLWK VXFK vigor to get rid of the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree LQWKHEDFNRIKLVPLQG´(CW 1265). 7KHLURQ\LVWKDW³>I@RUWKH DXWKRU+D]HO¶VLQWHJULW\OLHVLQKLVQRWEHLQJDEOHWR´(CW 1265). 7KHPHDQLQJRI³LQWHJULW\´KHUHOLHVFORVHUWRLWV RULJLQDO/DWLQ ³LQWHJHU´DV6XVDQ6ULJOH\KDVVKRZQRUXQLW\RIVHOIDQGOHVV

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its extended meaning RI ³PRUDO SXULW\´ 0DUWKD 6WHSKHQV KDG insisted upon (Sringley 177; Stephens 77-78). In other words, Haze is an integral Christian in spite of himself or, in the terms RI ³WKH DXWKRU´ D KHUR RI ³D FRPLF QRYHO DERXW D &KULVWLDQ malgré lui´CW 1265). 2¶&RQQRU¶V SKUDVH KHUH DERXW WKH FRQWUDGLFWLRQ LQ KHU KHUR¶V FKDUDFWHU SURYLGHV D FUXFLDO NH\ , EHOLHYH WR understanding all of her fiction and art. The French phrase also gains greater clarity when we interpret Wise Blood under the rubric I am suggesting, the ambiguity of vocation. That is, in +D]H¶VH[LVWHQFHLQWKHQRYHO²the only way we know him²his integrity, his unity of self through the vocation of searching, lies LQQHYHUULGGLQJKLPVHOIRIWKH³UDJJHG´HYHU-moving ambiguity of it all. In fact, what givHV 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILUVW QRYHO LWV XQLW\ LV SUHFLVHO\ 2¶&RQQRU¶V GHILQHG ³LQWHJULW\´ WKDW JURZV RXW RI +D]H¶V³malgré lui´+D]H¶VYRFDWLRQLQWKHQRYHOLVDVPXFKWR doubt and deny as to affirm through contemplation and PXWLODWLRQ,QWKHDXWKRU¶VH\HVWKH\Dre both acts of love. The hero in Wise Blood mortifies himself by and for his vocation²like any human being captured by purpose or destiny in her or his life or simply in the act of showing overwhelming love. In her 1952 letter to Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, 2¶&RQQRUVKHFRPPHQWVRQGeorge Beiswanger¶VUHYLHZRIKHU novel. Beiswanger, a former philosophy professor at GSCW, UHIHUUHGWRWKH³LPSLHW\ ODFNRIORYHLQWKHERRN DOOWKDW´to ZKLFK2¶&RQQRUUHSOLHV, ³,WVHHPVWRPHWKHIRUPRIORYHLQLWLV penance, as good a form as any other under Mr. Motes circumstances´HB 40). ,QWKHDXWKRU¶VH\HV0RWHVPD\ in fact be performing exactly what the expressionist hero Motes should be doing²not internally but externally. In the overt action of self-inflicted penance, Motes is fulfilling the action of his vocation. In this overt self-UHYHODWLRQWKURXJKORYH2¶&RQQRU¶V hero is certainly rendering unity to Wise Blood. All the action in the narrative has led exactly to this juncture. For the author of the story, Hazel Motes (often in spite of KLPVHOI FDQJDLQXOWLPDWH³LQWHJULW\´RUWKHZKROHQHVVKROLQHVV

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he wants in serial ambiguity. In her 1962 note to Wise Blood, 2¶&RQQRUwrites, ³'RHVRQH¶VLQWHJULW\HYHUOLHLQZKDWKHLVQRW able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not PHDQ RQH ZLOO EXW PDQ\ ZLOOV FRQIOLFWLQJ LQ RQH PDQ´ CW 1265). Thus, 2¶&RQQRU GHIines her conception of free will within the gift of life from the will of God. This ambiguity of wills and choices constitutes real mystery not only for the SULPLWLYH FRXQWU\ 6RXWKHUQHU 0RWHV EXW LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V WHUPV also for Oedipus blinding himself in his quest for truth and for the Job of the Biblical narrative in his seemingly limitless suffering. $VZLWK2HGLSXVDQG-REDQGHYHQ0RWHV³IUHHGRP´ is never purely individual but social and communal, even, in Wise Blood, genetic and geographical. Thus, the destiny of an LQGLYLGXDOLVRQO\WKHSHUVRQ¶VEXWLWUHVXOWVIURP³PDQ\ZLOOV´ WKHMRLQLQJDQGFRPPXQLRQRI³PDQ\ZLOOV´ 2¶&RQQRU VHHV WKHVH ³wills´ defining freedom DPD]LQJO\DVSDUWRIDFRPLFILFWLRQDQGDWWKHVDPHWLPH³YHU\ VHULRXV´ILFWLRQ³for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death´CW 1265). On the surface, this inescapable mystery of the ambiguity in vocation strikes at the IUHHGRP DW OHDVW IRU 2¶&RQQRU HYHU\ KXPDQ EHLQJ VHHNV 7KH via negativa, however, which heroes do not willingly choose, may ultimately serve the vocation the hero does choose. It may HYHQ OHDG LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V LGHDV WR WKH XOWLPDWH FRPHG\ DW WKH heart of the universe where even tragedy can be seen to invoke joke or farce, the felix culpa of St. Ambrose and John Milton and Christ as the great contradiction and, in that sense, the great absurdity. At a crucial point in her novel, just before Hazel Motes commits the murder of his double Solace Layfield, Haze falls asleep in his Essex. He has an emblematic dream about ³ZDLWLQJ´ ,Q IDFW ³KH GUHDPHG KH ZDV QRW GHDG EXW RQO\ EXULHG´ D NH\ PRWLI RI WKH QRYHO WKDW ILUVW DSSHDUHG LQ LWV ILUVW FKDSWHU 1RZ ³KH ZDV QRW ZDLWLQJ RQ WKH -XGJPHQW EHFDXVH there was no judgment, he was waiting on nothing´ CW 91). +HUH 2¶&RQQRU ZLWWLO\ WDSV LQWR -HDQ-3DXO 6DUWUH¶V FRQFHSW RI

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néant, a fashionable term in the late 1940s. She also parodies 6LPRQH:HLO¶VZRUNWUDQVODWHGLQWR(QJOLVKDV Waiting on God that she did know.5 :LWK WKLV GLUHFW DOOXVLRQ 2¶&RQnor emphasizes her own dialectic of true waiting, the enduring of the ambiguities of vocation, waiting even in absurdity for the IXOILOOPHQW DQGIUHHGRP RI³FDOOLQJ´$VVKHZURWHLQ KHU note, ³)UHHGRPFDQQRWEHFRQFHLYHGVLPSO\ It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen´CW 1265). The deepening is for our contemplation. Indeed, this is, IRU 2¶&RQQRU WKH UHDGHU¶V EXVLQHVV DV VKH RQFH ZURWH ³7he ZULWHU¶VEXVLQHVVLVWRFRQWHPSODWHH[SHULHQFHQRWWREHmerged in it´MM 84). Once readers begin to contemplate the meaning RI +D]HO 0RWHV¶V MRXUQH\ WKH\ GLVFRYHU WKDW KLV SLOJULPDJH moves only through ambiguity, signs of contradiction²and in the form of the novel, through the intersections of irony and paradox and unmitigated farce. In this perspective of absurdity, vocation is no less than a means to an end. Haze Motes suggests it may be the only way to the almost unbearable mystery of freedom²malgré lui. H. M. McLuhan, who exerted a strong influence on the HDUO\ 2¶&RQQRU KDV GHVFULEHG D SRHP DV ³DQ DFWLRQ SURGXFHG for the sake of contemplation´ 0F/XKDQ¶VGLDOHFWLFDODQG contradicting definition reveals correctly the mode of 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILFWLRQ ,I WKH YLRlence of Wise Blood is produced for the sake of contemplating a young man who seeks God at any price, including the possibility of his own damnation, then the story-telling must have a disjointed form. ,WPXVW³UHQGHU´DFWLRQGLVSHUVHGRYHUVHYHUDOFKDUDFters but centering on a single figure. It must circle the theme of the moral education, not represent it in a didactic straight line. Only then can the reader find PHDQLQJWKURXJKWKHQRYHO¶VP\VWHU\RI the ambiguities of a heroic and, at the same time, absurd human EHLQJ)LQDOO\WKHUHLVQRPLUDFXORXV³DPD]LQJ´HQGLQJEH\RQG the absurdity. The absurdity is, in fact, the mystery. For the

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humiliated Haze Motes, it may be the start of understanding. The novel goes no further. Wise Blood is art that cannot be reduced; it opens itself XSIURPFRQWHPSODWLRQWRD³GHHSHU´DFWLRQLIUHDGHUVZLOOJLYHLW WKH ULJKW NLQG RI YLVLRQ DQG DWWHQWLRQ EXW PD\ VHHP ³SODLQ FUD]\´LIWKH\GRQRW Notes 1

In 1952, ³E\GHIDXOW´meant ³E\YLUWXHRIQRFRPSHWLWLRQ´RUWKDWthe case was being rigged from the start. 2 )RUPRUHLQIRUPDWLRQVHH%UDG*RRFK¶VHVVD\³7KLUWHHQWK-Century /DG\´LQ)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ5 (2007): 23-33. 3 6HH6DOO\)LW]JHUDOG¶VLQWURGXFWLRQWR%\)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU(New York: New American Library, 1983; vi-[[YLL DQG³7KH2ZODQGWKH 1LJKWLQJDOH´ LQ )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU %XOOHWLQ    -58; J. O. 7DWH¶V³)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRUDQGWise Blood: The Significance of the (DUO\'UDIWV´>XQSXEOLVKHGGLVVHUWDWLRQ&ROXPELD8QLversity, 1975]. 4 The passage is Romans 13:13,14. See Book VIII, Chapter 12, of the Confessions. 5 6KHGLGQRWNQRZ%HFNHWW¶VSDURG\RI:HLOOWaiting for Godot, until after Wise Blood ZDV ILQLVKHG EXW GLG NQRZ ZHOO %HFNHWW¶V EULOOLDQW treatise on Proust, as she wrote Betty Hester. See HB, page 449.

Works Cited )LW]JHUDOG 6DOO\ ³,QWURGXFWLRQ´  E\ )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU. by )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU1HZLV@WRDYRLGVLQ´ (CW 11), and, in the self-styled epistemology, Haze constructs WKDW IUHHLQJ KLPVHOI IURP VLQ LVQ¶W D PDWWHU RI GRLQJ -HVXV¶ bidding, but rather of escaping -HVXV¶LPSRVLWLRQ,WLs a matter of avoiding the swamps in which Jesus operates. The trick, it VHHPVLVQRWWREHGUDZQLQWR-HVXV¶WHUULWRU\WRVWD\VDIHLQWKH ZRUOGRI³NQRZQ´WKLQJV7KLVRULJLQDOHIIRUWWKHQVHHPVWREH at once a search for shelter (to avoid being sucked in to the swamp) and an evasion (to avoid the limitations Jesus seeks to SODFH RQ KLP  LW LV VLPXOWDQHRXVO\ D SLOJULP¶V DQG D WRXULVW¶V VWUDWHJ\2USHUKDSVPRUHSRLQWHGO\LWLVDQ³DOOKDQGVRQGHFN´ effort to escape the fate of the vagabond. When his conscription into the army forces him away from the known structures of home, the ragged figure of Christ haunts him once more. When his friends invite him to a brothel, he refuses because he does not want to corrupt his soul, yet, again, this seems a matter of evading, rather than following, Jesus. When his friends tell him he has no soul, his apparent acceptance of this proposition allows him to refigure his spiritual malaise in terms of structures he comprehends, to set aside the swampy homelessness of his obligations to his soul. Soullessness makes the evasion of Jesus unnecessary, because, LQWKLVQHZFRVPRORJ\³KH>VHHV@WKHRSSRUWXQLW\>«@WRJHWULG of [his soul] without corruption, to be converted to nothing LQVWHDGRIWRHYLO´CW 12). Without a soul, the misery he feels LV D VWUDLJKWIRUZDUG ³ORQJLQJ IRU KRPH LW >KDV@ QRWKLQJ WR GR ZLWK-HVXV´CW 13). Although he continues to carry his Bible, KHGRHVVRRQO\³EHFDXVHLWKDGFRPHIURPKRPH´CW 13). A neutral soullessness seems to offer Haze the security of home and freedom from the dubious demands of an unseen God. It also figures as a brief moment of reconciliation between the modern and postmodern. 0RVW RI WKH UHPDLQGHU RI WKH QRYHO WUDFNV +D]H¶V fractured efforts to work through the contradictory demands of tourism and pilgrimage and to escape the fate of the vagabond.

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When his home collapses, he is left without the shelter it provided, and, with Jesus lurking, he has no choice but to go on the run. Here, he becomes what Bauman calls DQ ³LQYROXQWDU\ WRXULVW´³DFRQWUDGLFWLRQLQWHUPV´Discontents  ,I³IUHHGRP RIFKRLFHLVWKHWRXULVW¶VIOHVKDQGEORRG´Discontents 93), then +D]H¶VLGHQWLW\DVWRXULVWPXVWVRPHKRZSHUPLWKLPWR³FKRRVH´ a fate that seems to be choosing him whether he likes it or not. +HQHHGVWR³VHWRXW´QRWJHW ³SXVKHGIURPEHKLQG´:KHQKH FODLPV KH KDV ³FRPH D ORQJ ZD\ VLQFH >KH@ ZRXOG EHOLHYH LQ DQ\WKLQJ´ WKDW KH KDV FRPH ³KDOIZD\ DURXQG WKH ZRUOG´ CW 28) from any belief in any durable structure, he seems to be literalizing his spiritual journey into a physical one, pretending that he left belief behind when in fact belief kicked him out the (broken) door. Because he cannot accept the material and spiritual destitution of vagabondage, he constantly tries to convince himself that he is the author of his own detachment, that he has escaped a prison, not been turned out onto the street. When he arrives in Taulkinham, then, he talks like a tourist, but he is also a pilgrim without a purpose who is short on cash. That is, he is tourist, pilgrim, and hobo all at once, or rather, he is tourist-and-pilgrim-and hobo in a rapid-fire, frequently contradictory, fashion. In the space of just a few pages, he looks for directions from the wall of public bathroom (as hobo), seeks detached sex-for-hire (as a tourist), and is mistaken for preacher (as a pilgrim). Taulkinham itself is constructed as a decidedly postmodern city, devoted to tourist VHUYLFHV EXW HTXDOO\ LQWHUHVWHG LQ GLVSRVLQJ RI WKH ³YDJDERQGV [who] are the waste of a world which has devoted itself to WRXULVW VHUYLFHV´ Discontents 92). This being the case, 7DXONLQKDP¶V primary preoccupation is with the production and FRQVXPSWLRQ RI ³GLVSRVDEOH SURGXFWV GHVLJQHG IRU LPPHGLDWH REVROHVFHQFH´ Discontents 88). It is definitely not a station along the road for pilgrims. Even though the sky shows signs of D³YDVWFRQVWUXFWLRQZRUNWKDWLQYROYH>V@WKHZKROHRUGHURIWKH XQLYHUVH DQG ZRXOG WDNH DOO WLPH WR FRPSOHWH´ CW 19), the street itself is preoccupied with a salesman promoting gimmicky

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potato peelers. Insofar as Haze is absorbed by the city, he seems to succeed in escaping, or at least disrupting his soul. As he walks under the city lights, the constant, enduring light of the stars is replaced with manufactured, artificial light, with the UHVXOWWKDWKLVVKDGRZLV³QRZEHKLQGKLPDQGQRZEHIRUHKLP DQG>«@EURNHQXSE\RWKHUSHRSOH¶VVKDGRZV´CW 19). Here, I would argue the shopping district simultaneously scatters an intangible manifestation of Haze and redirects his body toward material consumption. It structures his presence in such a way as WR FHOHEUDWH PDWHULDO VXSHUILFLDOLW\ DW WKH H[SHQVH RI ³WKH YDVW FRQVWUXFWLRQ ZRUN´ RI WKH FRVPRV 1RW VXUSULVLQJO\ WKH VWUHHW VDOHVPDQ FRQIODWHV ³-HVXV IDQDWLFV´ ZLWK ³&RPPXQist IRUHLJQHUV´CW  EHFDXVHDOO³EHOLHYHUV´DUHHTXDOO\IRUHLJQ to him; all are incomprehensible relics of the bygone modern era of pilgrims and grand missions.4 Yet, despite all of the above, Haze is not capable of real integration into the superficiality of the postmodern marketplace. Although his visits to the prostitute Leora Watts VHHP WR HPEUDFH ERWK WKH ³DQ\WKLQJ JRHV´ RI SRVWPRGHUQ FRPPHUFH DQG WKH UHODWHG ³DQ\WKLQJ JRHV´ RI D ZRUOG ZLWKRXW morality and sin, he can never fully escape the influence of -HVXV DV RQH RI %DXPDQ¶V ³LQGRPLWDEOH UXOH-PDNHU>V@´ (Discontents 88).5 $OWKRXJK +D]H¶V VKDGRZ JHWV UHGLVWULEXWHG E\WKHSHRSOHDQGWKHOLJKWVZKHQHYHUKLVVKDGRZLV³E\LWVHOI´ it takes the form of a straight line pointing backwards (37). That is, Haze himself is a vector even if his immediate context obscures this fact. Even when he buys the potato peeler, he does so in a manic effort to prove something to Lily and Asa; it is not an idle impulse to sample local street-wares. Indeed, his overly purposed pursuit of Lily through the street nearly gets him killed and brings him into conflict with a police officer. The city is devoted to tourist services, but the policeman immediately senses that Haze is not quite what the city is looking for. As ever, Haze is too much a pilgrim and a preacher to have the ease and idle directionlessness of the true tourist-consumer. Although he is trying to foreground his separation from life-as-pilgrimage,

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his own inner mission supersedes the straightforward directives of the traffic signs and makes it impossible for him to acknowledge the civic authority of the police (who are, after all, regulators of property exchange, possession being nine tenths of the law). As tourist, he insists on preserving his mobility, GHPDQGLQJWKDWWKHSROLFHPDQ³WDNH>KLV@KDQGRIIPH´CW 24), but his movements, however eccentric, always involve a seemingly inescapable sense of vector.6 The potato peeler/police officer incident also marks the first encounter between Haze and Enoch. Originally dazzled by the peeler, Enoch lacks the resources to purchase what he has EHHQDVNHGWRDGPLUH$IWHU$VDDQG/LO\GLVUXSWWKHVDOHVPDQ¶V presentation, Enoch begins to fixate on Haze. Almost immediately, Enoch becomes something of an Ancient Mariner, helplessly delivering his pathetic life-story to Haze, who, intent on having no connections, ignores him. In the confrontation with WKH SROLFH (QRFK DEVXUGO\ SURPLVHV WR ³ORRN DIWHU´ CW 24) Haze in an effort to establish some sort of bond or connection between them. Acutely aware of his own marginal position in 7DXONLQKDP (QRFK LPPHGLDWHO\ VHL]HV XSRQ +D]H¶V UHODWLYH newness to posit himself as a kind of tour guide, as the local ZKRLV³LQWKHNQRZ´$Q\RQHZKRKDVHYHUDWWHPSWHGWRZRUN his/her way through a train-station in a major city will recognize this kind of encounter: arriving non-resident attempts to pursue private business and is cornered and/or waylaid by longstanding non-resident as longstanding resident makes appeals for support/comfort while offering unwanted services the newcomer is desperate to avoid. The newcomer is desperate to avoid these services because s/he recognizes that accepting (or unsuccessfully refusing them) entails obligations on his/her end, obligations that disrupt the splendid detachment the tourist is VHHNLQJ )RU WKH WRXULVW %DXPDQ QRWHV ³FRPSDQ\ >«@ LV QRW SDUW RI WKH EDUJDLQ´ Discontents 90-1). In this original encounter, Enoch is essentially panhandling; he is the squeegee kid who is going to help you out whether you like it or not.

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So, while both Haze and Enoch are detached figures, strangers in the city, their impulses are directly opposed to one another. Haze buys the peeler and brings it to Lily in an odd HIIRUWWRGUDPDWL]HWKHIDFWWKDWKH³DLQ¶WEHKROGHQ´CW 27) to her, in an effort to escape the sense of fixedness and surveillance KH IHHOV HDUOLHU ZKHQ VKH WHOOV KLP ³, VHHQ \RX´ CW 22). Desperate to avoid connection, Haze talks to Lily for the same reason he (largely) refuses to talk to Enoch. Nothing is to interfere with the absolute free agency of the tourist life he is XQVXFFHVVIXOO\ DWWHPSWLQJWROHDG³,JRWEXVLQHVVRIP\RZQ´ he tells Enoch. ³, VHHQ DOO RI \RX , ZDQW´ CW   +D]H¶V fixation with mobility is also made explicit in his original, characteristically terse, exchange with Asa. Accused by Asa of succumbing to sin, Haze simultaneously empties out the terms that would restrict his behavior and reasserts his claim at selfGLUHFWLRQ)RUQLFDWLRQDQGEODVSKHP\³DLQ¶WQRWKLQJEXWZRUGV´ +D]HFODLPV2QFHDJDLQKHGHPDQGV³WDNH\RXUKDQGVRIIPH´ (CW 29). This desire for detachment is emphatically foregrounded LQ+D]H¶V&KXUFK:LWKRXW&KULVWZKLFKDUJXHVIRUDOLIHRXWVLGH the bonds and restrictions required by Christianity. In his passionate sermons, Haze repeatedly proclaims the absence of divine miracle, the primacy of the material world, and the SOXUDOLW\ DQG FRQWLQJHQF\ RI WUXWK +LV LV D IDLWK LQ ZKLFK ³WKH EOLQGGRQ¶WVHHDQGWKHODPHGRQ¶WZDON DQGZKDW¶VGHDGVWD\V that wa\´ CW   RQH LQ ZKLFK WKHUH DUH ³DOO NLQGV RI WUXWK´ (CW  ,WLVDOVRDIDLWKSURIHVVLQJWRDV%DXPDQSXWVLW³FXW WKH SUHVHQW RII DW ERWK HQGV´ Discontents 89) and leave the VXEMHFWLQWKH³FRQWLQXRXVSUHVHQW´Discontents  ³W@KH entire possibility of this came from the advantage of having a car²of having something that moved fast, in privacy, to the SODFH \RX ZDQWHG WR EH´ CW 105). 'HVSLWH WKH FDU¶V GXELRXV condition, Haze sees it as a perversely reliable way of defending against the demands of the durable structures he is trying to UHVLVW +H FODLPV WKH FDU ZDV ³EXLOW E\ SHRSOH ZLWK WKeir eyes RSHQ WKDW NQHZ ZKHUH WKH\ ZHUH DW´ CW 72), effectively arguing that, because the car makes no claims at any kind of durability (because it is unambiguously a consumer product, not some strange, mysterious object of devotion), it proves that its producers were not in the grip of any deluded theological urgeto-permanence.7 Its self-evident disposability (in direct contrast WR WKH FDUV RQ WKH ³EHWWHU ORWV´² CW 37) makes it simultaneously a marker of tourist mobility (as a car) and an example of the temporary nature of relationships in the continuous present (as a broken-down, throwaway commodity destined for the junkyard).8 Even at the level of small-scale mechanical details, the car seems to escape integration into any unified, clear system of vaOXH ,WV ³HPSW\ KRUQ´ CW 42) mocks any notion of DQQXQFLDWLRQ HYHQ +D]H¶V  DQG WKH LQVWUXPHQWV RQ WKH GDVKERDUGSRLQW³GL]]LO\LQILUVWRQHGLUHFWLRQDQGWKHQDQRWKHU´ (CW 70), asserting the necessity of constant revision and

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RSHUDWLQJ ³RQ D SULYDWH V\VWHP LQGHSHQGHQW RI WKH ZKROH FDU´ (CW 70). For Haze, the car acts as the physical embodiment of the tourist values he is seeking to adopt, a worldview in which PRELOLW\DQGLPSHUPDQHQFHDUHSUL]HGDERYHDOOHOVH³1RERG\ ZLWK D JRRG FDU´ KH FODLPV ³QHHGV WR EH MXVWLILHG´ CW 64) because a good car provides for endless pit-stops without necessitating a terminus; it provides motion without positing a station or an end point at which judgment and/or evaluation could occur. Crucially, this is not at all the same thing as FODLPLQJ WKDW D JRRG FDU ³MXVWLILHV´ LWV RZQHU 4XLWH WKH opposite, a good car eliminates the need for justification; it unfixes the structure within which justification could seem coherent and leaves the driver an unimpeded free agent in a muOWLSOLFLW\ RI WHPSRUDU\ FRQWH[WV ³7KH ZRUOG´ %DXPDQ FODLPV³LVWKHWRXULVW¶VR\VWHU´Ethics 241), and the car makes this world available. Enoch, on the other hand, is the quintessential vagabond, constantly in motion only because he finds the world ³Xnbearably inhospitable´ Discontents 92). While Haze DSSDUHQWO\ ZRUNVDW³PHOWLQJWKHVROLGVDQGXQIL[LQJWKHIL[HG´ (Discontents 89), Enoch hunts for shelter, for any structure that PLJKWVXSSRUWDQGRUSURWHFWKLP5HFRJQL]LQJ+D]H¶VDSSDUHQW disregard for everyone around him (and having watched him impulsively purchase the potato peeler), Enoch originally LPDJLQHV +D]H¶V LQGHSHQGHQFH WR EH D PDWWHU RI ILQDQFLDO SURVSHULW\7KHILUVWWKLQJKHVD\VWR+D]HLV³,UHFNRQ\RXJRWD KHDS RI PRQH\´ CW 23), because he sees self-direction as LQH[WULFDEO\ OLQNHG WR EX\LQJ SRZHU ³)UHHGRP RI FKRLFH´ %DXPDQFODLPV³LVLQSRVWPRGHUQVRFLHW\>«@WKHPRVWVHPLQDO DPRQJVWUDWLI\LQJIDFWRUV´Discontents 93), and, in a consumer culture, the most important choices are consumer choices. Enoch wants the peeler but cannot have it. Haze does not want it, but gets it anyway, and this makes him a figure of wonder and awe: somebody who actually does what he wants, who is not obviously constrained (as Enoch is) by constant reminders of his own limitations. And, while Haze feels the intrusions of others

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to be his primary problem, for Enoch the absence of connection LV KLV SULPDU\ ZRUU\ ³$OO >SHRSOH@ ZDQW WR GR LV NQRFN \RX GRZQ´CW  KHODPHQWV EHIRUHJRLQJRQWR FODLP ³People DLQ¶W IULHQGO\ KHUH >«@ >1@RERG\ KHUH¶OO KDYH QRWKLQJ WR GR ZLWKQRERG\HOVH´CW 31, 32). This search for connection is tough to overlook, yet, despite his desperate loneliness, Enoch is denied the nominal contentments of solitude. Although he is all alone, he is not free from forces beyond his control, and this is not true just in the JHQHUDO³PRYHLWDORQJVRQ´VHQVHRIVWUHHWSHRSOH0XFKPRUH significantly, his life is in constant anxiety about what his blood will make him do next. This being the case, he is constrained without being protected. He is a particularly aggravated case of %DXPDQ¶V DVVHUWLRQ WKDW ³WKH YDJDERQG LV D SLOJULP ZLWKRXW D GHVWLQDWLRQ´ Ethics 240). He has all the disadvantages of the vagabond and all the obligations of the pilgrim. More problematically, perhaps, he lacks not only a final destination, but intermediate procedures as well. He does not know what route he is travelling, and he never knows where the stations are. Because the force that frames and guides his life (his blood) makes its presence felt only in him, he has only his own hazy intuitions to rely on. Crudely, his blood makes demands, but it IDLOVWRSURYLGHFRQWH[W(QRFK¶VWRWDOO\SULYDWL]HGLGLRV\QFUDWLF encounter with the spiritual leaves him without the rites and procedures that would make the unseen presence reassuring rather than terrifying.9 (QRFK¶VEUDLQLVFRQVHTXHQWO\GLYLGHGLQ WZR 7KH VLOHQW SUHVHQFH LQ KLV EORRG GRHV ³WKH ILJXULQJ´ HYHQ WKRXJK LW ³QHYHU >VD\V@ DQ\WKLQJ LQ ZRUGV´ CW 49), while the other part of his brain endlessly babbles but is unable to figure anything out. He never knows exactly what he must do, but he cannot escape the fact that he must do things he does not want to do. With only the haphazard objects in his rented room to appeal to, Enoch begins an odd kind of cleansing ritual, the purpose of which he fails to understand. In the dark about his RZQ PRWLYDWLRQV KH PDLQWDLQV ³D FHUWDLQ UHYHUHQFH IRU WKH

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SXUSRVH´RID³WDEHUQDFOH-OLNHFDELQHW´CW 74) he finds in his room and searches in vain for some similarly defined purpose in himself. Although he takes his wise blood to be the central fact RIKLVH[LVWHQFHKHIHDUVWKHQHHGWR³MXVWLI\KLVGDGG\¶VEORRG´ (CW  EHFDXVHWKHQDWXUHRIWKHMXVWLILFDWLRQLQYROYHV³KDYLQJ tR GR VRPHWKLQJ WKDW VRPHWKLQJ HOVH ZDQWHG KLP WR GR´ CW 76). He longs for a system that would make his experience FRPSUHKHQVLEOH +H GUHDPV RI ³XQORFNLQJ WKH >WDEHUQDFOH-like] cabinet and getting in it and then proceeding to certain rites and mysteries thDWKHKDGDYHU\YDJXHLGHDDERXW´CW 75). He is ZLOOLQJ WR VHUYH ³KLV UHVLJQDWLRQ LV SHUIHFW´ CW 79), but he never knows just how to serve. Here, Enoch functions as a postmodern vagabond seeking some kind of passage back into modernity, back to the solid procedures of the pilgrim. For a long time, (QRFK¶V FRQIXVLRQ DERXW SURFHVV DQG ritual is the source of tremendous anxiety, yet I would like to suggest that that his final actions in the novel can be read as a postmodern re-working of the notion of faith, and a significant reconfiguration of the notions of transformation and transcendence. Just before he goes to meet Gonga, the gorilla from the movies, and still waiting for his blood to suggest some type of system, Enoch imagines his encounter with the mDQJRULOOD ZLOO EH RQH RI WKH ³VXSUHPH PRPHQWV LQ KLV OLIH´ (CW   2Q HGJH EHFDXVH KH GRHV QRW KDYH ³WKH YDJXHVW QRWLRQ´ RI ZKDW WKLV VXSUHPH PRPHQW ZLOO HQWDLO KH VWLOO EHOLHYHV WKDW WKH H[SHULHQFH ZLOO PDNH KLP ³DQ HQWLUHO\ QHZ man, with an even betteU SHUVRQDOLW\´ CW 98). This does not happen, of course, and instead Enoch is humiliated and abused. Afterwards, however, he seems to re-approach Gonga in D PRUH ³RQ KLV RZQ´ NLQG RI ZD\ RXWVLGH WKH SUH-empting demands of his blood. Using a detached, documentary style narration (as opposed to the penetrating third person she uses for PRVW RI WKH QRYHO  2¶&RQQRU FKURQLFOHV (QRFK¶V HQWLUHO\ successful attempt to attack the actor and steal the gorilla suit. +HUHIRURQFH(QRFK¶VEORRGLVQRWFOHDUO\VKRUW-circuiting his decision-PDNLQJ VR WKDW KH LV ³OLNH D ELUG >WKDW@ ILQGV LWVHOI .

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EXLOGLQJDQHVWZKHQLWKDVQ¶WEHHQSODQQLQJWR´CW 73). He is not deciding not to go to the movies only to have his blood override him. Instead, Enoch seems to be directing himself toward a peculiar encounter with the an entity he perceives as wondrous and powerful. No longer paralyzed, Enoch darts DFURVVWKHVWUHHW DQGVOLSV³QRLVHOHVVO\LQWRWKHRSHQEDFNGRRU RI WKH WUXFN´ CW 110). Rather than narrating the obtuse, unknowabOH GHPDQGV RI (QRFK¶V FRVPLF EORRG 2¶&RQQRU ILQDOO\ GHOLYHUV (QRFK¶V PLVVLRQ LQ D GLUHFW PDWWHU-of-fact narration of real world events. When Enoch reappears with the VXLW KH LV ³EXUQLQJ ZLWK WKH LQWHQVHVW NLQG RI KDSSLQHVV´ CW 111), fulfilled for the very first time. When he buries his old FORWKHVLWLVSRLQWHGO\³QRWDV\PERORIEXU\LQJKLVIRUPHUVHOI´ (CW 111). Instead, it is a much more basic recognition that he does not need them anymore. 2¶&RQQRU , LPDJLQH DQG KHU PRUH GHYRXW FULWLFV , know, seem to see the gorilla suit incident as some kind of descent into the barbaric and bestial, as an abdication of what is dignified in human existence, yet I would like to suggest that we can read something a bit more redemptive into these apparently absurd and/or horrific acts.10 ,QLWVPRVWSRVLWLYHVHQVH(QRFK¶V behavior seems to amount to the sort of thing Santiago Zabala ZKHQKHVSHDNVRIDSRVWPRGHUQ³IDLWKZLWKRXWSUHFHSWV´ D faith that is devoid of specific dogmas and instead relies on what RiFKDUG5RUW\FDOOV³NQRZKRZ´LQVWHDGRI³UXOHV´³'LDORJXH´ 59).11 After spending most of the novel hopelessly at the mercy of what his blood wants him to do (yet still unable to discover how to serve his blood in any fulfilling way), Enoch finally improvises a procedure that works quite well. The encounter with the gorilla seems to be initiated by the wise blood, but it is H[HFXWHGDFFRUGLQJWR (QRFK¶V LGLRV\QFUDWLFWHQGHQFLHV12 With 5RUW\(QRFKDWWKLVSRLQWVHHPVWRUHFRJQL]HWKDWKH³GRHVQRW QHHGWRIXVHKRUL]RQVZLWKDQ\ERG\HOVHEHFDXVH>KLV@RZQ>«@ SUDFWLFHLVDOUHDG\VXIILFLHQW³'LDORJXH´ 7KDWLVKHVHHPV to escape his obligations and to direct his own affairs without worrying (too much) about how his procedures relate to other

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expectations and traditions. All of this, Rorty argues, is part of a ³GHFOLQH LQ WKH LQWHQVLW\ RI RXU DWWHPSW WR SDUWLFLSDWH LQ SRZHU DQGJUDQGHXU´³'LDORJXH´ DQGLWLQGLFDWHVD³ZLllingness to WDNH >RXU@ FKDQFHV DV RSSRVHG WR DWWHPSWLQJ WR HVFDSH RQH¶V ILQLWXGH E\ DOLJQLQJ RQHVHOI ZLWK LQILQLWH SRZHU´ ³'LDORJXH´ 56). After spending most of the novel obsessed with the absent-yet-present force of his blood (a force he aligns with infinite power), Enoch ends the novel by synthesizing the demands of his blood with an emphatic assertion of the literal. Burying his old clothes is not symbolic, it is a straightforward action, and, rather than waiting for an unknown cosmic transformation, Enoch invents for himself a much more modest change in identity through the gorilla suit. Indeed, his final transformation is appropriately a matter of channeling the demands of his blood through the decidedly contemporary (and improvised) framework of Hollywood fantasy/adventure films. ,I%DXPDQLVFRUUHFWLQFODLPLQJWKDWSRVWPRGHUQ³LGHQWLWLHVFDQ EH DGRSWHG DQG GLVFDUGHG OLNH D FKDQJH RI FRVWXPH´ (Discontents 88), then it is appropriate for postmodern religiosity to combine the high seriousness of selftransformation, with the apparently low comedy of the ape-suit. The supreme moment of transcending the limits of selfhood (and finitude) involves the equipment of the movie actor, a contemporary specialist in being other than he is. Ultimately, Enoch ignores the demand that he live as a pilgrim within the ill-defined but authoritarian structure of his wise blood and incorporates his experience with the uncanny into what Zabala FDOOVSRVWPRGHUQLW\¶V³UHODWLYHZRUOGRIKDOI-WUXWKV´ 13 Haze, on the other hand, never learns to operate in the world of half-truths. Despite his often-repeated repudiation of -HVXVDQGKLVDSSDUHQWO\SRVWPRGHUQDFFHSWDQFHWKDWWKHUH³DOO NLQGV RI WUXWK´ CW   DQG WKDW WKHUH LV ³QR WUXWK EHKLQG DOO WUXWKV´CW 93), he ultimately finds it impossible to live without the strong structure (capital T) Truth provides. As he prepares to kill Solace Layfield, Haze claims there are two things he cannot

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VWDQG³DPDQWKDWDLQ¶W WUXHDQGRQHWKDWPRFNVZKDW LV´CW 115). This contradiction, I would like to argue is what prevents and/or saves him from passing into the postmodern, and what sends him back to modernity and to Jesus. Just before his selfblinding and re-integration into the grand narrative of salvation, Haze acknowledges the contradictory nature of his relations with Christ when he admits that his belief in the power of EODVSKHP\ LV XQWHQDEOH EHFDXVH LW LQYROYHV ³EHOLHYLQJ LQ VRPHWKLQJ WR EODVSKHPH´ CW 116). Even in his energized assaults on Jesus and Truth, then, Haze posits the existence of the very thing he repudiates. Vattimo has rightly claimed that WKHDVVXPSWLRQ³WKDWWKHUHLVQRPHWDSK\VLFDOIRXQGDWLRQLVVWLOO DIRXQGDWLRQ´ DQGWKLVLVSUHFLVHO\ZKDWPDNHV+D]HVXFKD poor tourist and such a helpless pilgrim. His efforts to escape foundations are themselves foundational. Under the conditions of postmodernity, Rorty claims, the WHUP³DWKHLVP´LVORVLQJLWVUHOHYDQFH3KLORVRSKHUV³ZKRGRQRW JR WR FKXUFK´ KH VD\V ³DUH QRZ OHVV LQFOLQHG WR GHVFULEH themselves as believing that there is no God. They are more LQFOLQHG WR XVH VXFK H[SUHVVLRQV DV 0D[ :HEHU¶V µUHOLJLRXVO\ XQPXVLFDO¶2QHFDQEHWRQHGHDIZKHQLWFRPHVWRUHOLJLRQMXVW DV RQH FDQ EH REOLYLRXV WR WKH FKDUPV RI PXVLF´ ³$QWLFOHULFDOLVP´ 14 Without a hard conception of truth, the theist/atheist struggle ceases to demand a strong answer. Just as RQHFDQKDYHDVOLJKWRUSDVVLQJLQWHUHVWLQPXVLFRQHFDQ³NLQG RI´EHOLHYHLQ*RG$V=DEDODSXWVLWDSRVWPRGHUQFRQVWUXFWLRQ RI IDLWK ³DEVRUEV GXDOLVPV ZLWKRut recognizing in them any UHDVRQV IRU FRQIOLFW´   7KLV LV H[DFWO\ ZKDW (QRFK VHHPV WR achieve, a semi-religious, semi-ceremonial, but simultaneously idiosyncratic, individuated procedure that exists outside the necessity for some divide between the subordination of ³ZRUVKLS´ DQG WKH WURXEOHVRPH DXWRQRP\ RI FRQWHPSRUDU\ secularism. +D]H RI FRXUVH VHHV ³UHDVRQV IRU FRQIOLFW´ DOPRVW everywhere he goes, and, perversely, he situates the conflict between atheism and theism within, not outside, the larger

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structure of the church. While Rorty assumes that going to church and believing in God are related activities, Haze violently rejects the notion of God while simultaneously endorsing the institution of the church. If postmodern religiosity is, as Zabala claiPV VHDUFKLQJ ³IRU FRPSDWLELOLW\ RQO\ ZLWK UHOLJLRXV IDLWK WKDW LV WU\LQJ WR µSULYDWL]H¶ LWVHOI QRW ZLWK religious faiths that found churches and adopt political positions  WKHQHYHQ+D]H¶VDSSDUHQWO\GHVWDELOL]LQJ&KXUFK:LWKRXW Christ is too rigidly structured to qualify. Vattimo goes further WRDUJXHWKDWWKHFKXUFKLV³WRRVWURQJDVWUXFWXUH´³'LDORJXH´ 68) to appeal to postmodern sensibilities, even if the postmodern FRQVFLRXVQHVV UHPDLQV ³PRUH RU OHVV´ RSHQ WR WKH H[LVWHQFH RI Christ. For this reason, Rorty suggests that anticlericalism, not atheism, is the appropriate term to describe postmodern suspicion of religious sensibilities. Anticlericalism, he argues, is ³D SROLWLFDO YLHZ QRW DQ HSLVWHPRORJLFDO RU PHWDSK\VLFDO RQH´ ³$QWLFOHULFDOLVP´33). It differentiates between a metaphysical debate about the existence of God and a political one about the social relevance/desirability of churches. Being opposed to churches, Rorty contends, is not the same thing as having strong convictions about the ontological status of an unseen deity. +D]H RI FRXUVH GLUHFWO\ LQYHUWV 5RUW\¶V FRQVWUXFWLRQ dramatizing the enormous gulf between his sensibilities and the ones Rorty describes. For most of the novel, Haze is a procleric, anti-theist. He believes in churches; he just does not believe in God. His quarrel is directly with Jesus, not the frameworks used to communicate his presence. In a bizarre complication of what I am calling his tourist ambitions, Haze clings to the established form of his religious upbringing even though he wants to reject its content. Importantly, Haze channels his repudiation of Jesus through a direction citation/duplication of the previously established religious practices of his grandfather, a fundamentalist preacher. While Enoch spends a JUHDWGHDORIWLPHWU\LQJWRDVFHUWDLQWKH³ULWHVDQGSURFHGXUHV´ appropriate to the demands of his blood, Haze has, from the outset, clear ideas about how a preacher ought to address a

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crowd, and he sticks to them with characteristic inflexibility. There is no procedural improvisation here. For Haze, preaching is matter of rules, not know how, and his religiosity, however KHUHWLFDO LV DOZD\V LQIXVHG ZLWK WKH SLOJULP¶V KLJK VHULRXVQHVV and the commitment to structure we associate with modernity. HD]H¶VFDURIFRXUVHLVFHQWUDO WR ERWK WKHFRQWHQWDQG the form of his church. It both emphasizes the need for mobility (for unfixing the fixed) and provides the literal platform from ZKLFK+D]H¶VVHUPRQVDUHGHOLYHUHG:KHQLWLVGHVWUR\HGWKHQ Haze faces for the second time the collapse of the structure he has been using to organize his life. When his home crumbles, he opts (or, as I have been arguing, attempts to opt) for the perpetual motion of the tourist. When his car crashes, he finally reconcileVKLVGHVLUHIRUWKH³NQRZQWUDFN´DQG-HVXV:KHQWKH SROLFHRIILFHUDVNVKLP³:DV\RXJRLQJDQ\ZKHUHV"´CW 118), Haze is finally prepared to admit that his travels through space have not gotten him anywhere. The final pages of the novel demonstrate HazH¶VWRWDOUDWKHUWKDQSDUWLDOHQGRUVHPHQWRIWKH stable structures of modernity. After his self-blinding, Haze offers to pay extra to keep his room because he knows its familiar dimensions, and he goes for repetitive walks in which he refuses to go any farther than the four or five blocks around his home. When his landlady accuses him of plotting to leave her premises, he makes an unambiguous assertion of SHUPDQHQFH ³7KHUH¶V QR RWKHU KRXVH QRU QR RWKHU FLW\´ CW 129). For once, Haze is content to be where he is, and, at this point, his retreat into a stable, known space is figured in terms of DQDFFHSWDQFHRI-HVXV¶ presence rather than a repudiation of it. Rather than sheltering in the known in an effort to escape Jesus or, alternately, hopelessly trying to override his inherent fixedness in contradictory assertions of rootlessness, Haze finally comes to regard Jesus as a source of constancy, a rock, rather than a figure of the swamp. As a result, he is able to begin his pilgrimage in earnest, a journey that is both fixed in space and cosmic in scope. Ultimately, he is both still (in space) and in motion toward his final destiny: lying perfectly still in his

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ODQGODG\¶V KRXVH KH LV VLPXOWDQHRXVO\ ³PRYLQJ IDUWKHU DQG farther away, farther and farther into the darkness until he [is a] SLQSRLQWRIOLJKW´CW 131). 7KLVPRYHPHQWRIFRXUVHLVDPRYHPHQWLQWRWKH³YDVW construction work that involve[s] the whole order of the XQLYHUVH DQG >ZLOO@ WDNH DOO WLPH WR FRPSOHWH´ CW 19), the structure underlying all structures, the Truth underlying all truths. It marks his final departure from postmodernity, just as WKH JRULOOD VXLW PDUNV (QRFK¶V LQWHJUDWLRQ LQWR LW Wise Blood, like its two primary figures, spends a lot of time wandering between the modern and the postmodern, between stability and instability, between structure and the absence of structure. By the end of the novel, however, both Haze and Enoch have disappeared, one into the eternal system of the cosmos, the other into the continuous present of the contemporary highway. $OWKRXJK2¶&RQQRUFOHDUO\SUHIHUV+D]H¶VSDWKWR(QRFK¶VP\ scorecard suggests that, in Wise Blood, the struggle between modernity and postmodernity ends in an inconclusive draw. +D]H¶VILQDOMRXUQH\EDFNWRZKDW,KDYHEHHQFDOOLQJPRGHrnity EULQJV ORQJVWDQGLQJ VHUHQLW\ (QRFK¶V MRXUQH\ LQWR SRVWPRGHUQLW\EULQJVDWOHDVWWHPSRUDULO\WKH³LQWHQVHVWNLQGRI KDSSLQHVV´ CW 111). Here, I have tried to suggest that each FKDUDFWHU¶VMRXUQH\KDVPHULWDQGWKDWHDFKFKDUDFWHUFDUYHVRXW a unique and workable position in his complicated efforts to find, or escape, stable structures.

Notes 1

For a brief, but very useful discussion of these issues, see the LQWURGXFWLRQWR6LPRQ0DOSDV¶VERRNThe Postmodern. 2 Borrowing from Lyotard, Michael Hanne describes a grand narrative LQWHUPVRI³FHUWDLQRYHUDUFKLQJVHWVRI>«@ assumptions structured in QDUUDWLYHWHUPV´7KHVHLQFOXGH ³WKHHQWLUHUDQJHRIQDUUDWLYHVZKLFK have functioned at certain times as legitimating frameworks shared by whole societies. They are controlling narratives of which the individuals and groups who live within them are not even perhaps

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FRQVFLRXVO\DZDUH´+DQQH ³7KH$PHULFDQ'UHDP´IRUH[DPSOH is a universally recognized and widely affirmed narrative framework that works (often unconsciously) to promote the superiority, justness, and rightness of American society. 3 This does not mean that modern sensibilities were uniformly content with the status quo, just that modern rebellions and rejections of the status quo tended to take place inside a structured context. For example, high modernist writers (Joyce, Eliot, Pound, Lawrence) variously repudiated the grand narratives of church, family, and nation, but posited art as a more or less straight substitution, as a new grand narrative, a new, better, way to frame and structure a productive, progressive existence. However radical the modern thinker is, s/he still thinks and operates in terms of foundations. ³:KHQ(OLRW>UHFDOOV@'DQWHRU9LUgil in The Waste Land´+XWFKHRQ UHPLQGVXV³RQH>VHQVHV@DNLQGRIZLVKIXOFDOOWRFRQWLQXLW\EHQHDWK WKHIUDJPHQWHGHFKRLQJ´  4 )RU D GHWDLOHG GLVFXVVLRQ RI WKHVH LVVXHV VHH -RQ /DQFH %DFRQ¶V book, )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRUDQG&ROG:DU&XOWXUH, or, more briefly, his DUWLFOH ³$ )RQGQHVV IRU 6XSHUPDUNHWV Wise Blood and Cold War &XOWXUH´ 5 7KHGHJUHHWRZKLFK+D]HYLHZVSURVWLWXWLRQDVDW\SHRI³DQ\WKLQJ JRHV´ WRXULVP  DV a way of escaping structure is made explicit when KHFODLPV³:KDWGR,QHHGZLWK-HVXV",JRW/HRUD:DWWV"´CW 31). Still, he soon gives up on Leora and begins to channel his abundant energy into the alternative structure of his Church Without Christ. 6 , ZRXOG DOVR OLNH WR VXJJHVW WKDW +D]H¶V LQQHU XQGHILQHG VHQVH RI mission and/or drive is used to propel a narrative otherwise devoid of plot. Even though Wise Blood is basically a set of tenuously linked episodes, it retains a sense of propulsion precisely because Haze is DOZD\V³LQSXUVXLW´RIVRPHWKLQJDFDU RUVRPHRQHLilly, Onnie Jay Holy). 7 +H DOVR UHMRLFHV LQ WKH IDFW WKDW WKH FDU ZDVQ¶W EXLOW E\ IRUHLJQHUV because he is desperate not to be situated in any mysterious context outside KLVFRQWURO+HUH³IRUHLJQHUV´³QLJJHUV,´ DQG³RQH-DUPPHQ´ (CW 72) serve as substLWXWHV IRU WKH ³ZLOG UDJJHG >&KULVW@ ILJXUH´ (CW 11) in the dark. They threaten his sense of self-control and selfdirection²threaten to drag him into a demanding grand narrative when he is intent on discrete, postmodern episodes.

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,GRQ¶WPHDQWRVXJJHst that Haze buys the car with these symbolic SURSHUWLHV LQ PLQG &OHDUO\ KH¶V PRWLYDWHG E\ KLV OLPLWHG ILQDQFHV DQGXQWLOWKHYHU\HQGKHEHOLHYHVKLVFDU³LVMXVWEHJLQQLQJLWVOLIH´ (CW  0RUHWRWKHSRLQW+D]H¶VLQVLVWHQFHRQWKLQJV³\RX>FDQ@ KROGLQ\RXUKDQGVRUWHVWZLWK\RXUWHHWK´CW 116) seems to suggest his unwillingness to operate on a figurative plane. I just mean to point out that the car works well in terms of two different aspects of the tourist worldview (mobility and impermanence). 9 Of course, the privatization of the spiritual is a hallmark of postmodernity. As established churches watch their numbers decline, customized, build/buy-your-own modes of ³self-KHOS´ DQG ³VHOIKHDOLQJ´JURZPRUHDQGPRUHSRSXODU7KHVHDUHSUHFLVHO\the modes RIZRUVKLS2¶&RQQRUFULWLFL]HVZKHQVKHDWWDFNVWKHQRWLRQWKDW³IDLWK LVDELJHOHFWULFEODQNHW´HB 354) whose purpose is to produce warm fuzzy feelings. 10 )RUDQDUJXPHQWDERXW(QRFK¶VGHVFHQWLQWRWKHEHVWLDOVHH5REHUW %ULQNPH\HU¶V ³µ-HVXV 6WDE 0\ +HDUW¶ Wise Blood, Wounding, and 6DFUDPHQWDO$HVWKHWLFV´ 11 ,QKHUILQHHVVD\RQ2¶&RQQRUDQGWKH&DUQLYDOHVTXH'HQLVH$VNLQ uses Bakhtin to make a similar point about the distinction between ³DXWKRULWDWLYHGLVFRXUVH´DQG³LQWHUQDOO\SHUVXDVLYHGLVFRXUVH´  7KH IRUPHU GHPDQGV ³XQFRQGLWLRQDO DOOHJLDQFH´ ZKLOH WKH ODWWHU LV ³WLJKWO\LQWHUZRYHQZLWKµ2QH¶VRZQZRUG¶´  12 $VVXFKLW¶VDQH[DPSOHRIZKDW=DEDODFDOOVDSRVWPRGHUQHIIRUWWR HVWDEOLVKDQ³LQWHUPHGLDWHZD\EHWZHHQHQWUXVWLQJRQHVHOIWRDGLYLQH VXEVWLWXWHDQGHQWUXVWLQJRQHVHOIWRLQGLYLGXDOSUHIHUHQFHV´ +HLV aware of, and acts in concert with his blood, but he is not in its service. 13 , GRQ¶W PHDQ WR VXJJHVW WKDW WKH JRULOOD VXLW ZLOO RIIHU (QRFK DQ\ long-term contentment, but, of course, long-term engagements are KDUGO\DFRQFHUQLQWKHSRVWPRGHUQFOLPDWH,¶PGHVFULELQJ 14 Such people, he argues, havH QR LQWHUHVW LQ *RG EXW WKH\¶UH QRW UHDOO\RSSRVHGWRLWKLPHLWKHU7KH\¶UHQRWDJQRVWLFVHLWKHURIFRXUVH just people for whom the question of God has never been sufficiently important to demand an answer.

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Works Cited Askin 'HQLVH 7 ³&DUQLYDO LQ WKH µ7HPSOH¶ )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU¶V 'LDORJLF 3DUDEOH RI $UWLVWLF 9RFDWLRQ´ Christianity and Literature 56.4 (2007): 555-72. Bacon, Jon Lance. )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU DQG&ROG :DU &XOWXUH. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1993. _______³$ )RQGQHVV IRU 6XSHUPDUNHWV Wise Blood and &RQVXPHU &XOWXUH´ LQ New Essays on Wise Blood. ed. Michael Kreyling. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1995. (21-49) Bauman, Zygmunt. Postmodernity and Its Discontents. New York: New York U P, 1997. _______. Postmodern Ethics. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1993. Brinkmeyer 5REHUW  ³µ-HVXV 6WDE 0\ +HDUW¶ Wise Blood, :RXQGLQJ DQG 6DFUDPHQWDO $HVWKHWLFV´ LQ New Essays on Wise Blood. ed. Michael Kreyling. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1995. (71-89) Childs, Peter. Modernism. London: Routledge, 2000. Hanne, Michael. The Power of the Story. Providence: Berghahn Books, 1994. Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge,1988. Lyotard, Jean François. The Postmodern Condition. trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Manchester: Manchester U P, 1984. Malpas, Simon. The Postmodern. London: Routledge, 2005. 2¶&RQQRU, Flannery. Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. _______. The Habit of Being /HWWHUV RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, 1979. 5RUW\5LFKDUG³$QWLFOHULFDOLVPDQG$WKHLVP´LQThe Future of Religion: Richard Rorty and Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. New York: Columbia U P, 2005. (2942)

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_______ ³'LDORJXH :KDW LV 5HOLJLRQ¶V )XWXUH $IWHU MetDSK\VLFV"´LQThe Future of Religion: Richard Rorty and Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. New York: Columbia U P, 2005. (55-82) Vattimo, Gianni. The End of Modernity. trans. Jon R. Snyder. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U P, 1988. =DEDOD 6DQWLDJR ³,QWURGXFWLRQ $ 5HOLJLRQ without Theists of $WKHLVWV´ The Future of Religion: Richard Rorty and Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. New York: Columbia U P, 2005. (1-28)

The Dostoevskian Structure of Flannery 2¶&RQQRU¶VWise Blood Lylas Dayton Rommel Ave Maria University 7KHKLVWRULFDOGLIIHUHQFHVEHWZHHQ)HRGRU'RVWRHYVN\¶V5XVVLD DQG WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV WR ZKLFK )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU DV FLWL]HQ was heir may seem to be incommensurable, but the focus of these writers centered on the meaning of Christian salvation in a world that denied the necessity of such an idea. They hoped their art would convince readers of the truth of their belief. Although neither was concerned with political issues, they both sought to convince readers of the necessity of self-surrender to DQ ³RWKHU´ WKDW LPSOLHG VRPH VRUW RI SROLWLFDO RUGHU 7R WKH H[WHQW WKDW HDFK DUJXHG IRU D ³SXUH´ &KULVWLDQLW\ H[SUHVVHG through an orthodox return to their traditions, each deconstructs the other. The political dimensions of the work of each writer FDQ EH VHHQ WKURXJK DQ DSSOLFDWLRQ RI 'RVWRHYVN\¶V WULSDUWLWH VWUXFWXUH RI VKDPH SLW\ DQG SLHW\ WR 2¶&RQQRU¶V QDUUDWLYH techniques in Wise Blood. With the collapse of the Soviet system against which Dostoevsky warned and the triumph of democracy across the globe, there needs to be a rethinking of the prophetic aspects of WKHVH ZULWHUV¶ YLVLRQV %HFDXVH WKH 3ODWRQLVP LQKHUHQW LQ Christianity is assumed by both writers, they also share political ideas that derive from Platonism. Both believed that Christianity itself, through grace or suffering, would maintain political order. 2¶&RQQRU LV PXFK PRUH H[SOLFLW LQ WKLV EHOLHI VLQFH SDUW RI Catholic dogma is an understanding of natural law which, in the 1950s and 1960s, Catholic intellectuals believed was the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution.1 7KXVIURP2¶&RQQRU¶VYLHZSRLQWWKHRUWKRGR[\ and spread of Catholic practice was essential for the maintenance of democratic order. Her fear was that scientific positivism would destroy the mystery underlying human

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experience (CW 815-16) by creating a radical disorder in the XQLYHUVH'RVWRHYVN\¶VDUJXPHQWIRUD IUHHVXUUHQGHURIVHOIWR DQ ³RWKHU´ GHVSLWH VXIIHULQJ SDUDOOHOV KLV DWWDFKPHQW WR WKH Tsarist regime, although he had been unfairly terrorized and imprisoned by it. For him, chaos was the natural order; human order occurs through choice. ,QKHUHQW LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V EHOLHI LV D FRQWUDGLFWLRQ regarding freedom. As she saw it, Catholic dogma asserted the truth about the nature of the universe, and all within it, moral and political freedoms were connected. Freedom was the choice to bring oneself into conscious alignment with dogmatic claims based on the authority of the Catholic Church as the voice of God. As a result, the polity is ordered against those who cannot or will not make the right choice whether they accept the teachings of a religious system or not. Therefore, for some people, the Catholic preservation of natural law within the institution of the Catholic Church and imposed on others can become a spiritual and political tyranny. In a monarchical political system of the sort that existed in Europe from the beginning of Christianity, the view that freedom is best protected by laws dictated by the Church made sense because the ruler himself was thought to be ordained by God to protect natural law, and he could command the positive laws necessary to ensure its order. Because, unlike the United States, Russia was an autocracy, the contradiction about the meaning of freedom inherent in the idea of natural law never appeared in 'RVWRHYVN\¶VZRUN However, when political authority exists in the people who believe all sorts of things, disagreements about basic principles of authority and law threaten chaos. Since Dostoevsky accepted the reality of moral chaos within a Christian regime, KLVLGHDRIIUHHGRPLVGLIIHUHQWIURPWKDWRI2¶&RQQRU¶VDQGWKH Catholic Church. For him, and inherent in the Byzantine system, the Tsar alone is answerable to God for his kingdom; within the regime, the duty of the people is to seek transformation by Christ through their imitation of the beatitudes, an ontological

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change determined by the Orthodox Church, rather than the moral practice of civic virtue. This transformation is the key doctrine of the Russian Church in its catechism and its liturgy.2 Thus, for Dostoevsky, freedom is completely free; the political order is not dependent on correct moral choices from its citizenry. The religious demand for ontological change within the person neither builds up a state nor tears it down. Although the destruction of the Tsarist regime through nihilism would bring about immense suffering as well as the end of an ancient Christian political order, the Russian system shows that moral good is not necessarily connected to political good. %HFDXVHRIWKLVGLIIHUHQFH2¶&RQQRU¶VXQGHUVWDQGLQJRI KHUVHOIDVD&KULVWLDQZULWHULVYHU\GLIIHUHQWIURP'RVWRHYVN\¶V although she read him very carefully and saw him as a model for her own work.3 In her HVVD\ ³7KH )LFWLRQ :ULWHU DQG +LV &RXQWU\´2¶&RQQRUVWDWHV The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock²to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures. (MM 3334)

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narration demonstrates exactly what she says above: it attacks readers and make them uncomfortable so that, as she hopes, they can see their errors of reasoning through her artistic construction. 2¶&RQQRUFRQVLGHUHGWKHVHDWWDFNV³FRPLF´CW 1107). Commenting about the purpose of his life as an artist, Dostoevsky wrote early in his career: >«@,FDQWHOO\RXDERXWP\VHOIWKDW,DP a child of this century, a child of doubt and disbelief, I have always been and shall ever be (that I know), until they close the lid of my coffin. What terrible torment this thirst to believe has cost me and is still costing me, and the stronger it becomes in my soul, the stronger are the arguments against it. And, despite all this, God sends me moments of great tranquility, moments during which I love and find I am loved by others; and it was during such a moment that I formed within myself a symbol of faith in which all is clear and sacred for me. This symbol is very simple, and here is what it is: to believe that there is nothing more beautiful, more profound, more sympathetic, more reasonable, more courageous, and more perfect than Christ; DQG WKHUHQRWRQO\ LVQ¶W EXW , WHOO P\VHOI with a jealous love, there cannot be. More than that²if someone succeeded in proving to me that Christ was outside the truth, and if indeed, the truth was outside Christ, I would sooner remain with Christ than with the truth. (Selected Letters 68)

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Thus, beginning with Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky EHJDQ D VHDUFK IRU WKH ³JRG-OLNH´ PDn who best represents the KXPDQGLPHQVLRQRI&KULVW¶VORYH:LWK3ULQFH0\VKNLQLQThe Idiot, Father Tikhon in The Devils, and Markel, the older brother of Father Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky worked to bring readers into his fiction even though, as a realist, he did not shy away from the grotesquery of modern life. The FRPSHOOLQJQDWXUHRI'RVWRHYVN\¶VDUWDWWUDFWHG:HVWHUQZULWHUV as they rethought the problems of modernity and decided whether to accept the religious dimension and purpose of his writing or not. $OWKRXJKPDQ\FULWLFVZKRKDYHORRNHGDW'RVWRHYVN\¶V influence on Western writers consider thematic, ideological, or religious similarities,5 the structure of a Dostoevskian novel, beginning with Notes from Underground, is far more important in its long-UDQJH LQIOXHQFH 2¶&RQQRU¶V ERUURZLQJ RI KLV structural innovations provides a key to the deconstruction and therefore the trace of political meaning in Wise Blood. 'RVWRHYVN\ GUHZ KLV PDMRU ³PRGHUQ´ FKDUDFWHUV DV shamed, almost animal-like figures who either remain in their shame or progress from shame through an action representing ³SLW\´WKDWLVDUHFRJQLWLRQRIKXPDQHTXDOLW\ZLWKUDWKHUWKDQ a condescension toward, another. For example, Notes from Underground VKRZV WKH HIIHFW RI D UHMHFWLRQ RI ³SLW\´ LQ WKH YRLFH RI WKH 8QGHUJURXQG 0DQ 7KH QDUUDWRU¶V ZKLQLQJ KDV created some of the most famous first-person descriptions of PRGHUQPDQLQOLWHUDWXUH³,DPDVLFN PDQ«DPHDQPDQ>«@, WKLQNWKHUH¶VVRPHWKLQJZURQJZLWKP\OLYHU´ 7KHVHFRQG part of the novella reveals the cause of his condition: his earlier UHMHFWLRQ RI DQ RSSRUWXQLW\ WR VKRZ ³SLW\´ WR D SURVWLWXWH ZKR understands the condition of his soul better than he. His failure WR UHFRJQL]H WKH SURVWLWXWH¶V KXPDQ HTXDOLW\ ZLWK KLP DQG WKH violent way he rejects her leaves him in the raging, confused, shameful state encountered by readers in the first part of the story.

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However, there is a third part to the story that most readers overlook: in his account about Liza, the prostitute, the Underground Man comments that he hates his manservant, who demands his wages as an issue of justice and who is a part-time chanter at Orthodox funerals (187-88). Although a very minor character, he is named Apollon, which represents the Greek god Apollo, the god of civilization, music, and light. Because of the hatred the Underground Man has for this character, he throws money at Liza, but he also imagines himself seeking her forgiveness. The presence of the character Apollon signifies the 8QGHUJURXQG0DQ¶VDZDUHQHVVRIKLVVROLGDULW\ZLWKWKH³RWKHU´ with Liza, and his acceptance, or lack thereof, of a higher order that provides a check on his own aggression. This higher order can be seen either as a divine order derived from a sense of ³SLHW\´ UHSUHVHQWHG E\ $SROORQ¶V GHPDQG IRU MXVWLFH DQG KLV service to the Church in contrast to the human order of equality, or the value of civilization itself, or both. Thus, the story contains a movement from shame to pity to piety, understood in a specific way, which serves to organize and integrate the causal connections among its parts. This focus on a particular set of emotions as an organizing feature of a story is unique to Dostoevsky. His friend Vladimir Soloviev described this triad of emotion in his book The Justification of the Good,QVWHDGRIWKH3ODWRQLF³UHDOO\UHDO´ as the starting point for moral philosophy, Soloviev uses human emotion as the basis of moral action. He creates a new way of thinking about the origins of political order. Shame, therefore, can be considered as similar to the state of nature, the animallike existence of the human being separated from others. Pity represents a state of equality with others. Since the Underground Man feels superior to Liza the prostitute, he cannot not show ³SLW\´ WR GR VR ZRXOG IRUFH KLP WR DGPLW HTXDOLW\ ZLWK KHU Piety recognizes the limitations of the self in relationship to an ³RWKHU´7KHGLYLQHRUGHUKRZHYHUXQGHUVWRRGprevents tyranny. 7KHFRPELQDWLRQRI'RVWRHYVN\¶V HPRWLRQDODWWDFKPHQW to Christ as the perfection of humanity and his use of a set of

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human emotions that trace a movement from a state of nature to D VRFLDO FRQWUDFW JXDUDQWHHG E\ ³QDWXUH DQG 1DWXUH¶V *RG´ found in Western political thinking, implies a personalist approach to the issue of freedom. This kind of approach is ODFNLQJ LQ 2¶&RQQRU EHFDXVH RI KHU GHSHQGHQFH RQ DQ adherence to the intellectual propositions of Catholic doctrine. In her narrative, she implies the Catholic understanding of natural law. Because the Church assumes that what it teaches about human nature can be understood by unaided human reason, it is everywhere and always true for everyone. A personal connection to Christ himself is unnecessary to understand the truth of the Catholic claims. The fact that the Church, as the voice of God, asserts them is proof of their truth. Therefore, any deviation from these claims about human being that arises from RQH¶V RZQ H[SHULHQFH RU EHOLHIV PDy be dangerous to the VXUYLYDORIWKHVWDWH)URP2¶&RQQRU¶VSHUVSHFWLYHZLWKRXWWKH authority of the Catholic Church, the political order would collapse into nihilism. 7KHFRQVHTXHQFHRI2¶&RQQRU¶VEHOLHIFDQEHVHHQLQKHU treatment of her Southern characters. In Wise Blood, Mrs. Flood, +D]H 0RWHV¶V ODQGODG\ LV D W\SLFDOO\ KDUG-hearted, shrewd, $PHULFDQ SUDJPDWLVW 6LPLODUO\ WKH *UDQGPRWKHU LQ ³$ *RRG 0DQ,V+DUGWR)LQG´0U6KLIOHWLQ³7KH/LIH«@, P\VHOI EHOLHYH WKLV EHFDXVH WKH +RO\ Roman Catholic & Apostolic Church WHDFKHVLW´CW 921); to Thomas Mabry ³7KH WUXWK LV P\ VWRULHV KDYH EHHQ ZDWHUHG DQG IHG E\ 'RJPD´ CW 930); and WR ³$´ ³>«@ WKH GLUHFWLRQ >P\ ZRUN@ KDV taken has been because of the Church in me or the effect of the Churches [sic] teaching, not because of a personal perception or love RI*RG´CW 944). 7 Examples of these doubles are Onnie Jay Holy, who becomes +RRYHU 6KRDWV DQG +D]H $ FKDUDFWHU DVNV +D]H ³+LP DQG \RX WZLQV"´CW 94) The question reinforces the idea of doubling. Later Solace Layfield and Haze are paired as prophets: the narrator speaks RI 6RODFH DV ³WKH RWKHU 3URSKHW´ CW 113) and states that there is a

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³UHVHPEODQFHLQFORWKHVDQGpossibly in their IDFHV´CW 114). Solace is the man Hazel runs over.

Works Cited Bakhtin, Mikhail. 3UREOHPV RI 'RVWRHYVN\¶V 3RHWLFV. ed. and trans. Caryl Emerson. Minneapolis: U Minnesota P, 1984. ³Dignitatis KXPDQDH´ >'HFODUDWLRQ RQ 5HOLJLRXV /LEHUW\@ Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. ed. Austin Flannery, O.P. Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company, 1987. The Doctrine of the Russian Church, et al. trans. Reverend R. W. Blackmore. Aberdeen: A. Brown and Co., 1845. Reprinted, Willits, CA: Eastern Orthodox Books, 1973. Dostoevsky, Feodor. The Brothers Karamazov. trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. New York: Vintage Classics, 1991. _______. Complete Letters. ed. and trans. David A. Lowe. Ann Arbor: Ardis Publishers, 1991. _______. The Devils. trans. and intro. David Magarshack. New York: Penguin Books, 1971. _______. The Idiot. trans. Constance Garnett. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. _______. Notes from Underground. trans. Andrew R. MacAndrew. in White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead. New York: Signet Classics, 1961. (90-203) _______. Selected Letters of Fyodor Dostoevsky. trans. Andrew MacAndrew. eds. Joseph Frank and David I. Goldstein. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers U P, 1987. Marks, Steven G. How Russia Shaped the Modern World: From Art to Anti-Semitism, Ballet to Bolshevism. Princeton: Princeton U P, 2003.

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Murray, John Courtney, S.J. We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. _______ and J. Leon Hooper. Religious Liberty: Catholic Struggles with Pluralism. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993. 2¶&RQQRU, Flannery. Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. Soloviev, Vladimir. The Justification of the Good: An Essay on Moral Philosophy. trans. Natalie A. Duddingham. London: Constable and Company Ltd, 1918.

Section V: Gender, Culture, and Genre

Wise Women, Wise Blood Marshall Bruce Gentry Georgia College & State University Looking at the big picture, one could make the case that nothing is fair to women: government, religion, the arts, business, and HYHQ :RPHQ¶V 6WXGLHV SURJUDPV :KLOH )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU might not like for us to say anything nice about relativism, when it comes to treating women fairly, all is relative. All human institutions fall short, but if one wants a site of genuine concern about the evils of sexism, the institution of the novel is as good a place to look as any. Of course, there is also the problem of ³$QGWKH\DOOOLYHGKDSSLO\HYHUDIWHU´,QPDQ\ZRUNVPDUULDJH is the happy ending, the happy version of death, the moment in a plot beyond which we have been trained to believe we need not go. Wise Blood clearly refuses this ending for its female characters, and I prefer to see this refusal as a benefit to its female characters rather than as a detraction. Wise Blood is, at the very least, a novel deeply concerned about unfair treatment of women, since the novel studies the ways in which women struggle mightily against the problems they face, and, more significantly, suggests the possibility that women can recover their ancient power, a power that approaches the divine. An examination of Sabbath Lily Hawks and Mrs. Flood, along with several of the lesser female characters, suggests that the wisdom of the blood alluded to in WKH QRYHO¶V WLWOH PD\ EH DQ HVVHQWLDOO\ IHPDOe characteristic of JUHDW YDOXH 6RPH UHDGHUV KDYH LQWHUSUHWHG ³ZLVH EORRG´ DV basically an ironic concept almost totally irrelevant to this QRYHO¶V ODUJHU UHOLJLRXV WKHPHV 2QH RI P\ JRDOV KHUH LV WR FODULI\WKHZD\VLQZKLFKWKHQRYHO¶VWLWOHPDNHVVHQVH. Of course there are images of women in Wise Blood that can be considered negative. Some women are old. Some women are ugly. Some women have thoughts and opinions that are untrue or unkind. But these images are to a large extent a matter

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RI2¶&RQQRU¶VDttack on southern traditions that require women to live up to surreal standards of youthful beauty, charm, and a sort of safe pleasantness. Alice Walker has praised the works of 2¶&RQQRU IRU KHU ³GHP\WKLI\LQJ VHQWHQFHV DERXW ZKLWH ZRPHQ´VD\LQJWKDWZKHQ2¶&RQQRUVWDUWHGZULWLQJDERXWZKLWH IHPDOHV LQ WKH 6RXWK VKH OHIW ³QRW D ZKLII RI PDJQROLD >«@ in WKH DLU´   $QG VXUHO\ $OLFH :DONHU LV QRW WKH RQO\ ZRPDQ who sees the benefits in what might look like an attack on ZRPHQ 3DWULFLD :@KHQWKH\VKXW>KLVEURWKHU¶V coffin], Haze ran and opened it up again. They said it was because he was heartbroken to part with his brother, but it was not; it was because he had thought, what if he had been in it and WKH\KDGVKXWLWRQKLP´CW 10). While Mrs. Hitchcock may seem to deserve satire for SDVVLYHO\DEVRUELQJ+D]HO¶VDEXVHVKHPD\DOVREHDGPLUHGIRU trying to engage him in conversation. Of course, we may think that she is ridiculous because she usHV FOLFKpV ³>7@KHUH¶V QR SODFH OLNH KRPH´ CW   ³>«@ WLPH IOLHV´ CW   DQG ³>«@ OLIH>LV@DQLQVSLUDWLRQ´CW 6). But clichés can be read as nonthreatening statements meant to establish and reinforce bonds.2 Although clichés do not work here, Mrs. Hitchcock does not give up easily: she persists in telling her story, that she too is leaving home for someplace else that she prefers, looking for a world in the future in which people are connected; Hazel, in contrast, looks forward to a future he has little sense of, based on an unchosen break from a past he wishes he could recover. The rest of the novel urges Hazel toward some of Mrs. +LWFKFRFN¶V DWWLWXGH 7KLV LV QRW WR FODLP WKDW 0UV +LWFKFRFN

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EHFRPHV WKH QRYHO¶V KHUR EXW WKDW HYHQ WKH QRYHO¶V PLQRU female characters have hidden potential. The narrator continues to adopt an attitude toward ZRPHQWKDWLVSHUKDSVHYHQPRUHQHJDWLYHWKDQ+D]HO¶V:KHQ +D]HO JRHVWRWKHGLQLQJFDUKHLVVHDWHG³ZLWKWKUHH \RXQJLVK ZRPHQ´WKDWWKHQDUUDWRUWHOOVXVDUH³GUHVVHGOLNHSDUURWV´CW 7). He proceeds to trade insults with them but does not want to look at them directly; for as long as he can, he merely stares at the neck of the woman across from him. It is the narrator who pays attention enough to satirize them through the parrot comparison. Mrs. Hitchcock also seems the butt of a joke, in an almost slapstick scene, when the passengers are entering sleeping berths²even though in this instance she is satirized for standing up for herself, in contrast to the earlier passage in which she was satirized for being passive. Going around the corner [Hazel] ran into something heavy and pink; it gasped and PXWWHUHG ³&OXPV\´ ,W ZDV 0UV Hitchcock in a pink wrapper, with her hair in knots around her head. She looked at him with her eyes nearly squinted shut. The knobs framed her face like dark toadstools. She tried to get past him and he tried to let her but they were both moving the same way each time. Her face became purplish except for little white marks over it that dLGQ¶W KHDW XS 6KH drew herself stiff and stopped and said, ³:KDW,6WKHPDWWHUZLWK\RX"´CW 8)

+HUHZHVHHWKHQDUUDWRUMRLQLQJLQZLWK+D]HO¶VQHJDWLYHYLHZ of female characters and going beyond Hazel, who presumably would not pay attention to her head sufficiently to come up with the comparison to toadstools. Such excessive malice on the part of the narrator may alert us to the need for a reconsideration of the character.

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Mrs. Leora Watts, the prostitute, who, like Mrs. Hitchcock in her wrapper, is introduced as a large woman in stereotypical pink, needs to be reconsidered as well. As Sarah *RUGRQ SRLQWV RXW +D]HO ³QHYHU VHHV KHU LQ DQ\ IXOO\ KXPDQ ZD\´   VR ZH PD\ FKRRVH WR GR WKDW ZRUN /LNH 0UV Hitchcock, Mrs. Watts stares at Hazel penetratingly (CW 17).3 $VPXFKDVVKHVHHPVWREHDUHVLGHQWRI(OLRW¶VZDVWHODQGVKH also reaches accurate conclusions about Hazel: that Hazel is laughable (CW   DQG WKDW +D]HO OLNH KLV KDW LV ³-HVXVVHHLQJ´CW 34). Hazel finally leaves Mrs. Watts becausH ³+H wanted someone he could teach something to >«@´ CW 62), and Hazel realizes that he cannot teach Mrs. Watts anything. He surely thinks she is unable to learn, but there may also be a sense in which she has virtues he lacks. Hazel had learned of Mrs. Watts from a bathroom wall that labels her friendly, and in a town that consistently disappoints Enoch Emery, Mrs. Watts is one of the few friendly people. The narrator quotes her line about not caring whether Hazel is a preacher (CW 18) in order to satirize her, but she is still quite clearly willing to accept HYHU\RQH 2QH RI WKH QRYHO¶V PRVW LURQLF OLQHV LV +D]HO¶V UKHWRULFDOTXHVWLRQ³:KDWGR,QHHGZLWK-HVXV"´DORQJZLWKKLV H[SODQDWLRQ ³, JRW /HRUD :DWWV´ CW 31); my argument here suggests we might indeed see some godly qualities in Mrs. Watts. Alongside the satire the narrator directs at her, then, we can perhaps see in Mrs. Watts some of the power²and perhaps at least a pinpoint of light²of the sort that is suggested by her name. As with Mrs. Hitchcock and Mrs. Watts, there seems to EH PXFK WR GLVOLNH DERXW +D]HO¶V PRWKHU EXW WKLV LQLWLDO impression also merits rethinking. From the start of the novel, Hazel associates his mother with a chifforobe in the kitchen, her one valuable possession, and, more significantly, with vision, weak or strong: he carries her glasses and wears them to keep from being able to read the Bible for too long at a stretch (CW   7KH QRYHO¶V RSHQLQJ FKDSWHU HQGV ZLWK D VFHQH demonstrating his identification with his mother, who is filled

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with dissatisfaction at the prospect of her own death (CW 14). Hazel will finally learn to be satisfied with his death²he is, after all, to some extent, a suicide²so he does move beyond the attitude he associates with his mother. If his mother is what Hazel rejects, must we reject her? I think not. While we might suspect that Hazel is justified in fearing her when, while talking DERXW -HVXV ³6KH KLW KLP DFURVV WKH OHJV ZLWK >D@ VWLFN >«@´ (CW 36), we might also conclude that this expression of her repressed anger is actually a rather slight one: her husband is far from a prize, and she may be remembering the lost son who wandered off to see a mowing machine, only to be cut in half (CW  +D]HO¶Vmother in the published novel, beyond a few GHWDLOV VXFK DV WKHVH LV ODUJHO\ D IXQFWLRQ RI +D]HO¶V YLHZ RI her, a view distorted by both love and fear. Robert Donahoo has made an impressive case that 2¶&RQQRU¶V GHVFULSWLRQV RI ZRPHQ¶V SOLJKWV KDYH PXFK Ln common with the picture of women presented, a decade after the publication of Wise Blood, in a major feminist text, Betty )ULHGDQ¶V The Feminine Mystique. Donahoo sees Sabbath Lily +DZNV DQG /HRUD :DWWV +D]HO¶V PRWKHU DQG 0UV )ORRG DV illustrations of )ULHGDQ¶V LGHDV²³YLFWLPV RI WKH IHPLQLQH P\VWLTXHUDWKHUWKDQYLFWLPVRIWKHDXWKRU¶VPLVRJ\Q\´ 7R VXSSOHPHQW 'RQDKRR¶V FDVH DERXW WKHVH FKDUDFWHUV¶ SOLJKWV , emphasize here what the female characters accomplish.4 A major argument against my thesis that Wise Blood is fair to women is that the novel almost turned out much fairer² that the novel before its final form seems to be fairer. Sarah Gordon and Katherine Hemple Prown have analyzed the manuscripts of Wise Blood DQG FRQFOXGHG WKDW 2¶&RQQRU¶V drafts give a larger role to women (Sabbath, especially, and also +D]HO¶V PRWKHU DQG VLVWHU DQG RWKHUV  WKDQ WKH ILQLVKHG QRYHO does. Gordon and Prown discuss the extensive back-stories 2¶&RQQRU FRQVLGHUHG IRU VHYHUDO RI WKHVH FKDUDFWHUV 7KH PDLQ implicatiRQIRU*RUGRQLVWKDW2¶&RQQRUH[SXQJHGWKHIHPLQLVW prophetic voice she once planned to give the novel (102). Prown VD\V WKDW WKH ZRPHQ RI WKH SXEOLVKHG QRYHO DUH ³UHODWLYHO\

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KDUPOHVV´ EXW WKDW WKLV TXDOLW\ UHVXOWV IURP ³WKHLU UHODWLYH unimportance to thHQDUUDWLYHDVDZKROH´ 5 It may seem obvious that Wise Blood would indeed be IDLUHUWRZRPHQLILWWROGPRUHRIWKHLUVWRULHV+D]HO¶VPRWKHULV given a maiden name of Annie Lee Jackson (file 29) and, significantly, a sexual background in some of the drafts, perhaps making her more human. But there is also plenty of evidence that points in the other direction. Some of the background information on the characters makes it more difficult to regard WKHPSRVLWLYHO\)RUH[DPSOHWKHPRWKHU¶VSRWHQWLDOEDck-story suggests a severely troubled soul who makes her problems worse: in one manuscript, she submitted to marriage to punish herself for the sin of becoming pregnant (file 29); in another draft, she has an orgasm while in bed with her son Hazel (file 91a). If some of this material had made it into the finished novel, we might have a clearer sense of why Hazel is so quick to imagine his mother in the same sort of box he had seen a naked woman in at the carnival strip show. In the published version, the moWKHU¶V TXHVWLRQ ³:KDW \RX VHHQ"´ CW 35), along with her ability to see Hazel through a tree, suggests, less troublingly, the sort of supernatural wisdom that children often attribute to mothers. Seemingly more significant is the manuscript material abouW 6DEEDWK ZKR DV *RUGRQ SXWV LW ³IRU D WLPH DW OHDVW occupied a central place in the novel and on whom a great YLVLRQDU\ EXUGHQ ZDV SODFHG´   ,Q VRPH RI WKH GUDIWV Sabbath is a prophetess who has seen God in tears (file 71a). It is suggested that sKHKDVWKHQRYHO¶VZLVHEORRGILOH $QG there is reference to a text written to describe how Jesus caused 6DEEDWK¶V UHOLJLRXV YLFWRU\ ILOH D  )DVFLQDWLQJ DV VRPH RI this abandoned manuscript material is, I believe that if 2¶&RQQRUKDGXVHGPRUHof this material in the published novel, her ultimate claims about women, though more direct, perhaps, would be less intriguing. My reason for claiming that Wise Blood became fairer to women even as it said less about them is based on a basic shift

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in how the characters regard each other. In many of the manuscripts, the basic plan is for Hazel to find his path to redemption by studying women. Reading file 71b, in which Hazel studies in some detail the facial features of Sabbath, one is struck to recall how rarely Hazel looks at women in the published novel. In the final version, as Sabbath tries to seduce +D]HO LQ WKH ZRRGV³>K@HWUDLQ>V@KLV H\HVLQWRKHUQHFN´CW  DVWUDWHJ\VLPLODUWRKLVIRFXVLQJRQDZRPDQ¶VQHFNLQWKH dining car (CW 7). He is avoiding looking at women directly. 2¶&RQQRU¶V LQWHQW DW WKH PDQXVFULSW VWDJH WR KDYH +D]HO transform himself through studying Sabbath is made explicit in a handwritten note at the end of file 141a. Such a strategy²of making women what a man studies in order to become wise² FRXOG UHGXFH WKH QRYHO¶V ZRPHQ WR SURSV DQG LQ RQH manuscript, there is a suggestion that Sabbath would need to kill herself for this plot sequence to come about believably (file 22a).6 As she revised Wise Blood2¶&RQQRUPDGHDSURIRXQd switch: while Hazel Motes is still something of a student of faces (most notably of the face of the fake blind man, Asa Hawks), Hazel typically refuses to study women and take wisdom from them. Women, on the other hand, are consistently intent upon studying the face of Hazel Motes; and, for the most part, they tend to learn from their studies. With Mrs. Flood, for example, one can claim that wise blood, in the form of female wisdom, is movingly recovered. The shift is away from studying females to create male saintliness and toward studying male VDLQWOLQHVVWRUHFUHDWHIHPDOHGLYLQLW\,GRQRWTXHVWLRQ3URZQ¶V HYLGHQFH WKDW WKH :ULWHUV¶ :RUNVKRS DW WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI ,RZD WDXJKW 2¶&RQQRUWR ZULWHOLNHDPDQ -43); I simply want to DGG WKDW 2¶&RQQRU DOVR figured out, in a surreptitious fashion, how to write like a wise woman.7 2¶&RQQRU¶VZRPHQLQWise Blood tend to be peelers. In one sense, this can be a putdown of women. The potato peeler VDOHVPDQ WHOOV (QRFK (PHU\ WR EX\ D SHHOHU ³WR NHHS KLP FRPSDQ\´CW 20), and this claim might be regarded as simple

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SUDLVH IRU D FRPPHUFLDO SURGXFW EXW WKH VDOHVPDQ¶V FRme-on also has another meaning he does not intend: the salesman is UHGXFLQJ ZRPHQ WR SHHOHUV WR WKH FRQVXPHULVW VRFLHW\¶V machines for serving men. The peeler as a concept (also VLJQLILFDQW EHFDXVH2¶&RQQRUXVHGWKHWLWOH³7KH3HHOHU´ZKHQ she published an early version of a portion of Wise Blood) is also relevant to women because, to attract men, women are regularly stripping themselves: the woman at the carnival, Mrs. Watts, the woman at the swimming pool who follows Hazel into the museum, and Sabbath. But women in Wise Blood are also peelers in the sense that they try, more consistently than men do, to peel away layers of pretense, falseness, obfuscation. Wise Blood is full of women studying Hazel, successfully penetrating some of his mystery. The womaQ DW WKH FLW\ SDUN¶V SRRO D SHHOLQJ IHPDOH ZKRP Hazel does briefly examine (CW 47), provides a particularly interesting insight. She follows Hazel to the museum and practically forces him to look at her face²SRVLWLRQHG ³RYHU´ +D]HO¶V²in the glass of the museum case that holds the mummy (CW   +D]HO¶V UHMHFWLRQ RI WKH ZRPDQ²he immediately flees²makes him resemble the shrunken man, suggesting that the woman represents possibilities that Hazel avoids at his peril: ³:KHQ+D]HVDZKHUIDFHRQWKHJODVVKLVQeck jerked back and he made a noise. It might have come from the man inside the FDVH´ CW 56). That the museum is a site where Hazel could have accessed some wisdom from women²perhaps wisdom of an ancient sort, even²is also suggested by the description of the HQWUDQFHWRWKHPXVHXP³>«@between each column there was DQ H\HOHVV VWRQH ZRPDQ´ CW 55). Whatever wisdom we find later in Mrs. Flood²who eventually tries to make herself see by EHLQJ H\HOHVV ³VWDULQJ ZLWK KHU H\HV VKXW´ CW 131)²is foreshadowed at the museum. My argument is that the feminism of the novel took on a VXEWOHU EXW PRUH HIIHFWLYH IRUP DV 2¶&RQQRU FRPSOHWHG KHU novel. The voice of Sabbath Lily Hawks only occasionally sounds religious in the published version, and some readers

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consider her totally corrupt, perhaps because she is a female. I believe, however, that Sabbath is ultimately a sympathetic character, and it is profoundly significant that the novel does not ILQLVK KHUVWRU\6KHLV DEDQGRQHGE\WKHQRYHO¶VQDUUDWRULQD sense, as if she were no longer worth troubling ourselves over, but she is also therefore freed. In the finished novel, the more seriously religious role is transferred from Sabbath to the older Mrs. Flood. And symbolically, from the landlady is finally released a flood of a matuUHZRPDQ¶VZLVHEORRG Sabbath Lily Hawks is consistently the victim of all the QRYHO¶VPHQ²her father Asa, as well as Hazel and Enoch. She is SUHPDWXUHO\ DFFXVHG RI JLYLQJ +D]HO WKH ³IDVW H\H´ CW 27), and Hazel is quick to conclude that, because she is a bastard, ³>«@KHUFDVHZDVKRSHOHVV´CW 69). Enoch ridicules her looks DIWHU VKH EHGV +D]HO ³, VHH ZK\ KH KDV WR SXW WKHWHU ZDVKUDJ over his eyes >«@´ CW   $VD¶V WUHDWPHQW RI KHU DOZD\V verges on abusiveness, as when he orders her to accept the poWDWRSHHOHUIURP+D]HO³«@DQGGR\RXNQRZ ZKDW" $ EDVWDUG VKDOO QRW HQWHU WKH NLQJGRP RI KHDYHQ´ CW 66-67). Despite all the meanness directed at her, Sabbath uses survival strategies that we can to some extent admire. She has learned that what is valued in her culture is religious talk about VLQIXO ZRPHQ DQG VR UDWKHU OLNH WKH QRYHO¶V QDUUDWRU  VKH produces such talk. Twice she tries to impress Hazel Motes with startling sermonettes²about a dead baby staring through a chimney at its evil mother (CW 28) and about a mistreated child who provokes her evil grandmother to kill her or to commit suicide (CW 69).8 One might be tempted to dismiss these speeches as VLPSO\HYLGHQFHWKDW6DEEDWKLVRQHPRUHRIWKHQRYHO¶VSKRQ\ preachers, like her father or Onnie Jay Holy. Sabbath herself can UHIHU GLVPLVVLYHO\ WR ³>S@UHDFKHU WDON´ CW 107), so we know that she knows there is a tendency toward falsity in such talk. I

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consider Sabbath no more blameworthy than that other character who preaches because there seems to be no alternative²Solace Layfield. What saves Sabbath from mere phoniness is that her sermons do probably have a personal experience²even a personal pain²behind them. In comparison to Onnie Jay Holy, ZKR JOLEO\ GHPDQGV SLW\ E\ SURFODLPLQJ ³1RW HYHQ P\ RZQ dear old mother loved me [«@´ CW 85), Sabbath is not so completely self-serving. There is evidence in the Wise Blood manuscripts that 6DEEDWK¶VVWRULHVKDYHDSHUVRQDOOHYHOWRWKHPILOHD DQG Ralph Wood has pushed to an extreme the possibility that Sabbath is in her own stories. Wood interprets the passage about the dead child staring through the chimney as suggesting that Sabbath killed her own child, perhaps the product of incest with the abusive Asa Hawks (238). Amid his speculation, Wood is FRQILGHQW WKDW 2¶&RQQRU¶V SRLQW LV WR DWWDFN ³WKH VH[XDO abandonment that would begin in the 1960s and then become a ZRUOG SDQGHPLF´ RI DERUWLRQ   6DEEDWK NQRZV WKDW WKH EDE\³KDG-HVXV´CW 28), and according to Wood, we therefore NQRZ6DEEDWKKDVD³SDLQHGFRQVFLHQFH´UHPLQGLQJKHUWKDWWKH EDE\ KDV ³OLIH WKDW LWV NLOOHUV FRXOG QRW NLOO´   7KHQ ZKHQ Sabbath tells the story of an abusive grandmother (CW 69), :RRGVSHFXODWHV³3HUKDSVWKLVDEXVHGDQGXQZDQWHGFKLOGZDV Sabbath herself, and perhaps she has perpetuated the cycle of GHVWUXFWLRQE\DERUWLQJKHURZQEDE\´ 7KHJUDQGPRWKHU who does not love hHUFKLOGLVLQIDFWPDGHVLFNE\WKHFKLOG¶V goodness, and the child drives the grandmother to murder or VXLFLGHE\WHOOLQJKHUWKDWWKHFKLOGVHHVKHU³LQ KHOO-fire, swoll DQGEXUQLQJ´CW 69). I prefer a different take on how Sabbath enters her stories. The emotional content is valid even though the details of her stories are far-IHWFKHG HYHQ WKRXJK 6DEEDWK¶V PRWKHU GLHG shortly after giving birth to her (CW 66), and even though there DUH QR GHWDLOV DYDLODEOH DERXW 6DEEDWK¶V JUDQGPRWKHU :KDW strikes PH DV JHQXLQH LV WKDW OLNH WKH FKLOGUHQ LQ 6DEEDWK¶V stories, she obviously feels abandoned, ignored, unloved²and

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Wise Blood consistently justifies those feelings. Sabbath tells her tales to try to get somebody to pay attention to her, and, like the chilG³ORFNHGXSLQ DFKLFNHQFUDWH´CW 69), she clearly feels desperate enough to use meanness on others.9 Her sense of desperation seems justified when one notices how little Hazel UHDFWVWRKHUWDOHRIWKHHYLOJUDQGPRWKHU$QG6DEEDWK¶VVHQVH that she is unloved becomes especially poignant when one considers the moral she draws from her tale of the dead baby KDQJLQJLQDFKLPQH\WKDW³JRRGORRNV´DUHLQVXIILFLHQW²they ³DLQ¶W HQRXJK´ CW 29). Sabbath surely feels that she is ugly and that, even if she were not ugly, no amount of comeliness would be enough to make anyone love her. Despite all her pain, Sabbath is possessed of an energetic personality, an impressive life force, a sense of humor²all of which have been ignored by critics as thoroughly as they are ignored by Hazel. Sabbath notes her invisibility: when she FOLPEVIURPWKHEDFNRI+D]HO¶VFDUZKHUH she has been hiding, VKHVD\V³,EHHQKHUHDOOWKHWLPH >«@DQG\RXQHYHUNQRZQLW´ (CW 66). She speaks with a tone more inviting than complaining. At several points, against the odds, Sabbath seems ORYLQJ6KHOLNHV+D]HO¶V H\HV CW 61, 95), there is more than manipulation in her intentions when she claims that she can ³VDYH´+D]HOEHFDXVH³,JRWDFKXUFKLQP\KHDUWZKHUH-HVXVLV .LQJ´CW  DQGHYHQLQWKHQRYHO¶VILQDOSDJHVDV6DEEDWK is dismissed once more, there are things to be said on her behalf. $IWHU+D]HO¶VVHOI-blinding, the narrator tells us, looking WKURXJK 0UV )ORRG¶V H\HV WKDW 6DEEDWK GHYHORSV ³WKH GLVSRVLWLRQ RI D \HOORZ MDFNHW´ CW 121). Has Sabbath proven WKDWVKHLV GHVSLFDEOHPHUHO\WKH³KDUS\´0UV )ORRG FDOOVKHU (CW 121), according to the novel as a whole? I think not. She is desperate, yes, trying still to get something out of Hazel, whom she has concluded²I think accurately²LV ³KRQHVW-to--HVXV´ (CW 121), and Hazel himself assures us that what Sabbath wants from him is not money (CW 121). There is room to speculate about what Sabbath might want from the blind Hazel.

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7KH QRYHO¶V ILQDO ZRUGV DERXW 6DEEDWK DUH WKDW 0UV )ORRG LV FRQVLGHULQJ SXWWLQJ KHU LQWR ³D GHWHQWLRQ KRPH´ CW 121). Where does this leave Sabbath? She has not yet reached the sweet age of sixteen, but she has energy and good street sense. And I would also attribute to her the ability to love. Consider the moment when she receives the museum mummy. Even before she tries to use the mummy to declare herself an Eve/Mary figure who is bonded to Hazel, she has an interesting UHVSRQVHWRWKHPXPP\LWVHOI³6KHPLJKWKDYHVDWWKHUHIRUWHQ minutes, without a thought, held by whatever it was that was familiar about him. She had never known anyone who looked like him before, but there was something in him of everyone she had ever known, as if they had all been rolled into one person DQGNLOOHGDQGVKUXQNDQGGULHG´CW 104). This scene is often interpreted as an indication of her blindness, her failure to see corruption; I recommend that we consider instead the wealth of evidence that Sabbath recognizes fully how very corrupt her world is. When she refers to ³HYHU\RQH VKH KDV HYHU NQRZQ´ EHLQJ ³UROOHG LQWR RQH SHUVRQ´ EHIRUH EHLQJ ³NLOOHG´ VKH KDV HYHU\ UHDVRQ WR UHDct with revengeful glee²to treat it the way Hazel soon will, by slamming it against a wall. Instead, she reacts with a startlingly SRVLWLYHIHHOLQJ³µ:HOO,GHFODUH¶VKHPXUPXUHGµ\RX¶UHULJKW FXWHDLQ¶W\RX"¶´CW 104). This may not quite reach the level RI FRPSDVVLRQDWH ZLVGRP H[KLELWHG E\ WKH JUDQGPRWKHU LQ ³$ *RRG0DQ,V+DUGWR)LQG´ZKHQVKHUHDFKHVRXWWR7KH0LVILW EXW ZKHQ 6DEEDWK WHOOV +D]HO ³, PLJKW KDYH IL[HG KLP´ CW   IROORZLQJ +D]HO¶V YLROHQFH DJDLQVW WKH PXPP\ ZH VHH that she still has hope about the possibility of connecting with an adult she can treat as a child. $ NH\ SRLQW DERXW 6DEEDWK LV WKDW 2¶&RQQRU GRHV QRW KDYH WKH QRYHO JLYH D ILQDO HQGLQJ WR 6DEEDWK¶V VWRU\ 6KH remains alive and free, ready to restart her life. The negative impression we are given about her in her final paragraphs may EH DWWULEXWHG LQ SDUW WR WKH QDUUDWRU¶V ELDV LQ SDUW WR ZKDW ZLOO become clear later: that Mrs. Flood sees her as a rival who must

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be dismissed so that Mrs. Flood can continue the complex, mysterious work she needs to do. The most deeply significant female character in Wise Blood other than Sabbath is Mrs. Flood, and my argument is that she may experience an even more believable redemption than does Hazel Motes. Certainly, she first appears in the novel as a rather ordinary and corrupt human being, mercenary and selfish. But as she studies the mystery represented by Hazel Motes, she overcomes her limitations, embarks on a spiritual voyage, and reaches out with love toward another human being. Perhaps PRUHVLJQLILFDQWO\VKHLVWKHQRYHO¶VPRVWVLJQLILFDQWILJXUHIRU the audience of the novel, so that the reader of Wise Blood is being taught to experience what she experiences, to identify with her more than with Hazel. I believe that one meaning of 0UV)ORRG¶VQDPHLVWKDWVKHXQOHDVKHVDIORRG²at least for the reader²RI WKH ZLVH EORRG UHIHUUHG WR LQ WKH QRYHO¶V WLWOH Without claiming a specific source or influence, I would like to SRLQWRXWWKHSRVVLELOLW\WKDW2¶&RQQRUFRXOGKDYHEHHQ aware, however vaguely, of the tradition of the Great Mother, in which WKH SKUDVH ³ZLVH EORRG´ ZRXOG OLNHO\ UHIHU WR WKH PHQVWUXDO blood of female divinities (Barbara Walker 636).10 It should be noted that feminist critics have disagreed about the presencH RI D GLYLQH IHPDOH SULQFLSOH LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V works. Louise Westling, after surveying the power of female divinity through history (159-  FRQFOXGHV WKDW 2¶&RQQRU ³SUREDEO\ZDVQRW>«@IDPLOLDUZLWKWKHH[WHQVLYHKLVWRU\RIWKH *UHDW 0RWKHU¶V ZRUVKLS DV >Westling describes it], because much of the archeological evidence has been discovered and SXEOLFL]HG LQ WKH \HDUV VLQFH KHU GHDWK´   :HVWOLQJ VHHV 2¶&RQQRU W\SLFDOO\ SXQLVKLQJ KHU IHPDOH FKDUDFWHUV ³ZLWK D finality which restores a balance with the dominant values of the ZRUOG LQ ZKLFK ZH DOO PXVW OLYH´   LQ RWKHU ZRUGV 2¶&RQQRUDOZD\VHYHQWXDOO\DOOLHVKHUVHOIZLWKWKHSDWULDUFK\ 2Q WKH RWKHU KDQG LQ &\QWKLD 6HHO¶V UHFHQW DUFKHW\SDO UHDGLQJ RI 2¶&RQQRU ³2¶&RQQRU¶V FKDUDFWHUV >«@ recover femLQLQH SRWHQWLDO DV WKH\ XQGHUJR WULDOV´   $IWHU FLWLQJ

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:HVWOLQJ¶VYLHZV6HHOFRXQWHUVWKDW³>«@the feminine principle LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V ILFWLRQ H[LVWV DV D WUDQVFHQGHQW SRVLWLYH IRUFH >«@´ 0\LQFOLQDWLRQLVWRDUJXHWKDW2¶&RQQRU¶VSXEOLVKHG texts support the sort of reading Seel has produced, despite what ZH PLJKW VXVSHFW WKDW 2¶&RQQRU KHUVHOI DV DQ RUWKRGR[ &DWKROLFZRXOGSUREDEO\VD\DERXWVXFKUHDGLQJV$V2¶&RQQRU worked out for herself the question of what it might mean to become a female writer, she surely was asking herself what the ideal status of women within religion might become. 7KHUH DUH HDUO\ KLQWV RI 0UV )ORRG¶V FRQQHFWLRQ WR ancient wisdom. Although Mrs. Flood is introduced by the QDUUDWRUDV³UHVHPEOLQJWKHPRSVKHFDUULHGXSVLGH-GRZQ´CW 60), we have seen another comparison to a mop a few pages earlier: the owl that Hazel takes very seriously at the zoo is also GHVFULEHGDVORRNLQJ³OLNHDSLHFHRIPRS´CW 54). Beneath the satire here, we may be reminded of classical associations of owls with divine females²the most famous being Athena. Other details possibly worth rethinking are those about Mrs. )ORRG¶VKHDGVKHKDV³DQRVHWKDWKDGEHHQFDOOHG*UHFLDQ´DQG ³KDLUFOXVWHUHGOLNHJUDSHV´CW 124). Perhaps we should recall the stone women of the classical park museum (CW 55) and see in Mrs. Flood a new version of the female who is more impressive when she is blind. A passage about Enoch comes close to describing wise blood as female: >«@KHZDVFHUWDLQZKHQKHZRNHXSWKDW today was the day he was going to know on. His blood was rushing around like a woman who cleans up the house after the company has come, and he was surly and rebellious. When he realized that today was the day, he decided not to get up. He GLGQ¶W ZDQW WR MXVWLI\ KLV GDGG\¶s blood, KHGLGQ¶WZDQWWREHDOZD\VKDYLQJWRGR something that something else wanted

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KLPWRGRWKDWKHGLGQ¶WNQRZZKDWLWZDV and that was always dangerous. Naturally, his blood was not going to put up with any attitude like this. He was at the zoo by nine-thirty, only a half-hour later than he was supposed to be. All morning his mind was not on the gate he was supposed to guard but was chasing around after his blood, like a boy with a mop and a bucket, beating something here and sloshing down VRPHWKLQJ WKHUH ZLWKRXW D VHFRQG¶V UHVW (CW 76)

Whereas Enoch associates his wise blood with his father, that is D PLVXQGHUVWDQGLQJ RQ (QRFK¶V SDUW ,W PDNHV PRUH VHQVH KHUH to associate his wise blood, that supervisor of mopping, with the SRZHU RI IHPDOH DXWKRULW\ 2¶&RQQRU¶V LPDJHU\ VXJJHVWV WKDW the divine female has been reduced in modern times to the status of a cleaning lady, but the cleaning lady is ready for a SURPRWLRQ0UV)ORRGLVGHVFULEHGDVDFWLQJ³DVLIVKHKDGRQFH owned the HDUWK DQG EHHQ GLVSRVVHVVHG RI LW´ CW 120)²and this is usually taken as merely a sarcastic comment by a narrator intent on diagnosing her pretension. But might not the idea that she once owned the earth be a clue to a mythic reading in which we take Mrs. Flood more seriously? Surely the surname Flood implies a connection to ancient myths about floods. As Hazel is blinding himself²with a bucket of water IURP 0UV )ORRG¶V KRXVH ZDWHU WR ZKLFK KH DGGV TXLFNOLPH² 0UV )ORRG WKLQNV ZH DUH WROG WKDW ³6KH ZDs not religious or PRUELG IRU ZKLFK HYHU\ GD\ VKH WKDQNHG KHU VWDUV´ CW 119). And yet she does become morbid, and the stars that she imagines will indeed make her religious. That her morbidity comes to her as a surprise is made apparent at the beginning of WKHQH[WDQGILQDO FKDSWHU³>«@VKHGLGQ¶WOLNHWRORRNDWWKH PHVV KH KDG PDGH LQ KLV H\H VRFNHWV $W OHDVW VKH GLGQ¶W WKLQN VKH GLG ,I VKH GLGQ¶W NHHS KHU PLQG JRLQJ RQ VRPHWKLQJ HOVH

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when he was near her, she would find herself leaning forward, staring into his face as if she expected to see something she KDGQ¶WVHHQEHIRUH´CW 120). Mrs. Flood, a static character to some readers, actually goes through profound development. She may never stop worrying about money, putting things into terms stemming from feeling cheated of it²a trait that allows the narrator to satirize her throughout²but she learns to be genuinely interested in Hazel and then even to love him. What becomes love clearly VWDUWV DV VRPHWKLQJ HOVH ³6KH WKRXJKW RI EHQHILWV WKDW PLJKt DFFUXHWRKLVZLGRZVKRXOGKHOHDYHRQH´CW 124). And even without hoping for his death, she thinks for a while that she FRXOG EHQHILW IURP PDUU\LQJ KLP EHFDXVH VKH FRXOG ³KDYH KLP FRPPLWWHGWRWKHVWDWHLQVWLWXWLRQIRUWKHLQVDQH´CW 127). But a more FRPSDVVLRQDWHDOWHUQDWLYHWDNHVRYHU³>«@gradually her plan had become to marry him and keep him. Watching his face had become a habit with her; she wanted to penetrate the GDUNQHVV EHKLQG LW DQG VHH IRU KHUVHOI ZKDW ZDV WKHUH´ CW 127). Consequently, by the time she pronounces her understated, very practical-sounding proposal²³>«@ WKHUH¶V RQO\ RQH WKLQJ IRU \RX DQGPHWR GR*HW PDUULHG , ZRXOGQ¶W GRLWXQGHU DQ\ ordinary condition but I would do it for a blind man and a sick RQH´CW 128)²her practical tone is hiding her truest, deepest feeling. Like Sabbath talking about the church in her heart, Mrs. Flood means it, and hopes love will bloom, when she declares KHUIHHOLQJ³µ,JRWDSODFHIRU\RXLQP\KHDUW0U0RWHV¶VKH said and felt it shaking OLNHDELUGFDJHVKHGLGQ¶WNQRZZKHWKHU KH ZDV FRPLQJ WRZDUG KHU WR HPEUDFH KHU RU QRW´ CW 129). Like Sabbath, she mixes her statements of love with harsher statements, but the harsh comments are those of self-defense. Her true feeling is in her tears at night, and even the narrator VHHPVIRUFHGWRDGPLWWKDW³6KHZDQWHGWRUXQRXWLQWRWKHUDLQ and cold and hunt him and find him huddled in some halfsheltered place and bring him back and say, Mr. Motes, Mr. Motes, you can stay here forever, or the two of us will go where

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\RX¶UHJRLQJWKHWZRRIXVZLOOJR´CW 129-30). When Hazel is returned by the police, she adds a similarly sincere expression RI IHHOLQJ UHLQIRUFHG E\ KHU WDNLQJ +D]HO¶V KDQG ³µ, NQHZ \RX¶G FRPH EDFN¶ VKH VDLG µ$QG ,¶YH EHHQ ZDLWLQg for you. $QG\RXQHHGQ¶WWRSD\DQ\PRUHUHQWEXWKDYHLWIUHHKHUHDQ\ way you like, upstairs or down. Just however you want it and with me to wait on you, or if you want to go on somewhere, ZH¶OOERWKJR´CW 131). %\WKHQRYHO¶VILQDOOLQH0UV)lood, through her study RI+D]HO¶VIDFHZLWK³>W@KHRXWOLQHRIDVNXOO>...] plain under his VNLQ´DQG³EXUQHGH\HVRFNHWV>«@OHDG>LQJ@LQWRWKHGDUNWXQQHO ZKHUH KH KDG GLVDSSHDUHG´ CW 131), is creating her own religious sense, recreating her divinity with its ancient basis, GHVSLWH +D]HO¶V ORQJ-term, uncompassionate inattention toward DQ\RQHRWKHUWKDQKLPVHOI0UV)ORRGIHHOVDVLIVKHLV³EORFNHG DW WKH HQWUDQFH´ XQDEOH WR ³EHJLQ´ CW 131), but these sentiments are the distortions of the intellect. Mrs. Flood knows without knowing she knows; the reader of the novel may achieve an understanding of wise blood that is more thorough than any of the characters ever achieves within the novel. Wise Blood ends with an image of the essential tie between wise blood and female attributes that transcend intellect. While Donahoo has written that Wise Blood ³UHIXVHVWR SURMHFW DQ\ SRVLWLYH RXWFRPH WR 0UV )ORRG¶V GHFLVLRQ´ WR FKRRVH ³VHOI-KRRG UHOLDQW RQ +D]H´    , EHOLHYH WKDW 0UV )ORRGWUDQVFHQGV+D]HOZKR³UXGHO\´WHOOVKHU³Odin] stole >«@ µZLVH EORRG¶ from [a] cauldron >«@in the keeping of the Earth-goddess >«@´DQG LQDQRWKHUP\WK³>«@Odin gave up one of his eyes for the privilege RI GULQNLQJ IURP WKH IHPLQLQH )RXQW RI :LVGRP >«@´ %DUEDUD Walker 735).

Works Cited %DURXQLV &\QWKLD ³5HDGLQJ 7KURXJK 6SHFWDFOHV  )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRUDQGWKH3ROLWLFV RI'UDJ´)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU Review 5 (2007): 99-118. 'DQLHO 6FRWW ³*HQGHU-Bending Innuendo and Mystical 7KHRORJ\ LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood´ Flannery 2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ 4 (2006): 110-21. 'RQDKRR5REHUW³2¶&RQQRUDQGThe Feminine Mystiqueµ7KH /LPLWDWLRQV 7KDW 5HDOLW\ ,PSRVHG¶´ LQ ³2Q WKH 6XEMHFW RIWKH)HPLQLVW%XVLQHVV´5H-reading Flannery 2¶&RQQRU. ed. Teresa Caruso. New York: Peter Lang, 2004. (9-28) Gordon, Sarah. )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU7KH2EHGLHQW,PDJLQDWLRQ. Athens: U Georgia P, 2000.

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+DUULV&DUROH.³7KH(FKRLQJ$IWHUOLIHRI&OLFKpVLQ)ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU¶V µ*RRG &RXQWU\ 3HRSOH¶´ Flannery 2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ 5 (2007): 56-66. 0DUWLQ 0DUFHOLQD 3KRWRJUDSKV IHDWXULQJ 2¶&RQQRU IDPLO\¶V ³NLGGLHFRRS´$/LWHUDU\*XLGHWR)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶V Georgia. by Sarah Gordon, Craig Amason, and Marcelina Martin. Athens: U Georgia P, 2008. 6, 8. 2¶&RQQRU)ODQQHU\. Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. _______. Unpublished manuscripts of Wise Blood. Flannery 2¶&RQQRU &ROOHFWLRQ *HRUJLD &ROOHJH  6WDWH 8QLYHUVLW\ Milledgeville, GA. Prown, Katherine Hemple. Revising )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU 6RXWKHUQ /LWHUDU\ &ulture and the Problem of Female Authorship. Charlottesville: U P Virginia, 2001. 5RELOODUG'RXJODV-U³7KH0\VWHU\RI&KLOGUHQ¶V6XIIHULQJLQ Wise Blood and A Memoir of Mary Ann´ Flannery 2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ7 (2009): 69-77. Seel, Cynthia L. Ritual Performance in the Fiction of Flannery 2¶&RQQRU. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2001. 6ULJOH\6XVDQ³0RUDO 9LVLRQDQGWKH*URWHVTXH Wise Blood´ in )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU¶V Sacramental Art. Notre Dame: U Notre Dame P, 2004. (55-89) _______ ³3HQDQFH DQG /RYH LQ Wise Blood: Seeing 5HGHPSWLRQ"´)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ 7 (2009): 94100. 7KLPPH -DQH ³3KRWRJUDSKV IURP WKH 2¶&RQQRU &KLOGKRRG +RPH LQ 6DYDQQDK´ )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU 5HYLHZ 5 (2007): 82-88. :DONHU $OLFH ³%H\RQG WKH 3HDFRFN 7KH 5HFRQVWUXFWLRQ RI Flannery 2¶&RQQRU´ LQ In 6HDUFK RI 2XU 0RWKHUV¶ Gardens: Womanist Prose. New York: Harcourt, 1983. (42-59) Walker, Barbara G. 7KH :RPDQ¶V (QF\FORSHGLD RI 0\WKV DQG Secrets. New York:HarperCollins, 1983.

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Westling, Louise. Sacred Groves and Ravaged Gardens: The Fiction of Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, and )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU. Athens: U Georgia P, 1985. Wood, Ralph C. )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU DQG WKH &KULVW-Haunted South. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004. LQJ@WKHUDYDJHVRIRXUWLPHV´DQGUHVWRULQJIDLWK in humanist ideals (CW   ³,Q WKH QDPH RI VRFLDO RUGHU liberal tKRXJKW DQG VRPHWLPHV HYHQ &KULVWLDQLW\´ VKH FRPSODLQV³WKHQRYHOLVWLVDVNHGWREHWKHKDQGPDLGRIKLVDJH´ In her view, the writer who accepts this role feeds a dangerous habit by eliding narrative gaps or mysteries, in the belief that offering ease of comprehension and speed of resolution more accurately captures the spirit of progress for the reader. This GHILQHVWRKHUD³FXVWRPDU\NLQGRIUHDOLVP´ZKLFKWDNHVDVLWV SULQFLSOH ³WKH YLHZ WKDW WKH LOOV DQG P\VWHULHV RI OLIH ZLOO eventually fall befRUHWKHVFLHQWLILFDGYDQFHVRIPDQ´CW 815). She condemns the form for having evolved so closely in alignment with the ideals of progress and materialism, that, despite its ostensibly redemptive mission, it was complicit in the very kind of thinking that OHGWRWKHZDUDQGLWVDWURFLWLHV³>$@ OLWHUDWXUHZKLFKPLUURUVVRFLHW\ZRXOGEHQRILWJXLGHIRULW´VKH writes, as it only helps sanctify a passive (hence valueless) morality (CW 819). 5HDGHUV¶ GHPDQG IRU WKH HFRQRP\ RI ³WKH UHGHPSWLYH DFW´ LQ UHDOLVWLF QDUUDWLYH 2¶&RQQRU DUJXHV VKRZV WKDW WKH\ KDYH³IRUJRWWHQWKHFRVWRILW´CW  2¶&RQQRUPD\DVZHOO KDYHVDLG ³5HDOLVP LV WKHRSLXPRIWKHSHRSOH´DV KHUDUWLVWLF PDQGDWH LV WR ZDNH WKH ³WLUHG´ SRVWZDU UHDGHU IURP WZR connected aspects of false consciousness. The first of these is a distorted moral sense that either misunderstands the meaning of redemption or that has forgotten its cost, and the second is a distorted aesthetic sense, which demands both verisimilitude and XQLW\ ERWK ³DQ DFFXUDWH reproduction of the things that most immediately concern man, with the natural forces that he feels FRQWUROKLVGHVWLQ\´CW  DQG³WREHWUDQVSRUWHGLQVWDQWO\ HLWKHU WR D PRFN GDPQDWLRQ RU D PRFN LQQRFHQFH´ CW 820). The shared root of these faults is a reductive and passive belief in the inevitability of progress and the value of efficiency.

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2¶&RQQRU¶V DOWHUQDWLYH WR FXVWRPDU\ UHDOLVP²her ³UHDOLV>P@RIGLVWDQFHV´CW 817)²is opposed to literary forms that obscure the artifice behind the metaphors of progressive logic, thereby contributing to the dissipation of ethical thought and a rigidity in moral behaviors. For her, the postwar American ZULWHU¶VHWKLFDOLPSHUDWLYHZDVWRPDNHUHDGHUVUHDGFULWLFDOO\² DQG VKH GLGQ¶W PHDQ MXGJPHQWDOO\ 6KH GHVFULEHV her own literary method as working by violence to expose the violent DUWLILFH RI ³QDWXUDOL]HG´ EHOLHIV LQ SURJUHVV HVSHFLDOO\  ³7KH novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile DXGLHQFH´ CW   :KDW LV ³JURWHVTXH´ LQ KHU ZRUN LV DQ attempt to alter the altered state of redemptive fiction back into harmony with the mystery to which it is morally responsible. , SURSRVH WKDW 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood is a war novel written in the vein of a realism of distances. It explores how to begin again after the violence of the war shattered confidence in humanism as an ideal of rationality and morality. It works most directly, however, through criticism of the customs of realistic representation. I focus my reading primarily on two sins of customary realisP DQG WKH WHFKQLTXHV ZLWK ZKLFK 2¶&RQQRU counters them. The first target of her criticism is the structural emphasis on comprehension, by which I mean both understanding and totality, or the presumed relationship between the two, and the inevitable progress of modern life toward them. )RU 2¶&RQQRU WKH SDWK D QRYHO WDNHV WR GHOLYHU LQVWDQWDQHRXV UHGHPSWLRQ ZKLOH UHIOHFWLQJ WKH ³VFLHQWLILF DGYDQFHV RI PDQ´ (815) communicates a mistaken view that man is perfectible on earth, which runs exactly counter to her Catholicism. In her ³1RWH WR WKH 6HFRQG (GLWLRQ´ RI Wise Blood 2¶&RQQRU emphasizes not comprehension but integrity: the latter makes a virtue of failure, an ethical completeness in incompleteness (CW 1265).

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The second attack she levels is against the conviction that the moral effect of literature is evoked through sympathy or empathy²RU D OLPLWHG XQGHUVWDQGLQJ WKHUHRI 2¶&RQQRU ULGLFXOHV WKH SRVWZDU UHDGHU¶V GHPDQG IRU ³FRPSDVVLRQ´ because in its unquestioned form, it amounts to nothing better than quietism: ,W¶VFRQVLGHUHGDQDEVROXWHQHFHVVLW\WKHVH days for writers to have compassion. Compassion is a word that sounds good in DQ\ERG\¶V PRXWK DQG ZKLFK QR ERRN jacket can do without. It is a quality which no one can put his finger on in any exact critical sense, so it is always safe for anybody to use. Usually I think what is meant by it is that the writer excuses all human weakness because human weakness is human. (CW 817)

2¶&RQQRU UDUHO\ LI HYHU JLYHV XV FKDUDFWHUV IRU ZKRP ZH DUH supposed to have compassion, in the contested sense. In fact, as Thomas Schaub has argued, the most sympathetic characters in 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN²WKRVH ZKR DSSHDU PRVW ³QRUPDO´ WR D liberally progressive audience²are often the targets of the ironic and violent reversals that dominate her fiction (Schaub 123). She uses Hazel Motes much as Kurt Vonnegut does Billy 3LOJULP LQ KLV ³ZDU QRYHO´ Slaughterhouse-Five: while we compassionately understand why Billy adopts the 7UDOIDPDGRULDQ SKLORVRSK\ ³VR LW JRHV´ ZH PXVW GUDZ EDFk IURP WKDW V\PSDWK\ DQG PHDVXUH RXUVHOYHV E\ WKH ³IDLOXUH´ RI ³.XUW 9RQQHJXW´ ZKR EHFDPH D ³SLOODU RI VDOW´ DV KH ZURWH LW (Vonnegut 22). Wise Blood is a war novel not because it is about armed conflict, but because it exposes²in terms made imperative by the circumstances of the war²the unethical violence done by ³FXVWRPDU\´ UHDOLVWV DV IDOVH SURSKHWV RI UHGHPSWLRQ ,Q Wise Blood, war veteran Hazel Motes returns to Tennessee to find

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that nothing remains of his home or town but ruins. He takes a train to the city of Taulkinham, where he becomes angrily obsessed with a blind preacher named Asa Hawks. Although everyone thinks on sight that Haze is also a preacher, and although he grew up in a strictly fundamentalist family, he vehemently disavows his past Christian beliefs. In his displaced state, the only thing Haze seems to know for sure is that he wants redemption from the idea of redemption. He founds the Church Without Christ, a realist religion he struggles throughout the novel to define. But his struggle is exacerbated by the fact that its content is easily perverted by a con-man who spins off the Church of Christ :LWKRXW &KULVW WR FDSLWDOL]H RQ +D]HO¶V idea. Dubbing the spin-RII UHOLJLRQ ³XS-to-GDWH´ DQG employing a double of Hazel for a prophet/profit, the con-man is WKH YHU\ PRGHO RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V FXVWRPDU\ UHDOLVW +H FDOOV himself an artist, and understands that his power lies in delivering a moral system that appears to be both made-to-order and linked to a transcendent truth²WKDWLVERWK³RI&KULVW´DQG ³ZLWKRXW &KULVW´ RIIHULQJ UHGHPSWLRQ ZLWKRXW FRVW :KLOH +D]HO¶VHYHQWXDOPXUGHURIKLVGRXEOHDSSHDUVWREHDPLVJXLGHG act of violence against the realities of his time, I treat it instead as a condemnation of narratives that promise deliverance through the ostensibly real. The Problems with Progress and Sympathy 2¶&RQQRU¶V GLUHFW REMHFW RI FULWLFLVP LV QRW ³SURJUHVV´ itself, but the habits of understanding that lead people to accept it unquestioningly as the organizing principle of life and the world. In this critical aspect, she is in fact aligned with the science of her time. In the years following World War II, science theorists also began publishing correctives to the popular misunderstanding of progress, and they, too, attributed WKLVPLVXQGHUVWDQGLQJWRQDUUDWLYHFXVWRPV7KRPDV.XKQ¶VThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions, with its revolutionary

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suggestion that scientific progress had a nuanced rather than strictly linear history, reached the public in 1962 (although he had begun the project in 1947). In it, he blames erroneous assumptions about scientific development on how they are received; science, as disseminated through textbooks and classes, is lent the familiar narrative structure of linear GHYHORSPHQW E\ WKRVH IRUPV ZKLFK DUHQ¶W GHVLJQHG WR FRQYH\ the paradigm shifts of which he argues the history of science UHDOO\ FRQVLVWV 1RUEHUW :LHQHU¶V The Human Use of Human Beings SXEOLVKHG LQ  WR DQVZHU D ³GHPDQG´ WKDW KH PDNH the ideas of his 1948 Cybernetics ³DFFHSWDEOHWRWKHOD\SXEOLF´   OLNHZLVH ILJXUHV VFLHQWLILF GHYHORSPHQW DV ³SUREDELOLVWLF´ UDWKHU WKDQ LQH[RUDEOH DQG OLQNV WKH ³DYHUDJH $PHULFDQ´ misunderstanding of this fact to a habit of associating all stories of development with the winning of the West (43). For Wiener in particular, the ethical questions posed by scientific development are not prompted by any danger inherent to the technology, but by the widespread and habitual misreading of progress, presumably by the very people reading KLVERRN³,WLVSRVVLEOH´KHLQVWUXFWV³WREHOLHYHLQSURJUHVVDV a fact without believing in progress as an ethical principle, but in WKHFDWHFKLVPRIPDQ\$PHULFDQVWKHRQHJRHVZLWKWKHRWKHU´ (42). He warns that more than misunderstanding is at stake: the ³FRPIRUWDEOH SDVVLYH EHOLHI LQ SURJUHVV´ UHVXOWV LQ DQ RYHUvaluation of efficiency, which LQIDFWFRUUHVSRQGVEHWWHUWR³WKH DVSLUDWLRQ RI WKH IDVFLVW IRU D KXPDQ VWDWH´   DQG OHDGV WR ³DFTXLHVFHQFHDQG>«@ZHDNQHVV´ E\HQFRXUDJLQJULJLGLW\ in human behavior. Wiener knows his audience and uses its own values against it: he enumerates in detail the religions to which the belief in progress is antithetical, and in no uncertain terms FRPSDUHV WKH EHOLHYHU LQ SURJUHVV ZLWK ³WKH &RPPXQLVW´ 43). ,I WKH ³SRSXODUL]LQJ´ RI VFLHQFH VLQFH WKH ZDU IRU example, by Richard Feynman, Lewis Thomas, or Steven Jay Gould) produced less evidence of deterministic progress than iterations of particularities, contingencies, and random

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GLVFRYHULHV 2¶&RQQRU DW OHDVW IRXQG WKH LQIOXHQFH RI WKH unholy catechism of progress on literature both artistically homogenizing and morally disastrous. Situating her within this uncomfortable mix of parental and patronizing concern over the average American soul, Steven Wiesenburger helpfully calls 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN ODWH-modernist: she maintains faith in formalism and disgust for the taint of mass culture, but betrays a FRQYLFWLRQLQWKHDUWLVW¶VPRUDODQGVRFLDOUHVSRQVLELOLW\,QRWKHU words, she is less like the Eliot of The Waste Land than the Eliot RI ³)RXU 4XDUWHWV´ Wise Blood LV LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZD\ D politically engaged novel. That is, although it barely addresses in content the political issues of the war and its aftermath, it betrays a commitment to reinvigorating the politically pedagogical function of the novel in the United States. This LPSXOVH LV IRU 2¶&RQQRU, directly inspired by the events and effects of the war: she felt it would be morally disastrous to let people persist in their habitual relationship to literature after the war exposed the moral flaws in those habits. ,Q³7KH/LWHUDWXUHRI5HSOHQLVKPHQW´-RKQ%DUWKFODLPV that his artistic soul was saved when he realized that PRGHUQLVP¶VHPSKDVLVRQGLIILFXOW\ZKLFKKLVRZQILFWLRQKDG HPEUDFHG  KDG FRPH WRR PXFK DW WKH ³H[SHQVH RI GHPRFUDWLF DFFHVV´   +H ZULWHV ³0\ LGHDO SRVWPRGHUQLVW DXWKRU >«@ has the first half of our century under his belt, but not on his EDFN :LWKRXW ODSVLQJ LQWR PRUDO RU DUWLVWLF VLPSOLVP >«@ KH nevertheless aspires to a fiction more democratic in its appeal WKDQ >«@ ODWH-PRGHUQLVW PDUYHOV´  HPSKDVLV PLQH  %DUWK suggests that this democratic appeal is especially required of the QRYHO D JHQUH ZKRVH ³KLVWRULFDO URRWV DUH IDPRXVO\ DQG honorably in middle-FODVVSRSXODUFXOWXUH´ $WOHDVWLQWKH United States, that is, where the novel is traditionally linked to political democracy both by historical coincidence of birth (of the genre and nation) and by function: as Cathy N. Davidson argues, the genre did much to increase literacy in the young nation, effecting a kind of revolution even for those not enfranchised by the political one (Davidson vii).

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2¶&RQQRUOLNH%DUWKDFNQRZOHGJHVDNLQGRIREOLJDWLRQ WR JLYH XS WKH ³PRGHUQLVW PDUYHO´ LQ RUGHU WR PDNH D PRUH ³GHPRFUDWLF DSSHDO´ 6KH EHJUXGJLQJO\ DFFHSWV WKH QHHG WR please the audience, while refusing to give them exactly what they want. In more than one essay, she recounts her vision of the ³WLUHG´SRVWZDUUHDGHU >«@ , RQFH UHFHLYHG D OHWWHU IURP DQ ROG lady in California who informed me that when the tired reader comes home at night, he wishes to read something that will lift up his heart. And it seems her heart had not been lifted up by anything of mine she had read. I think that if her heart had been in the right place, it would have been lifted up. You may say that the serious ZULWHU GRHVQ¶W KDYH WR ERWKHU about the tired reader, but he does, because they are all tired. One old lady who wants her KHDUW OLIWHG XS ZRXOGQ¶W EH VR EDG EXW you multiply her two hundred and fifty thousand times and what you get is a book club. (CW 819-20)

2¶&RQQRU ³KDWH>V@ WR WKLQN RI WKH GD\´ ZKHQ VKH ZLOO PHUHO\ VDWLVI\ WKLV W\SH RI UHDGHU   VKH DVSLUHV WR ³XSOLIW´ LQ DQRWKHUIDVKLRQQRWE\FRQGHVFHQGLQJWRPHHWWKHWLUHGUHDGHU¶V H[SHFWDWLRQVEXWE\VRPHKRZPRYLQJWKHUHDGHU¶VKHDUWWR³WKH ULJKWSODFH´ The major stumbOLQJEORFNVIRU2¶&RQQRULQQHJRWLDWLQJ this appeal are the demands the tired reader makes to be convinced of the continuity between the realist fiction she reads and practice in everyday life, and to see the empty hallmarks of ³UHGHPSWLYH´ OLWHUDWXUH V\Ppathy, compassion, and clear-cut innocence or damnation. In States of Sympathy: Seduction and Democracy in the American Novel, Elizabeth Barnes argues

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WKDW IURP WKH HDUOLHVW GD\V RI WKH QDWLRQ ³WR UHDG sympathetically becomes synonymous with reading like an $PHULFDQ´   D KDELW WKDW VXUYLYHG WKH DVVDXOWV RI KLJK modernism. Whatever the mode, it would seem that the most indispensable function of character in American fiction is to bridge the unum and pluribus, to contain multitudes as well as appeal to them. That is, if sympathetic identification is the standard approach to reading, then the role of the fictional subject is to be ³W\SLFDO´²LQ HLWKHU WKH V\PEROLF ³H[HPSODU\´ VHQVH RU WKH DXWKHQWLF ³QRUPDO´ VHQVH 7KH PHFKDQLVP RI V\PSDWK\ LV D kind of habituated response, a culturally internalized agreement about what a thing stands for: it requires a medium of thought to H[SHULHQFH D FKDUDFWHU DV D ³UHVRQDQW FRPSRVLWLRQDO FHQWHU´ (Ellison xx). For example, a reader probably would not identify immediatel\ ZLWK WKH H[SHULHQFHV RI +DZWKRUQH¶V ,@W is strange that, in the malaise in which it called men to holy war >«@RUWRUHYROXWLRQWKHhuman voice, formerly so powerful, no longer has the slightest force, even given the most compelling UHDVRQ HYHU´   7KH FKDOOHQJH VHW IRU ZRXOG-be-realists addressing an American public whose newly problematic reading habits are very deeply ingrained was impossibly this: if the power of a literary voice can no longer ethically exert itself through an appeal to sympathy, what form can or should it take? What is the postwar author to do if she is committed, if she ZDQWVWR³PRYH´WKHWLUHGUHDGHUEXWQRt through sentimentality to judgment²or, in other words, precisely nowhere beyond ZKHUHVKHVWDUWHG+RZLQVWHDG³PRYH´WKHWLUHGUHDGHU¶VKHDUW WR³WKHULJKWSODFH´WREHJLQZLWK" Wise Blood and the Registers of Redemption Wise Blood PRGHOV 2¶&RQQRU¶V realism of distances, using violence to convert its historically traumatized consumers to a new understanding of what fiction should be and do. 2¶&RQQRUOLNHQVWKHUHDOLVWRIGLVWDQFHVWRDSURSKHWZKHUH³>L@Q WKH QRYHOLVW¶V FDVH SURSKHF\ LV D PDWWHU RI seeing near things with their extensions of meaning and thus of seeing far things FORVH XS´ CW 817). In Wise Blood WKH ³SURSKHW´ +D]HO 0RWHV¶V VWUXJJOHV ZLWK KLV EHOLHIV DUH WUDFHDEOH WKURXJK KLV

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struggles to communicate them. His potential for communicative prophecy is present from the beginning, as in his first interactions with Mrs. Wally Bee Hitchcock, a woman on WKHWUDLQ2IKLVH\HVZHDUHWROG³>W@KHLUVHWWLQJVZHUHVRGHHS that they seemed, to her, almost like passages leading VRPHZKHUH´CW 4), but nothing real is here communicated. At WKHQRYHO¶VHQGKLVH\HVVHUYHDVSDVVDJHVDJDLQDVKLVODQGODG\ searches into them and finds a connection to mystery and the XQH[SHFWHGRUZKDW FRQVWLWXWHV DPRUHWUXH UHDOLVP 2¶&RQQRU once wrote to Robert /RZHOO WKDW ³>S@URSKHF\ LV D PDWWHU RI VHHLQJ QRW VD\LQJ >«@ 0\ SURSKHW ZLOO EH LQDUWLFXODWH DQG EXUQW E\ KLV RZQ YLVLRQV +H¶OO KDYH WR H[SORGH VRPHZKHUH´ (CW 1120). Hazel Motes is not a typical, sympathetic character in a customarily realist war novel. Haze becomes a realist of distances, and Wise Blood is his Künstlerroman. Through most of the novel, Haze is characterized as a man moving determinedly away from his past but unsure of where he is going. We discover that he had an early sense of the inevitable course of his life, and an almost violent resistance to changing it: He knew by the time he was twelve years old that he was going to be a preacher. Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he was not VXUHRIKLVIRRWLQJ>«@:KHUHKHZDQWHG to stay was in Eastrod with his two eyes open, and his hands always handling the familiar thing, his feet on the known track, and his tongue not too loose. When he was eighteen and the army called him, he saw the war as a trick to lead him into temptation, and he would have shot his foot except that he trusted himself to get

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Janine Tobeck back in a few months, uncorrupted. (CW 11)

He was gone for four years and was wounded in the process. On his return, he carries only a duffle bag, the feeling of shrapnel left inside²though he was told it was removed, he never saw it (CW 12)²and an obsession with ridding himself and the world of the concept of redemption. Through HazeO¶V LQWHUDFWLRQ ZLWK 0UV :DOO\ %HH Hitchcock, we are given the first sense of the modern distortions of redemption in the novel, and the uncomfortable distance its contemplation creates between Haze and other people. While he is pondering her state of grace, she is judging him on the price of his suit. Just as his eyes threaten to interrupt her judgment² VKHILQGVKHUVHOI³WU\LQJDOPRVWWRORRNLQWRWKHP´CW 3)²she VWDYHV RII WKH WKUHDW E\ WXUQLQJ WR ZKDW VKH NQRZV 6KH ³IHOW irked and wrenched her attention loose and squinted at the price tag. The suit had cost him $11.98. She felt that that placed him and looked at his face again as if she were fortified against it QRZ´CW 3). After some annoying small talk, Hazel interrupts to ask her if she thinks she has been redeemed. In response, ³>V@KH EOXVKHG $IWHU D VHFRQG VKH VDLG \HV OLIH ZDV DQ inspiration, and then she said she was hungry and asked him if KHGLGQ¶WZDQWWRJRLQWRWKHGLQHU´CW 6). After her rebuff, he addresses himself to two women in the dining car: ³,I \RX¶YH EHHQ UHGHHPHG´ KH VDLG ³, ZRXOGQ¶W ZDQW WR EH´ 7KHQ KH turned his head to the window. He saw his pale reflection with the dark empty space outside coming through it. A boxcar roared past, chopping the empty space in two, and one of the women laughed. ³'R\RXWKLQN,EHOLHYHLQ-HVXV"´ he said, leaning toward her and speaking DOPRVW DV LI KH ZHUH EUHDWKOHVV ³:HOO ,

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ZRXOGQ¶W HYHQ LI +H H[LVWHG (YHQ LI +H ZDVRQWKLVWUDLQ´ ³:KRVDLG\RXKDGWR"´VKHDVNHG in a poisonous Eastern voice. He drew back. (CW 7)

7KHUHVWRIWKHQRYHOFRQVLVWVRIVXFKIDLOXUHVUHSHDWHG+D]HO¶V communicative power is constantly limited by his troubles with self-contemplation, which is in turn constantly interrupted by the startling facts and attitudes of modern life. Although the war seems to have caused a fundamental disconnect from his fundamentalist past, he cannot get the necessary perspective on himself to articulate a viable vision for the future. +D]HO¶V JURZWK DV D SURSKHWWUXH UHDOLVW RFFXUV WKUough failure, but especially through a failure of empathy. Four other major characters in the novel serve Haze as potential models, two of communicators and two of congregants. In the first category are Asa Hawks, the hard-line Evangelist who carries with him a newspaper clipping announcing his promise to blind KLPVHOI ZLWK OLPH ³WR MXVWLI\ KLV EHOLHI WKDW &KULVW -HVXV KDG UHGHHPHGKLP´CW 64), and Onnie Jay Holy, the street peddler ZKR GLVWRUWV +D]HO¶V QHZ UHOLJLRQ IRU PDWHULDO JDLQ +D]HO follows Hawks, and turns from Holy; neither presents a face in which Haze can see himself. Hawks is a corrupt theologian² although he hawks redemption, he has not paid its price, since he did not actually go through with the blinding. Onnie Jay² whose real name is Hoover Shoats²is the modern artist, a pig Latin preacher of a vulgarized Vulgate, who knows how to draw a crowd. For most of the novel, Haze operates from a position somewhat between these two frauds. His initial solution to the redemption problem is to create his new Church Without Christ, DOLWHUDOLVWUHMHFWLRQRIDOOUHOLJLRXVPHWDSKRU³,¶PPHPEHUDQG SUHDFKHUWR WKDWFKXUFK ZKHUHWKHEOLQGGRQ¶WVHHDQGWKHODPH GRQ¶W ZDON DQG ZKDW¶V GHDG VWD\V WKDW ZD\ $VN PH DERXW WKDW FKXUFK DQG ,¶OO WHOO \RX LW¶V WKH FKXrch that the blood of Jesus

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GRQ¶WIRXOZLWKUHGHPSWLRQ¶´CW 59). His central tenet, which DFFRUGV ZLWK 2¶&RQQRU¶V WDVN RI GLVWRUWLQJ GLVWRUWLRQV LV WKDW ³>E@ODVSKHP\ LV WKH ZD\ WR WKH WUXWK >«@ DQG WKHUH¶V QR RWKHU ZD\ ZKHWKHU \RX XQGHUVWDQG LW RU QRW´ (CW 86). Like a latemodernist marvel, he insists on an unavoidably difficult confrontation with truth. The closest Haze comes to addressing KLV SRWHQWLDO FRQJUHJDWLRQ¶V OLVWHQLQJ SUHIHUHQFHV LV ZKHQ KH admits a half-metaphor²a replacement for Jesus that stands for the literal. In the closest thing he makes to an appeal, he tells WKHP WKDW WKH\ QHHG VRPHWKLQJ ³WR WDNH WKH SODFH RI -HVXV something that would speak plain. The Church Without Christ >«@ QHHGV D QHZ MHVXV ,W QHHGV RQH WKDW¶V DOO PDQ ZLWKRXW bORRG WR ZDVWH DQG LW QHHGV RQH WKDW GRQ¶W ORRN OLNH DQ\ RWKHU PDQVR\RX¶OOORRNDWKLP´CW 80). When Hazel is discovered by Holy/Shoats, and hears his literal concepts twisted through the interests of materialism, he begins to see the flaws in his solutLRQ 5HMHFWLQJ +RO\¶V DSSHDO KH QHYHUWKHOHVV EHJLQV WR undertake a different approach to the real. Onnie Jay Holy, like a good customary realist, appeals to KLV DXGLHQFH¶V V\PSDWK\ DQG GHVLUH IRU FRPSUHKHQVLRQ 6WHSSLQJ LQ RQ +D]HO¶V SUHDFKLQJ +RO\ VWDUWs with a promise: ³µ,¶PDSUHDFKHUDQG,GRQ¶WPLQGZKRNQRZVLWEXW,ZRXOGQ¶W KDYH \RX EHOLHYH QRWKLQJ \RX FDQ¶W IHHO LQ \RXU RZQ KHDUWV¶´ (CW 85). He continues by telling the gathering crowd how the ³3URSKHW´ +D]H VDYHG KLV OLIH E\ SUHDFKLQJ WKH ³&KXUFK RI &KULVW :LWKRXW &KULVW´ CW   ³µ)ULHQGV¶ KH VDLG µWZR PRQWKV DJR \RXZRXOGQ¶WNQRZPHIRUWKHVDPHPDQ ,GLGQ¶W have a friend in the woUOG 'R \RX NQRZ ZKDW LW¶V OLNH QRW WR KDYHDIULHQGLQWKHZRUOG"¶´CW 85). By the time Hazel tries to FRUUHFW WKH FKXUFK¶V QDPH WKH FURZG KDV IXOO\ WXUQHG WR +RO\ EHFDXVH ³KH KDG D ZLQQLQJ VPLOH DQG LW ZDV HYLGHQW WKDW KH GLGQ¶WWKLQNKHZDVDQ\EHWWHr than anybody else even though he ZDV´CW 86). Holy then lays out his own essential tenets: that WKHUH¶V³QRWKLQJIRUHLJQFRQQHFWHGZLWKLW´WKDW³>L@I\RXGRQ¶W XQGHUVWDQG LW LW DLQ¶W WUXH´ WKDW ³LW¶V EDVHG RQ \RXU RZQ personal interpitation of the BLEOH´DQGWKDW³WKLVFKXUFKLVXS-

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to-GDWH :KHQ \RX¶UH LQ WKLV FKXUFK \RX FDQ NQRZ WKDW WKHUH¶V nothing or nobody ahead of you, nobody knows nothing you GRQ¶W NQRZ DOO WKH FDUGV DUH RQ WKH WDEOH IULHQGV DQG WKDW¶V D IDFN´ CW 86-87). His sympathetic appeal and promise of factual simplicity mesh easily with American xenophobia and WKH VSLULW RI FRPSHWLWLRQ ZKHUHDV +D]HO¶V LQVLVWHQFH RQ precision and refusal to make his concepts comprehensible asks too much of his audience to hold its attention. When Haze tries to drive away, Holy/Shoats gets in the FDUDQGPDNHVKLPDQRIIHUKHFDQ¶WEHOLHYHFRXOGEHUHIXVHGLQ H[FKDQJHIRUVHHLQJ+D]HO¶V³QHZMHVXV´ ³,W GRQ¶W PDNH DQ\ GLIIHUHQFH KRZ PDQ\ &KULVWV \RX DGGWRWKH QDPH LI \RX GRQ¶W add none to the meanLQJ IULHQG´ 2QQLH -D\ VDLG LQ D KXUW WRQH ³W@KDWDLQ¶WDQ\WKLQJEXWD ZD\WRVD\VRPHWKLQJ´CW 90). This prompts Shoats to insult Haze with what is ironically the truest, best description of his SURSKHF\ WKRXJK +D]H KDV \HW WR XQGHUVWDQG LW  ³µ7KDW¶V WKH WURXEOH ZLWK \RX LQQHUOHFNFKXOV¶ 2QQLH -D\ PXWWHUHG ³\RX GRQ¶WQHYHUKDYHQRWKLQJWRVKRZIRUZKDW\RX¶UHVD\LQJ´CW 90). Shoats recovers quickly²he hires a consumptive named Solace Layfield, dresses him up exactly like Hazel, and goes EDFNWRWKHVWUHHWVPDNLQJ³ILIWHHQGROODUVDQGWKLUW\-five cents FOHDU´ CW 113). When, later that night, Hazel runs Solace off the road²and then over him²+D]H VWRSV WR WHOO KLP ³µ7ZR WKLQJV , FDQ¶W VWDQG >«@ ²D PDQ WKDW DLQ¶W WUXH DQG RQH WKDW

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PRFNV ZKDW LV¶´ CW 115). In return for this decided GHFODUDWLRQKRZHYHUKHUHFHLYHVWKHG\LQJPDQ¶VFRQIHVVLRQ Hazel has no better luck identifying with his would-be followers than he does finding a model for (or of) himself. A lonely zoo employee named Enoch Emery, and Sabbath Lily +DZNV$VD¶VGDXJKWHUDUHDVFORVHWRGLVFLSOHVDVKHILQGVEXW their hearing is distorted through misunderstanding zealotry, in (QRFK¶VFDVHDQGDGHVLUHIRUVRFLDODGYDQFHPHQWLQ6DEEDWK¶V (QRFKLVWKHFKDUDFWHUZKREHOLHYHVWKDWKHKDV³ZLVHEORRG´D mission that he cannot understand but is nevertheless compelled to fulfill. After following Haze for companionship, he believes he discovers his purpose when he hears Haze preach about the new jesus. He steals a mummy from the museum located in the ]RR¶VSDUNDQGGHOLYHUVLWWR+D]HOZKRPHUHO\WKURZVLWDZD\ Sabbath, who hopes to get away from her father, sees much about Haze that he himself does not, but is too blinded by her own self-interest to care what he preaches. Her partial FRPSUHKHQVLRQ LV H[SUHVVHG DJDLQ LQ UHODWLRQ WR +D]HO¶V H\HV ³7KH\ GRQ¶W ORRN OLNH WKH\ VHH ZKDW KH¶V ORRNLQJ DW EXW WKH\ NHHSRQORRNLQJ´CW 61). In his naïveté, Haze decides to seduce Sabbath as a PHDQVWRRYHUWKURZWKHSUHDFKHU¶VWUDGLWLRQDOO\UHLQIRUFHGKROG over him. What he discovers is that both Asa and Sabbath are DOUHDG\ PRUH ³XS-to-GDWH´ WKDQ KH LV 6DEEDWK WHOOV +D]H DERXW an exchange she had with a manners columnist in the paper: ³, VD\V µ'HDU 0DU\ , DP D bastard and a bastard shall not enter the kingdom of heaven as we all know, but I have this personality that makes boys follow me. Do you think I should neck or not? I shall not enter the kingdom of heaven anyway VR , GRQ¶W VHH ZKDW GLIIHUHQFHLWPDNHV¶´ >«@ ³7KHQ VKH DQVZHUHG P\ OHWWHU LQ WKHSDSHU6KHVDLGµ'HDU6DEEDWK/LJKW

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necking is acceptable, but I think your real problem is one of adjustment to the modern world. Perhaps you ought to reexamine your religious values to see if they meet your needs in Life. A religious experience can be a beautiful addition to living if you put it in the proper perspective and do not let it warp you. 5HDGVRPHERRNVRQ(WKLFDO&XOWXUH¶´ >«@ ³7KHQ,ZURWHKHUDQRWKHUOHWWHU´ VKHVDLG>«@³,VD\Vµ'HDU0DU\:KDW, really want to know is should I go the ZKROH KRJ RU QRW" 7KDW¶V P\ UHDO SUREOHP,¶PDGMXVWHGRND\WRWKHPRGHUQ ZRUOG¶´ ³Q@R one observing him would have known that he had no place to JR´ CW 15), and a good part of the story consists of his

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impulsive purchase of a run-down car, its frequent failures, and his dogged belief in spite of them that it holds the key to his salvation. Contemplating his own failures in Taulkinham, he is LQVSLUHGWR PDNH DQHZ VWDUW HOVHZKHUHWKH³HQWLUHSRVVLELOLW\´ RIZKLFK³FDPHIURPWKHDGYDQWDJHRIKDYLQJDFDU²of having something that moved fast, in privacy, to the place you wanted tR EH´ CW 105). In fact, the only thing the car helps Haze accomplish is the murder of Solace Layfield, since when he does try to leave town, a patrolman pulls him over, then pushes the car over an embankment, because Haze has no license. This action shows Haze the absurdity of solving a problem through OLWHUDOLVP DV WKH SDWUROPDQ¶V H[SODQDWLRQ IRU LW LV ³µ7KHP WKDW GRQ¶W KDYH D FDU GRQ¶W QHHG D OLFHQVH¶´ CW 118). When the SDWUROPDQRIIHUV+D]HDULGH³WRZKHUH\RXZDVJRLQJ´+D]HLV finally able to admit to himself that he was not going anywhere. This acceptance, layered on his discovery of +DZNV¶V IUDXG DQGKLV PXUGHURI /D\ILHOGPDUNV+D]HO¶V ILQDO QHJDWLYH epiphany, and the most important, since it is the first involving true self-reflection. He walks back to town, picks up a sack of lime, and blinds himself, fulfilling the promise that Hawks had only pretended to. It is at the very completion of this act, of his blinding himself to the world and turning inside himself, that Haze finally begins to communicate something to someone. His landlady, Mrs. Flood, is not exactly what we would call a critical reader: She was not a woman who felt more violence in one word than in another; she took every word at its face value but all the faces were the same. Still, instead of blinding herself, if she had felt that bad, she would have killed herself and she ZRQGHUHGZK\DQ\ERG\ZRXOGQ¶WGRWKDW >«@ 3HUKDSV 0U 0RWHV ZDV RQO\ EHLQJ ugly, for what possible reason could a person have for wanting to destroy their sight? A woman like her, who was so

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clear-sighted, could never stand to be blind. If she had to be blind she would rather be dead. It occurred to her suddenly that when she was dead she would be blind too. She stared in front of her intensely, facing this for the first time. (CW 119)

In this passage, after a brief moment of religious contemplation, Mrs. Flood returns to her logical world. But a seed has been SODQWHGDQGVKHZLOOEH WKHRQH ZKRUHFHLYHVWKHQRYHO¶VILQDO revelation. 6WDULQJLQWR+D]HO¶V dead face at the close of the novel, she evolves from a complacent reader into a critical one, while the object of her critical glance changes from Haze to herself. First, she looks at Haze through her materialist perspective, acting and reacting much like Mrs. Wally Bee Hitchcock did at WKHQRYHO¶VRSHQLQJ³>7@KHGHHSEXUQHGH\HVRFNHWVVHHPHGWR lead into the dark tunnel where he had disappeared. She leaned closer and closer to his face, looking deep into them, trying to see how she had been cheated or what had cheated her, but she FRXOGQ¶W VHH DQ\WKLQJ´ CW 131). Then, however, she takes a leap of faith through a figurative self-blinding, and begins to contemplate true mystery: She shut her eyes and saw the pin point of light but so far away that she could not hold it steady in her mind. She felt as if she were blocked at the entrance of something. She sat staring with her eyes shut, staring into his eyes, and felt as if she had finally got to the EHJLQQLQJ RI VRPHWKLQJ VKH FRXOGQ¶W EHJLQ DQG VKH saw him moving farther and farther away, farther and farther into the darkness until he was the pinpoint of light. (CW 131)

These last words of the novel constitute the only arguably successful communication, and it is accomplished through a

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kind of empathic understanding between Hazel and Mrs. Flood. It is, however, a mysterious rather than comprehensible one. 2¶&RQQRUZRXOGODWHUVD\WKDW³>W@KHSURSKHWLVDUHDOLVW RIGLVWDQFHV´CW 817), and that the novelist who aspires to this UROH³ZLOOKDYHWRGHVFHQGfar enough into himself to reach those XQGHUJURXQG VSULQJV WKDW JLYH OLIH WR KLV ZRUN´ CW 821). ³7KLV´VKHDUJXHV³LVWKHEHJLQQLQJRIYLVLRQ´CW 821). The prophet/novelist, in other words, must first be an ³LQQHUOHFNFKXO´ WR ³JLYH OLIH WR KLV ZRUN´ +D]HO¶V ZRUN DV LW WXUQVRXWLV³WKHEHJLQQLQJRIYLVLRQ´IRU0UV)ORRG7KLVLVD three-VWHS SURFHVV ,Q KHU FRQWHPSODWLRQ RI +D]HO¶V VHOIEOLQGLQJ 0UV )ORRG¶V DWWHPSW WR HPSDWKL]H DFWXDOO\ LQWHUUXSWV any understanding of his act. Although she asks herself what reason he might have had, her immediate impulse is to put KHUVHOI LQ KLV VKRHV EXW ILQGV RQO\ WKDW ³D ZRPDQ OLNH KHU´ FRXOGQ¶W VWDQG EHLQJ WKHUH 7KLV LV WKH GHILQLWLRQ RI empathy: ³WKH SRZHU RI SURMHFWLQJ RQH¶V SHUVRQDOLW\ LQWR DQG VR IXOO\ cRPSUHKHQGLQJ  WKH REMHFW RI FRQWHPSODWLRQ´ Oxford English Dictionary  ,Q FRPSUHKHQVLRQ ³DOO WKH IDFHV >DUH@ WKH VDPH´ (CW  +HUVHFRQGPRYHLVWR³IDF>H@>«@IRUWKHILUVWWLPH´ the literal fact that she would be blind when she was dead, and considering herself in that altered state holds her in an uncomfortable pause. Now, when Haze is both blind and dead, it LV HQWLUHO\ LPSRVVLEOH WR HPSDWKL]H ZLWK KLP EXW ³VWDULQJ ZLWK KHU H\HV VKXW´ DQG DW WKH VDPH WLPH ³LQWR KLV H\HV´ VKH nevertheless performs an act of reading that finally leads her out of her materialist mindset. The novel thus ends with an interpretive flight where comprehensive, progressive movement has ended. ,QWULJXLQJO\ WKH FRQQHFWLRQ EHWZHHQ +D]HO¶V DQG 0UV )ORRG¶V FKDUDFWHUV LV SUHILJXUHG LQ +D]HO¶V RZQ HDUO\ experiences with death, through which he performs a similar VHULHV RI LQWHUSUHWLYH ULWXDOV $W KLV EURWKHU¶V IXQHUDO KH KDG reopened the coffin, and although people mistakenly assumed WKDW ³LW ZDV EHFDXVH KH ZDV KHDUWEURNHQ WR part with his EURWKHU´LWZDVUHDOO\³EHFDXVHKHKDGWKRXJKW ZKDWLIKHKDG

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EHHQ LQ LW DQG WKH\ KDG VKXW LW RQ KLP´ CW 10). Later, Haze VHHV KLV PRWKHU¶V IDFH ZKLOH WKH\ DUH VKXWWLQJ KHU FRIILQ WKHQ GUHDPV WKDW VKH IOLHV RXW RI LW ³OLNH D KXJH EDW´ ZKLOH ³>I@URP LQVLGH KH VDZ LW FORVLQJ´ CW 14). In the first instance, selfprojection is mistaken for emotion (no doubt the onlookers felt ³FRPSDVVLRQ´IRU \RXQJ+D]H ZKLOHLQ WKHVHFRQGIDFLQJKLV PRWKHU¶V IDFH PRYHV KLP WR DQ XQUHDO EHFDXVH LPSRVVLEOe) HPSDWK\,QERWK+D]HO¶VDQG0UV)ORRG¶VFDVHVZKDWKDVEHHQ communicated is not knowledge. The text has not been comprehended, and nobody is redeemed, but a method of critical reading has been taught that truly connects people, when all the usual ways of trying to connect have failed.

Works Cited Barnes, Elizabeth. States of Sympathy: Seduction and Democracy in the American Novel. New York: Columbia U P, 1997. %DUWK -RKQ ³7KH /LWHUDWXUH RI 5HSOHQLVKPHQW 3RVWPRGHUQ )LFWLRQ´ LQ The Friday Book: Essays and Other Nonfiction1HZ«@´CW 12). Given this ambiguous set of events, Hazel may be justified in believing that this hidden piece of shrapnel is slowly killing him, and perhaps it is. Indeed, the horrors of war no doubt contribute to his deep fear of mortality. The wound has left a permanent mark on his precarious health, just as the war has left a permanent imprint on KLV PLQG :KHQ +D]HO JRHV WR WKH FLW\ ³WR GR VRPH WKLQJV , QHYHUKDYHGRQHEHIRUH´KHLQQRFHQWO\\HW FRUUHFWO\ EHOLHYHV they are the last things he will ever do (CW 5). Of course, the most significant images of death in the RSHQLQJ FKDSWHU DSSHDU LQ +D]HO¶V QLJKWPDUH RI EHLQJ EXULHG alive; this is one of the few times in the novel when the reader is invited to step into his mind²and everything there suggests his overwhelming fear of death. Erik Nielsen applies a SV\FKRDQDO\WLF LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ WR WKLV GUHDP VHTXHQFH ³,W LV D terrifying nightmare, in which Hazel experiences a genuine SV\FKLF UHJUHVVLRQ WR WKH SUHQDWDO OLIH LQ KLV PRWKHU¶V ZRPE´  2QHKDUGO\QHHGV)UHXG¶VKHOSKRZHYHUWRPDNHVHQVHRI WKLV QLJKWPDUH +D]HO¶V GUHDP DERXW FRIILQV FOHDUO\ UHSUHVHQWV KLVIHDURIZKDWKDSSHQVRUGRHVQ¶WKDSSHQ DIWHUGHDWK$VDOV DUJXHV WKDW WKLV SDVVDJH UHSUHVHQWV +D]HO¶V ³DPELYDOHQW´ feelings toward death (38). Yet the dream does not convey the ambivalent repulsion and attraction that Asals suggests. This GUHDP KROGVRQO\WHUURU+D]HO¶VEHUWKRQWKHWUDLQ UHPLQGV WKH \RXQJSUHDFKHURIDFRIILQ³7KHWRS RIWKHEHUWKZDV ORZDQG curved over. He lay down and noticed that the curved top looked as if it were QRWTXLWHFORVHGLWORRNHGDVLILWZHUHFORVLQJ´CW 9). Significantly, as Hazel recalls a long list of dead relatives, WKHILUVWFRIILQKHUHPHPEHUVLVKLVJUDQGIDWKHU¶V$V2¶&RQQRU repeatedly points out, Hazel is a mirror image of his grandfather,

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whRVH³IDFHZDVUHSHDWHGDOPRVW H[DFWO\´LQ +D]HO¶VCW 11). 7KXV ZKHQ +D]HO JD]HV DW KLV JUDQGIDWKHU¶V ERG\ KH KDV WKH uncanny experience of seeing a corpse with his own face: the grandfather is the first of many doubles who confront Hazel with a vision of his own mortality. Watching at the wake, the young Hazel imagined that his grandfather would leap out of the FRIILQ +D]HO UHPHPEHUV WKLQNLQJ WKDW ³KH DLQ¶W JRLQJ WR OHW them shut it on him; when the time comes, his elbow is going to shoot into the crack´CW 9). He has similar fantasies in which his father and mother prevent their own coffin lids from descending (CW 10, 14). As Hazel lies in the coffin-like berth, he contemplates the possibility of an afterlife. In addition to the grisly image of dead relatives struggling out of their coffins, he also imagines his mother as a ghost who haunts the family KRPH³+HZRQGHUHGLI VKH>KLV PRWKHU@ZDONHGDW QLJKW >«@´ (CW 14). The novel opens with a proliferation of images of death, rather than images of Christ $V 2¶&RQQRU LQWURGXFHV +D]HO¶V FKDUDFWHU DQG PHWDSKRULFDOO\ H[SODLQV KLV PRWLYDWLRQV VKH PDNHV LW FOHDU WKDW +D]HO¶V SULPDU\ REVHVVLRQ LV KLV overwhelming fear of his own mortality. Although images of death appear most frequently in the opening chapter, they continue to haunt Hazel throughout the novel. Again and again, Hazel faces various versions of himself through doubles that prefigure his own death. While these doppelgangers resemble Hazel physically, they also often look like walking corpses. John %\DUVH[SODLQV2¶&RQQRU¶VXVHRIWKH GRXEOH PRWLI DV ³+D]HO¶V FRQIURQWDWLRQV ZLWK SURMHFWLRQV RI KLPVHOI ZKLFK KH IDLOV WR UHFRJQL]H DV VXFK´ DQG JRHV RQ WR SRLQW RXW WKDW ³7KURXJK WKLV SDWWHUQ WKH UHDGHU FDQ VHH KRZ people, objects and animals mimic and SDURG\ +D]HO¶V VLPXOWDQHRXV IOLJKW IURP DQG SXUVXLW RI *RG´   «@´ CW 20). Ironically, this scarred, ghastly man dressed in black foreshadows what Hazel will look like in his final days. Solace Layfield, the man Onnie Jay Holy hires to impersonate Hazel, is an even grimmer image of death. When Hazel first sees this look-DOLNH ³+H ZDV VR VWUXFN ZLWK KRZ gaunt and thin he looked in the illusion that he stopped SUHDFKLQJ´ CW 94). Hazel does not truly realize how corpselike his own appearance is until he encounters this diseased doppelganger about two-thirds of the way through the novel. Not only does Solace look like a corpse, but the narrative also reveals that he will soon become one. Solace is dying from DGLVHDVHWKDWZLOOODWHUFODLP+D]HO¶VOLIHDVZHOO7KHQDUUDWRU GHVFULEHV 6RODFH¶V LOOQHVV LQ JURWHVTXH WHUPV WKH SURWDJRQLVW¶V GRXEOH ³KDG D ORXG FRQVXPSWLYH FRXJK WKDW VWDUWHG VRPHZKHUH deep in him and finished with a long wheeze. He expectorated a ZKLWHIOXLGDWWKHHQGRILW´CW 94). Hazel finds himself with a VLPLODUFRQVXPSWLYHFRXJKODWHULQWKHQRYHO³KHKDGIHOWDVLI he were about to be caught by a complete consumption in his chest«he had kept hearing his coughs as if they came from a GLVWDQFH´ CW 105). Hazel imagines that the coughing comes from a place deep in his chest, the same area of his body where KH UHFHLYHG KLV P\VWHULRXV ZDU ZRXQG DV WKRXJK LQ +D]HO¶V PLQGWKHFRXJKPLJKWKDYHVRPHFRQQHFWLRQZLWKWKH³SRLVRQ´ he believes is slowly killing him. The cough sounds far away because Hazel wants to displace the noise. He desperately wants to believe that these sounds, so similar to the ones he heard from the double he recently murdered, are not coming from his own youthful and impregnable body. Yet the previous metaphors that KLQW DW +D]HO¶V WKRXJKWV RI VXLFLGH EHFRPH OLWHUDOL]HG ZKHQ Hazel murders a man who could be his identical twin. The brutal murder of Solace, who was slowly dying from consumption, foretells the death of Hazel, who will be seriously ill with a consumptive cough when a police officer deals him a callous GHDWKEORZ$V+D]HONQHHOVGRZQWRKHDU6RODFH¶VILQDOZRUGV for the second time in the novel he sees a dead man who seems to wear his own face. A few seconds later, when Solace dies

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EHQHDWK WKH (VVH[¶V ZKHHOV WKH QLJKWPDUH-like chapter concludes with Hazel watching his own death, his face in the darkness eerily similar to that of the corpse. The various doubles Hazel encounters throughout the novel not only juxtapose or mirror his spiritual state, but also serve as reminders of his own mortality. )XUWKHUPRUH +D]HO¶V UXQGRZQ FDU D V\PERO RQ ZKLFK FULWLFV KDYH SLOHG D PXOWLWXGH RI PHDQLQJV UHSUHVHQWV +D]HO¶V temporal body, and his unwillingness to accept its fallible nature reflects his inability to imagine his own death. Clearly, 2¶&RQQRU UHJDUGHG +D]HO¶V FDU DV D V\PERO RI SDUWLFXODU LPSRUWDQFHH[SODLQLQJWKDW³WKHKHUR¶VUDW-colored automobile is his pulpit and his coffin as well as something he thinks of as a means of escape>«@7he car is a kind of death-in-life symbol, as his blindness is a life-in-GHDWKV\PERO´MM 72). Critics have DUJXHG WKDW WKH UXQGRZQ FDU UHSUHVHQWV +D]HO¶V KRPH KLV church, his false sense of freedom, the American dream, his humanist salvation, and his choice to allow technology to supersede the spiritual.3 As Byars notes, the shuddering motion of the old car as it jerks suddenly backward and forward SDUDOOHOV WKH VSLULWXDO PRWLRQ RI +D]HO¶V MRXUQH\ DV KH PRYHV first away from and then toward Christianity (277). The PRYHPHQWVRIWKHFDUSDUDOOHOPRUHWKDQ+D]HO¶VHUUDWLFVSLULWXDO progress, however; they also parallel the awkward motion of his physical body. For example, in one of many scenes in which +D]HO¶V ERG\ VHems to be traveling in two directions at once, 2¶&RQQRUGHVFULEHV+D]HODV³MHUNLQJKLVKDQGVLQDQGRXWRIKLV pockets as if he were trying to move forward and backward at WKHVDPHWLPH´MXVWDVKLVFDUKDVD³WLF´WKDWRIWHQFDXVHVLWWR ³JR IRUZDUG DERut six inches and then back about four; it did WKDW QRZ D VXFFHVVLRQ RI WLPHV UDSLGO\´ CW 23, 87). In DGGLWLRQERWKRI+D]HO¶V³ERGLHV´DUHGHVWUR\HGDVDUHVXOWRID run-in with the law²a police officer pushes the Essex over a cliff, and it is a cop who GHDOV +D]HO¶V ILQDO GHDWK EORZ Although the car is in bad shape, Hazel constantly insists that it is in prime condition, just as a dying man might try to convince

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KLPVHOIWKDWKLV ERG\LV LQIDOOLEOH+D]HO H[FODLPV³7KLV FDULV just beginning its life. $OLJKWHQLQJEROWFRXOGQ¶W VWRS LW´ CW 116). Both the personification of the car (it has a life) and the DUJXPHQWWKDWDOLJKWQLQJEROW-RYH¶VV\PERORIUHWULEXWLRQWKDW later came to be associated with the Christian deity) could not stop it, suggest thDW WKH FDU UHSUHVHQWV +D]HO¶V RZQ IUDLO ERG\ The young man is just beginning his life, and he desperately wants to believe that nothing, not even a divinely mandated meeting with death, can stop him. When Hazel decides to leave Sabbath to preach in another city, however, he begins to realize that a lightning bolt could easily destroy both his body and the automobile that has FRPHWRUHSUHVHQWLW+D]HO¶VIDLOLQJKHDOWKLQWHUUXSWVKLVWLUDGH ³µ$QG,JRWDFDUWRJHWWKHUHLQ,JRW>«@¶EXWKHZDVVWRSSHG by a cough. It was not much of a cough²it sounded like a little yell for help at the bottom of a canyon²but the color and the expression drained out of his face >«@´CW 107). Just as Hazel is self-importantly declaring that he has the means to leave Taulkinham, one of his consumptive coughs interrupts him. The metaphor comparing the cough to a cry for help, as well as the VKRFNHG H[SUHVVLRQ RQ +D]HO¶V IDFH VXJJHVW KLV WHUURU DV KH comes to the realization that his failing health, like his failing car, ma\ SUHYHQW KLP IURP OHDYLQJ WKH FLW\ +D]HO¶V UXQGRZQ car, representative of his diseased body, does become a death-inlife symbol. 7KH VHFRQG DQG ILQDO WLPH WKH QDUUDWLYH HQWHUV +D]HO¶V dreams, he is again fixated on his own mortality, and this time the drHDPUHYHDOVWKDWLWLV+D]HO¶VSKRELDDERXWGHDWKWKDWJLYHV ELUWKWRKLVEODVSKHPRXVSUHDFKLQJ+D]HOGUHDPVWKDW³KHZDV not dead but only buried. He was not waiting on the Judgment EHFDXVH WKHUH ZDV QR -XGJPHQW KH ZDV ZDLWLQJ RQ QRWKLQJ´ (CW 91). Only QRZ GRHV 2¶&RQQRU GLUHFWO\ VWDWH WKH IHDU WKDW XQGHUOLHV+D]HO¶VQLJKWPDUHLQWKHILUVWFKDSWHU$JDLQ+D]HOLV DIUDLGRIWKH³QRWKLQJ´WKDWFRPHVDIWHUGHDWK,QKLVQLJKWPDUH WKH \RXQJ IDQDWLF ³NHSW H[SHFWLQJ +DZNV WR DSSHDU DW WKH RYDO window with a wUHQFK EXW WKH EOLQG PDQ GLGQ¶W FRPH´ CW

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92). In other words, Hazel is waiting to be rescued from his coffin. Because Hazel believes that Asa is a Christian, he wonders if Asa has knowledge that would save him from death and promise him a place in the Christian afterlife (Nielsen 93). Consequently, Hazel subconsciously hopes that if he keeps preaching against Christ, a preacher of Christ will prove to him that a supernatural afterlife is possible. As Asals describes +D]HO¶VPRWLYDWLRQVWKH \RXQJ SUHDFKHU ³DGRSWV D SRVWXUH WKDW is actually designed to offend, to shock and scandalize, and thus WRSURYRNHDUHVSRQVHWRHOLFLWVRPHVLJQWKDWPLJKWVDYHKLP´   ,Q DGGLWLRQ $VDOV QRWHV WKDW ³WKH IRXQGLQJ RI WKH &KXUFK :LWKRXW &KULVW´ LV ³DQ DFW ZKLFK LV DW once a challenge and a SOHD´   7KLV LV ZK\ +D]HO SUHDFKHV D FKXUFK LQ ZKLFK ³ZKDW¶V GHDG VWD\V WKDW ZD\´ CW 59). These words are a ³FKDOOHQJH´ WR WKH FURZG KH ZDQWV IRU VRPHRQH WR DUJXH ZLWK him, to convince him that there is a potential for life after death. Because of his overwhelming fear of mortality, Hazel is GRXEO\DIUDLGWRWUXVWLQ&KULVW¶VSURPLVHGDIWHUOLIH2¶&RQQRU¶V QDUUDWRUH[SODLQV+D]HO¶VLQDELOLW\WRHPEUDFHWKH&KULVWLDQIDLWK PHWDSKRULFDOO\ DV +D]HO LPDJLQHV WKDW ³KH VDZ -HVXV PRYe from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he was not sure of his footing, where he might be walking on the ZDWHU DQG QRW NQRZ LW DQG WKHQ VXGGHQO\ NQRZ LW DQG GURZQ´ (CW 11). This dark image alludes to the biblical passage in which Peter needs faith to walk on water (Matthew 14:26-31). Walking on the water is a metaphor for living a life of faith, and +D]HOIHDUVMXVWVXFKDZDON)DLWKLQ+D]HO¶VPLQGH[SRVHVWKH believer to the possibility of drowning²Hazel fears that if the faith is misplaced, there may not be any arms waiting to rescue him from a watery death. Hazel is afraid that if he trusts Jesus, he might temporarily walk on water, only to drown after death, having put his faith in someone who could not save him. %DVLFDOO\+D]HO¶VIHDURIPRUWDOLW\OHDGVWRKLVIHDURI-HVXVDV 2¶&RQQRUSUHVHQWV+D]HO¶VIHDURIGHDWKDVWKHSULPDOWHUURUWKDW motivates his strange behavior.

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+RZHYHU +D]HO¶V PRWLYHV XQGHUJR D PDMor WUDQVIRUPDWLRQ EHWZHHQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO DQG +XVWRQ¶V ILOP Huston replaces the Gothic with the comic, translating an exploration of supernatural mystery into a comic critique of FRPPHUFLDOLVP $V KDV EHHQ DUJXHG DERYH 2¶&RQQRU¶V XVH RI Gothic motifs in Wise Blood points toward a fear of death as the XQGHUO\LQJ IRUFH WKDW GHILQHV +D]HO¶V FKDUDFWHU +XVWRQ¶V ILOP on the other hand, provides Hazel with a different underlying motive²the loss of his family and home (Demory). Nevertheless, an examination of +XVWRQ¶V DOWHUDWLRQV RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V*RWKLFVW\OHVKHGVOLJKWRQ+D]HO¶VFKDUDFWHUL]DWLRQ in both novel and film. $OWKRXJK +XVWRQ¶V ILOP LV IXQGDPHQWDOO\ OHVV *RWKLF WKDQ2¶&RQQRU¶VQRYHOWKHILOPVWLOOUHWDLQVVRPHRIKHU*RWKLF imagery. For example, the film maintains the connections the novel develops between sexuality, horror, and death. In both novel and film, almost every woman Hazel encounters is a prostitute²the obese Mrs. Watts, the prostitute Hazel hopes can replace Jesus, the repulsive Lily Sabbath, who sleeps with Hazel primarily because she wants him to support her financially, and the greedy Mrs. Flood, who wants to marry Hazel so that she can get his monthly disability check. In addition, Gothic images of cages and entrapment haunt the film; like the caged animals RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO WKH FKDUDFWHUV RI WKH ILOP YHUVLRQ ILQG themselves ensnared. For example, when Hazel first enters his abandoned childhood home, light slants through cracked walls to cast bar-shaped shadows all over the house. Later, Hazel finds Taulkinham to be a city filled with coffins and cages. For instance, Hazel and Enoch pass multiple cages in the dark and shadow-filled shots at the zoo, and ultimately they release their ³EORRGOHVV-HVXV´IURPDJODVVFRIILQ-like case in which he lies HQWRPEHG,QWKHGDUNVKRWVDIWHU+D]HO¶VEOLQGLQJWKHVWDLUVFDVW VKDGRZV WKDW ORRN OLNH EDUV DFURVV WKH ZDOOV RI 0UV )ORRG¶V KRPH0RUHRYHUPDQ\RIWKHURRPVLQ0UV)ORRG¶VKRXVHKDYH actual bars over the windows. In addition, the film also maintains many of the basic plot conventions of the Gothic that

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are present in the novel. For example, Hazel encounters doppelgangers that resemble walking corpses; he engages in violent, seemingly inexplicable behavior, and he has dreams of frightening significance. In short, the film does maintain some RIWKH*RWKLFLPDJHU\SUHVHQWLQ2¶&RQQRU¶VQRYHO +RZHYHU +XVWRQ¶V ILOP LV DQ DGDSWDWLRQ ZLWK LWV RZQ DJHQGDEDVLFDOO\HPEUDFLQJWKHFRPLFVLGHRI2¶&RQQRU¶VWH[W DQG HOLPLQDWLQJ PRVW RI WKH QRYHO¶V *othic images. These changes ground the film firmly in the secular as opposed to the sacred. Pamela Demory notes this shift in thematic focus from QRYHO WR ILOP FLWLQJ DOWHUDWLRQV LQ ³QDUUDWLYH RUGHU FKDUDFWHUL]DWLRQ DQG LPDJHU\´ DV WKH SULPDU\ YHKLFOHV of FKDQJH (OLPLQDWLQJ WKH QRYHO¶V *RWKLF LPDJHU\ FKDQJHV WKH overall tone of the film: as a result, horror does not drive +XVWRQ¶V ILOP DV LW GRHV 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO ,Q WKH ILOP +D]HO GRHV QRW GUHDP RI FRIILQV RQ WKH WUDLQ QRU GRHV +XVWRQ¶V adaptation inFOXGH+D]HO¶VODWHUQLJKWPDUHLQWKH(VVH[,QVWHDG the opening scene of the film shows Hazel exploring his abandoned childhood home, where a Gothic feel haunts his empty homestead. As he makes his way through the ramshackle building, the floors creek and nostalgic Appalachian music plays in the background. Furthermore, when Hazel stands in the IDPLO\ JUDYH\DUG DQG FRQWHPSODWHV KLV JUDQGIDWKHU¶V JUDYH Huston presents the viewer with a scene that has great Gothic potential²but that potential is undermined by comedy: the word ³DQJHO´ LV PLVVSHOOHG RQ WKH KHDGVWRQH LQ IURQW RI WKH SURWDJRQLVW +D]HO¶V JUDQGIDWKHU KDV DSSDUHQWO\ ³JRQH WR EHFRPH DQ DQJOH´ 1RQHWKHOHVV WKLV VFHQH DV 3DPHOD 'HPRU\ KDV DUJXHG LV VXFFHVVIXO LQ FRQYH\LQJ +D]HO¶V VHQVH RI ORVV despite the underlying humor. Unlike the Gothic nightmare sequence on the train, however, it does nothing to convey a sense of horror. A comically misspelled tombstone replaces the RSHQLQJ FKDSWHU¶V SURFHVVLRQ RI FRUSVHV²and this change in opening eliminates the Gothic imagery that pervades the scene RQ WKH WUDLQ 7KURXJKRXW +XVWRQ¶V ILOP KRUURU JLYHV ZD\ WR V\PSDWK\ DQG FRPLF UHOLHI +D]HO¶V PRWLYDWLRQ IRU KLV VWUDQJH

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behavior is now firmly grounded in the psychological; this opening scene of the film presents his loss of family and home as his primary motivator, not the more abstract and traditionally Gothic fear of death (Demory). In addition, although Hazel does GUHDP LQ +XVWRQ¶V ILOP WKH GUHDP VHTXHQFHV VKRZ WKH \RXQJ +D]HO OLVWHQLQJ WR KLV JUDQGIDWKHU¶s preaching. As the grandfather shouts out his fire and brimstone message, the camera focuses on Hazel and then on the pool of urine under the IULJKWHQHG FKLOG¶V FKDLU²WKXV HPSKDVL]LQJ +D]HO¶V IHDU RI KLV grandfather and Jesus (Demory). Moreover, the film as a whole lacks the horror and terror LQVSLUHG E\ WKH KXPDQ ERG\ LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUN $VDOV describes Wise Blood DV D QRYHO ZLWK D ³UHYXOVLRQ RI WKH physical, a horror not only of the human body but of the world RI PDWWHU DOWRJHWKHU´   )RU H[DPSOH 2¶&RQQRU¶V GHVFULEHV the woman Enoch watches at the pool as though she were a PRQVWHU ³)LUVW KHU IDFH DSSHDUHG ORQJ DQG FDGDYHURXV ZLWK D bandage-like bathing cap coming down almost to her eyes, and VKDUS WHHWK SURWUXGLQJ IURP KHU PRXWK´ CW 47). The noveO¶V WUHDWPHQW RI (QRFK ZKR LV 2¶&RQQRU¶V UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI DQ animalistic man devoid of spirit, also reveals this repugnance for WKH KXPDQ IRUP &XUULH   2¶&RQQRU GHVFULEHV LQ GHWDLO (QRFK¶VIHYHUEOLVWHUDQGRIWHQFRPSDUHVKLPWRDGRJ 46, &XUULH ,QDGGLWLRQKHLVGHVFULEHGDVD³GHYLO´VS\LQJ through the bushes on bathing women (CW 45). In contrast, the Enoch of the film is primarily a humorous character²and viewers are invited to feel sympathy for him (Demory). This is not to say thDW 2¶&RQQRU QHYHU LQYLWHV WKH UHDGHU WR IHHO sympathy for Enoch. Indeed, she does. As a matter of fact, the simple-minded country boy is ignored by everyone in the city H[FHSW IRU D PDQ LQ D JRULOOD VXLW LW LV *RQJD¶V KDQG WKDW EHFRPHV³WKHILUVWKDQGWKat had been extended to Enoch since KHKDGFRPHWRWKHFLW\,WZDVVRIWDQGZDUP´CW 102). In this HQFRXQWHU ZLWK *RQJD 2¶&RQQRU SRLQWV WR WKH FRPLF DQG V\PSDWKHWLFVLGHRI(QRFKWKDW+XVWRQHPSKDVL]HV,Q+XVWRQ¶V film, when Enoch first meets Hazel on the streets of

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Taulkinham, he runs along beside him with ape-like movements. His tight pants, oversized jacket, and awkward side-ways motions make his upper body look much larger than his lower body. In short, he resembles the gorilla he will eventually beFRPH 7KLV DPXVLQJ DSSHDUDQFH LV DXJPHQWHG E\ WKH ILOP¶V VRXQGWUDFNFDUQLYDOWXQHVDFFRPSDQ\PDQ\RI(QRFK¶VVFHQHV while his movements are reminiscent of slapstick comedy 0F(QWHH   $W WKH VDPH WLPH (QRFK¶V FKDUDFWHU LV PRUH sympathetic than the onH 2¶&RQQRU SUHVHQWV LQ KHU QRYHO 'HPRU\  )RU H[DPSOH +XVWRQ¶V (QRFK QR ORQJHU KDUDVVHV women: the scenes in which Enoch spies on the women at the pool and speaks rudely to the waitress at the soda shop are omitted from the film (Demory). In addition, the Enoch in the film reveals his vulnerability by appearing to be on the verge of tears in some scenes (Demory). In short, by eliminating both *RWKLFGUHDPVHTXHQFHVDQGWRQLQJGRZQ2¶&RQQRU¶VJURWHVTXH FKDUDFWHUL]DWLRQVWKHILOPDOWHUV+D]HO¶VPRWLYDWLRQs and makes the characters more sympathetic to the viewer. )XUWKHUPRUH +XVWRQ¶V ILOP UHSODFHV WKH *RWKLF LPDJHV of the novel with images of consumerism, thus transforming the spiritual message of the original into a secular commentary. The opening sequencHRI2¶&RQQRU¶VQRYHOSUHSDUHVWKHUHDGHUIRUD WDOH RI *RWKLF KRUURU ZKLOH WKH RSHQLQJ VHTXHQFH RI +XVWRQ¶V film prepares the viewer for a commentary on commercialism. ,QVWHDGRIRSHQLQJZLWK+D]HO¶VWKRXJKWVRIVXLFLGHRQWKHWUDLQ the film opens with still shots of road signs that advertise commercial products alongside religious messages (Klein 231). )RU H[DPSOHRQHVKRWVKRZVDVLJQUHDGLQJ³+DUPRQ\ %DSWLVW &KXUFK´QH[WWRDVLJQDGYHUWLVLQJ&RFD-cola, and another shows a Diary Queen road-sign with WKHWH[W³5HSHQWDQGEH%DSWL]HG´ underneath the commercial logo. Klein describes this motif: ³KHUHWKHLFRQRJUDSK\DWWKHVLGHRIWKHURDGVLJQSRVWVVSLULWXDO aspiration together with an archetypal image of commercial pop $PHULFDQLVP´ 7KLVUHOLJLRus commentary has less to say about spirituality than it does about the money-making business of institutionalized religion. The critique of consumerism

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LPSOLHGLQ2¶&RQQRU¶VWH[WLVPRUHRYHUWO\HQJDJHGLQWKHILOP ZKLOH+XVWRQGRZQSOD\VVRPHRI2¶&RQQRU¶V*RWKLFHOHPHQWV While the general lack of Gothic elements in the film lends sympathy to the characters and helps to refocus the story on the comic and the commercial, the loss of Gothic imagery DOVRGHWUDFWVIURP2¶&RQQRU¶VWUHDWPHQWRIUHOLJLRXVmystery in the novel. Although many critics have acknowledged 2¶&RQQRU¶V SHQFKDQW IRU WKH *RWKLF RSLQLRQV DERXW LWV UROH LQ her work vary wildly. Margie Burns finds that she manipulates it to explore social conflicts, while Ronald Schleifer argues that she uses it to uncover the supernatural origins of mankind %XUQV  6FKOHLIHU   2OO\H 6QRZ FODLPV WKDW 2¶&RQQRU draws on Gothic elements to argue that humans should yield to ³GLYLQH DXWKRULW\´ ZKLOH 'RXJODVV 7KRPVRQ suggests that 2¶&RQQRUXVHVWKH*Rthic to paint a picture of the human soul yearning for the supernatural (Snow 299, Thomson 316). There LVWUXWKLQDOORIWKHVHDUJXPHQWV«@ can discover no VSLULW LQ WKH HDUWKO\ PDWWHU DW ZKLFK LW VWDUHV´   +RZHYHU Schleifer explains that the Gothic creates its setting of terror by ³QDUUDWLQJ GUHDP DQG QLJKWPDUH DV UHDOity and projecting our GHHSHVW LPSXOVHV DQG IHDUV RQWR WKH ODQGVFDSH´   Wise Blood does just this: its Gothic imagery draws the reader not into a Catholic world in which matter is infused with the spirit of God, but into a Catholic nightmare, in which the world has left no spirit at all. Yet this nightmare fantasia is hardly

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³XQFKULVWLDQ´RUXQRUWKRGR[²for if the world is devoid of spirit, then by implication the narrative invites the reader to seek it HOVHZKHUH ,Q WKH FDVH RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood, death may point toward salvation, horror may point toward redemption, DQGGDUNQHVVPD\SRLQWWRZDUGWKHILQDO³SLQSRLQWRIOLJKWCW 131).

Notes 1

)RU2¶&RQQRU¶VDVVHUWLRQWKDWWKHQRYHOLVHVVHQWLDOO\FRPLFVHHWKH ³$XWKRU¶V1RWHWRWKH6HFRQG(GLWLRQ´CW 1265). 2 It would be nearly impossible to catalogue the number of books and articles that engage in these common interpretations of Wise Blood. However, John Byars and Marshall Bruce Gentry offer good examples RIWKHIRUPHUWUHQGLQ2¶&RQQRUFULWLFLVPZKLOH(ULN1LHOVHQ¶VZRUN is representative of the latter. 3 See Asals 52, Palmer 170, Klein 234, Klug 306, and Currie 138 for these various interSUHWDWLRQVRIWKH(VVH[¶VVLJQLILFDQFH

Works Cited Asals, Frederick. )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU 7KH ,PDJLQDWLRQ RI Extremity. Athens: U Georgia P, 1982. %XUQV0DUJLH³$*RRG5RVH,s Hard to Find: Southern Gothic as Signs of Social Dislocation in Faulkner and 2¶&RQQRU´ LQ Image and Ideology in Modern/Postmodern Discourse. eds. David Downing and Susan Bazargan. Albany: State U of New York P. 1991. (105-23) %\DUV -RKQ ³0LPLFU\ DQG 3Drody in Wise Blood´ College Literature 11 (1984): 277-79. &XUULH 6KHOGRQ ³)UHDNV DQG )RONV &RPLF ,PDJHU\ LQ WKH )LFWLRQ RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU´ The Antigonish Review 62 (1986):133-42.

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'HPRU\ 3DPHOD ³)DLWKIXOQHVV YV )DLWK +XVWRQ¶V YHUVLRQ RI Flannery 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood.´Journal of Southern Religion 2 (1999). http://jsr.fsu.edu/wblood.htm *HQWU\ 0DUVKDOO %UXFH ³7KH (\H YHUVXV WKH %RG\ ,QGLYLGXDO and communal Grotesquerie in Wise Blood´ Modern Fiction Studies 28 (1982): 487-93. .OHLQ 0LFKDHO ³9LVXDOL]DWLRQ DQG 6LJQLILFDWLRQ LQ -RKQ +XVWRQ¶V Wise Blood 7KH 5HGHPSWLRQ RI 5HDOLW\´ Literature/Film Quarterly 12.4 (1984): 230-36. .OXJ 0 $ ³)ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU DQG WKH 0DQLFKHDQ 6SLULW RI 0RGHUQLVP´ Southern Humanities Review 17 (1983): 303-13. 0F(QWHH-DVRQ³7KH1RYHO-to-Film Translatability of Satire in The Day of the Locust and Wise Blood´ Quarterly Review of Film and Video 17 (2000): 229-43. 1LHOVHQ(ULN³7KH+LGGHQ6WUXFWXUHRI Wise Blood´The New Orleans Review 19.3 (1992): 91-97. 2¶&RQQRU)ODQQHU\Collected Works. ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Library of America, 1988. _______. Mystery and Manners. eds. Sally Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, 1961. 3DOPHU /RXLV ³6RXWKHUQ *RWKLF DQG $SSDODFKLDQ *RWKLF $ &RPSDUDWLYH /RRN DW )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU DQG &RUPDF 0F&DUWK\´ Journal of the Appalachian Studies Association 3 (1991): 166-76. 6FKOHLIHU 5RQDOG ³5XUDO *RWKLF 7KH 6WRULHV RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU´Modern Fiction Studies 28 (1982): 475-85. 6QRZ 2OO\H 7LQH ³7KH )XQFWLRQDO *RWKLF RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU´Southwest Review 50 (1965): 286-99. Thomson, Douglass H., Jack G. Voller, and Frederick S. Frank., eds. Gothic Writers: A Critical and Biographical Guide. Westport: Greenwood, 2002. Wise Blood. dir. John Huston. Videocassette. Ithaca Productions/MCA Home video, 1985.

Car Trouble: Hazel Motes and the Fifties Counterculture Mark Schiebe CUNY Graduate Center ³'RHVRQH¶VLQWHJULW\HYHUOLHLQZKDWKHLVQRWDEOHWRGR"´DVNV )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRULQKHU³$XWKRU¶V1RWH´SUHIDFLQJWKHVHFRQG edition of Wise Blood. ³,WKLQNWKDWLWXVXDOO\GRHVIRUIUHHZLOO does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one mDQ´ )RUWKHPDMRULW\RI2¶&RQQRU¶VDXGLHQFH+D]HO0RWHV¶VHIIRUWV to rid himself of Christ are noble, but for the author, his inability to do so is the true marker of nobility. Ever cognizant of the fact that her Catholicism alienated her from the secular literary HVWDEOLVKPHQW RI $PHULFD LQ WKH V 2¶&RQQRU KDV VDLG VKH ZURWH WKH ³1RWH´ WR PDNH VXUH HYHU\RQH NQHZ VKH ZDV D Christian writer, and Wise Blood was a Christian novel.1 WR@WKHXQLYHUVH´CW 19). Lylas Dayton Rommel¶VHVVD\³7KH'RVWRHYVNLDQ6WUXFWXUHRI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood´ GLVFXVVHV WKH HIIHFWV RI an DSSOLFDWLRQ RI 'RVWRHYVN\¶V WULSDUWLWH QDUUDWLYH VWUXFWXUH RI VKDPHSLW\ DQGSLHW\WR2¶&RQQRU¶VRZQQDUUDWLYHWHFKQLTXHV in Wise Blood. These effects reveal a political difference between the two authors that involves the place of natural law in a dHPRFUDWLF UHJLPH 2¶&RQQRU¶V OR\DOW\ WR WKH 7ULGHQWLQH Church and its view of natural law causes her to misconstrue 'RVWRHYVN\¶VSHUVRQDOLVWDSSURDFKWRSROLWLFDORUGHURQHWKDWLV very suited to the American regime and that implies the idea of natural riJKW7KHUHIRUH2¶&RQQRU¶VQHJDWLYHFRQFOXVLRQVDERXW modernity serve to alienate readers not disposed to her Catholic preconceptions about spiritual truth. Unfortunately for 2¶&RQQRUE\DFFHSWLQJWKHWKHRU\RIQDWXUDOULJKWWKH&DWKROLF Church after the 6HFRQG9DWLFDQ&RXQFLOIROORZV'RVWRHYVN\¶V DSSURDFK WR SROLWLFDO RUGHU DQG WKXV LQYDOLGDWHV 2¶&RQQRU¶V political claims implied in Wise Blood.

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Section V: Gender, Culture, and Genre Marshall Bruce Gentry¶V³:LVH:RPHQ:LVH%ORRd´FODLPV that in Wise Blood, women struggle admirably against their problems and women can recover the ancient power of their wise blood. The protagonists, Hazel Motes and Enoch Emery, are deeply sexist, and they need to become more like the women who search successfully for community. Sarah Gordon and Katherine Hemple Prown have suggested that manuscripts of Wise Blood provide a more positive treatment of women than does the finished novel; this essay argues²through analyses of 0UV +LWFKFRFN 0UV :DWWV +D]HO¶V PRWKHU 6DEEDth Lily Hawks, and Mrs. Flood²that the finished novel is more feminist than the manuscripts. Hazel in the manuscripts studies women to find salvation. In the completed novel, he typically refuses to accept female wisdom, but women study and learn from the IDFHRI+D]HO$VVKHUHYLVHG2¶&RQQRUVKLIWHGDZD\ from the study of females to create male saintliness, toward the study of the male to create female divinity. Janine Tobeck¶V ³1R 5HGHHPLQJ 9DOXH 7KH 9LROHQFH of/toward Realism in Wise Blood´VWXGLHV WKHQRYHO¶VUHMHFWLRQ RI WKH ³FXVWRPDU\´ UHDOLVWV 2¶&RQQRU FRQGHPQV LQ ³6RPH $VSHFWV RI WKH *URWHVTXH LQ 6RXWKHUQ )LFWLRQ´ IRU EHLQJ IDOVH prophets of redemption in literature. Hazel Motes seeks redemption from redemption by founding the Church Without Christ, a religion he struggles throughout the novel to define. His ideas are perverted by con-man Hoover Shoats, who dubs KLV UHOLJLRQ ³XS-to-GDWH´ DQG HPSOR\V D GRXEOH RI +D]HO IRU D SURSKHWSURILW 6KRDWV LV 2¶&RQQRU¶V FXVWRPDU\ UHDOLVW KH understands that his power lies in delivering a moral system that appears both made-to-order and linked to a transcendent truth² ERWK ³RI &KULVW´ DQG ³ZLWKRXW &KULVW´²offering redemption ZLWKRXW FRVW ,Q WKLV UHDGLQJ +D]HO¶V PXUGHU RI WKH SURSKHW serves to condemn narratives that promise deliverance through the real. Wise Blood PRGHOV2¶&RQQRU¶VDOWHUQDWLYH³UHDOLVPRI

434

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GLVWDQFHV´ XVLQJ YLROHQFH WR FRQYHUW UHDGHUV WR D QHZ understanding of what fiction should be and do. Teresa Clark Caruso¶V DUWLFOH ³:KRUHV DQG +HDWKHQV: Misogynistic Representations in Wise Blood´ IRFXVHV RQ WKH UROH RI ZRPHQ LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V Wise Blood. Caruso argues that even though women are a part of the plot, female inferiority is evident throughout the story. Throughout Wise Blood, women are dependent upon and objectified by males, devalued and used by men in order develop a sense of masculinity and achieve their own purposes. Women are seen as threatening by the men in the novel, yet they are actually powerless characters. Caruso convincingly argues 2¶&RQQRU¶V QHJDWLYH SRUWUD\DO RI ZRPHQ using text from Wise Blood, D JOLPSVH RI 2¶&RQQRU¶V OLWHUDU\ EDFNJURXQG DQG FULWLFV¶ UHYLHZV 2¶&RQQRU ZURWH LQ D OLWHUDU\ HUD PDUNHG E\ PHQ¶V GRPLQDQFH LQ OLWHUDWXUH DQG WKLV JUHDWO\ affected her writing. ,Q ³+H¶V +XQWLQ¶ 6RPHWKLQJ +D]HO 0RWHV DV ([-6ROGLHU´ Stacey Peebles UHDGV +D]HO 0RWHV¶V FULVLV RI IDLWK DV D consequence of his experiences in World War II. Read in the context of other war narratives and studies addressing the complex relationship of violence and identity, Wise Blood reveals the traumatic effects of HazeO¶V FRQVFULSWLRQ KLV IRXUyear service, and the serious injury he sustains. Hazel is most often understood as a Christian malgré lui who struggles with and against faith, but Peebles argues that his struggle is defined and enacted through metaphors of war²such as the ragged &KULVW ILJXUH ZKR VWDONV +D]HO OLNH DQ HQHP\ VROGLHU ³PRYLQJ IURPWUHHWRWUHHLQWKHEDFNRIKLVPLQG´RUWKHEDUEHGZLUHKH XVHVWRELQGKLVFKHVW'HWDLOVDERXW+D]HO¶VZDUH[SHULHQFHDUH minimal, yet revealing, and indicate that the failure of his religious belief is the symptom of a larger problem²his lengthy experience of large-scale violence and death.

Abstracts of Arguments

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Sonya Freeman Loftis¶Vessay³Death, Horror, and Darkness: O¶Connor¶V Gothic Novel on Screen´ examines the role of *RWKLF LPDJHU\ LQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO DQG -RKQ +XVWRQ¶V  film Wise Blood ,Q 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO *RWKLF HPEOHPV RI darkness and mortality point to the underlying motivation EHKLQG +D]HO¶V YLROHQW DQG LUUDWLRQDO EHKDYLRU D IHDU RI GHDWK GULYHV WKH SURWDJRQLVW¶V VHDUFK IRU VSLULWXDO PHDQLQJ DV KH moves first away from, and then toward, Christianity. Again and again, Hazel faces various versions of himself through doubles that prefigure his own death. While these doppelgangers resemble Hazel physically, they also often look like walking FRUSVHV-RKQ+XVWRQ¶VILOP KRZHYHULV DQDGDSWDWLRQ ZLWK LWV RZQDJHQGDHPEUDFLQJWKHFRPLFVLGHRI2¶&RQQRU¶VWH[W DQG HOLPLQDWLQJPRVWRIWKHQRYHO¶V*RWKLFLPDJHV+XVWRQUHSODFHV the Gothic with the comic, translating an exploration of supernatural mystery into a comic critique of commercialism. ,Q ³&DU 7URXEOH +D]HO 0RWHV DQG WKH )LIWLHV &RXQWHUFXOWXUH´ Mark Schiebe explores the connections between Wise Blood¶V protagonist and his fifties fictional brethren, existential searchers and anti-KHURHV OLNH -RKQ 8SGLNH¶V 5DEELW $QJVWURP DQG -' 6DOLQJHU¶V+ROGHQ&DXOILHOG +HGHPRQVWUDWHVD KLGGHQNLQVKLS EHWZHHQ 2¶&RQQRU¶V QRYHO DQG WKH QDVFHQW FRXQWHUFXOWXUDO discourse, exemplified in the work of contemporary filmmakers DQGVRFLRORJLVWVDVZHOODVQRYHOLVWV2¶&RQQRUDSSURSULDWHVWZR of the dominant narratives of the counterculture: the road novel, with its Emersonian rhetoric of mobility and freedom from the status quo; and the rescue of authenticity by killing or eluding RQH¶VIDOVHGRXEOH&KULVWLDQVDOYDWLRQFRPHVWR+D]HOKRZHYHU only when he has withdrawn spiritual investment in his automobile, and when he realizes that murdering his preacher double Solace Layfield has not in fact resulted in spiritual SXULILFDWLRQ 7KXV 2¶&RQQRU 6FKLHEH DUJXHV KDV ZULWWHQ D Christian critique of the American postwar counterculture by critically inhabiting its discourses.

About the Authors John J. Han, Editor. Professor of English and Creative Writing at Missouri Baptist University, Han has published numerous scholarly papers in journals and essay collections such as Literature and Belief, The Steinbeck Review, Steinbeck Studies, John Steinbeck and His Contemporaries, The Moral Philosophy of John Steinbeck, Mark Twain Studies, Journal of Transnational American Studies, and Journal of Humanities. He has also contributed more than seventy essays to Encyclopedia of Catholic Literature, Writers of the American Renaissance, Asian American Novelists, Irish Women Writers, and other reference volumes. An award-winning poet and nonfiction writer, Han is the author of three books of poetry: Little Guy Haiku: Life with Bailey, a Maltese (2009), Chopsticks and Fork: A Senryu Collection (2010), and Thunder Thighs: Haiku Musings on the English Language (2010). He holds an M.A. from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Susan Amper is an Associate Professor of English at Bronx Community College of the City University of New York. Her published work includes the book How to Write about Edgar Allan Poe D ERRN FKDSWHU ³,QWURGXFWLRQ WR 3RH &ULWLFLVP´ published in Critical Insights: The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and an essay on the Showtime series Dexter ³'H[WHU¶V 'DUN :RUOG 6HULDO .LOOHU DV 6XSHUKHUR´ LQ Serial Killers and Philosophy. Andrew Peter Atkinson is an instructor in North American Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. His research explores the relationship between theological aesthetics DQG WZHQWLHWK FHQWXU\ OLWHUDWXUH ,Q KLV GLVVHUWDWLRQ ³6DOWZDWHU Sacraments and Backwoods Sins: Contemporary Atlantic Canadian Literature and the Rise of Literary CatKROLFLVP´ KH outlined a shift in Atlantic Canadian literature from a largely secular discourse with privatized religion to a robust literary

438

About the Authors

examination of religion in contemporary life. He is currently embarking on a project that situates representations of beauty and the rhetoric of paradox in the context of a post-secular social imaginary. Teresa Clark Caruso is the editor of ³2Q WKH 6XEMHFW RI WKH )HPLQLVW%XVLQHVV´5HUHDGLQJ)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU, a collection of HVVD\V WKDW DSSURDFK 2¶&RQQRU¶V works from a feminist perspective. 6KHWHDFKHV(QJOLVKDQG:RPHQ¶V Studies at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Jordan Cofer is an assistant professor of English at Abraham Baldwin College in Tifton, GA. He has published essays on )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRULQMRXUnals 7KH)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ and Southern Quarterly. He was recently a recipient of The )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU5HVHDUFK)HOORZVKLSDQGWKH6DUDK*RUGRQ Award, as well as winning the Outstanding Dissertation award IRU KLV UHVHDUFK RQ )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU DW 7Hxas Tech University. Debra Cumberland is a professor of English and Creative Writing and director of Graduate Studies in English at Winona State University in Winona, MN. Dozens of her scholarly essays, short stories, and creative nonfiction have appeared in various journals, including Under the Sun, Red Wheelbarrow, American Literary Realism, The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, and Natural Bridge. She is the co-editor of Autism and Siblings: Stories Spanning Generations and Cultures, which is forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Press. Henry T. (Hank) Edmondson III is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, GA. He is the author of Return to *RRGDQG(YLO)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶V Response to Nihilism and the editor of The Moral of the Story: Literature and Public Ethics. +LV DUWLFOHV RQ 2¶&RQQRU KDYH DSSHDUHG DPRQJ RWKHU

About the Authors

439

places, in 7KH)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZand Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy. Edmondson is currently editing $3ROLWLFDO&RPSDQLRQWR)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU (University Press of Kentucky) scheduled for publication in late 2011. A scholar with a keen interest in the intersection between politics and literature, he has taught courses combining politics and such authors as William Shakespeare and J. R. R. Tolkien. In 2003, KH ZDV QDPHG *&68 ³'LVWLQJXLVKHG 3URIHVVRU´ IRU H[FHOOHQFH in teaching, research and service to the university. Jonathan D. Fitzgerald is a writer and the managing editor of Patrolmag.com. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Christianity Today, Books and Culture, Religion Dispatches, and Intégrité: A Faith and Learning Journal. He currently lives with his wife Stephanie in Jersey City, NJ, and works as Coordinator of the Writing and Communications Center at Stevens Institute of Technology. For more information, visit www.jonathandfitzgerald.com. Marshall Bruce Gentry has degrees from Arkansas, Chicago, and Texas. Professor of English at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville and Editor of the Flannery 2¶&RQQRU5HYLHZ, Gentry is the author of )ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU¶V Religion of the Grotesque, published by the University Press of Mississippi and available in paperback. His articles on 2¶&RQQRU¶V ZRUNV DSSHDU LQ )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU¶V 5DGLFDO Reality, ³On the Subject of the FeminisW%XVLQHVV´5H-reading )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU, )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU 1HZ 3HUVSHFWLYHV, The Southern Quarterly, etc. Gentry was co-director, with John &R[IRU³5HFRQVLGHULQJ)ODQQHU\2¶&RQQRU´D 1DWLRQDO Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College and University Teachers. Paul Benedict Grant is an Assistant Professor of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. His main research interests lie in twentieth-century literature: he has

440

About the Authors

published essays and articles on Vladimir Nabokov, Raymond Carver, and John Buchan, among others. He is currently writing DPRQRJUDSKRQ1DERNRY¶VKXPRUand co-authoring a book on the publication and cultural history of Nabokov¶s Lolita for Harvard University Press. He is also co-editing Carver Across the Curriculum: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching the Fiction and Poetry of Raymond Carver (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011). Aaron Hillyer is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his research focuses on the hybrid literary forms of Enrique Vila-Matas, Cesar Aira, Giorgio Agamben and Maurice Blanchot. His dissertation traces how these writers figure immanent modes of being on an indeterminate threshold between literature and life. His work DLPV WR GHYHORS WKH LPSOLFDWLRQV RI %ODQFKRW¶V FODLP WKDW ³/LWHUDWXUHLVKHDGLQJWRZDUGLWVHOIWRZDUGLWVHVVHQFHZKLFKLV LWVGLVDSSHDUDQFH´ Andrew B. Leiter received his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama, and he completed his graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently teaches English at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA, where he lives with his family. His research specialties include literary and popular representations of the American South, as well as multicultural intersections with other regions. He is the author of In the Shadow of the Black Beast: African American Masculinity in the Harlem and Southern Renaissances, published by LSU Press. Sonya Freeman Loftis is an assistant professor of English at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. Her essays on film and adaptation have appeared in journals such as SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Text & Presentation, and Renaissance Papers. She is currently working on a book that examines modern dramatic adaptations of Shakespeare.

About the Authors

441

Lewis MacLeod is an Assistant Professor in Department of English at Trent University, Canada. Some of his research focuses on the transition between Modern and Postmodern cultures/literatures and on the function of ritual in secular culture. His work has appeared in, or is forthcoming from, a number of journals, including Modern Fiction Studies, Mosaic, ARIEL, Critique, Narrative, LIT, and Studies in the Literary Imagination. Stacey Peebles is Assistant Director of the Lloyd International Honors College at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, where she also teaches Honors classes in literature, film, and philosophy. Her research focuses on the representation of war and violence. She has published a number of articles on Cormac 0F&DUWK\ DQG KHU DUWLFOH RQ $QWKRQ\ 6ZRIIRUG¶V DQG &ROE\ %X]]HOO¶V FRPEDW PHPRLUV DSSHDUHG LQ PMLA¶V VSHFLDO LVVXH ³:DU´+HUERRNWelcome to the Suck: Narrating the American 6ROGLHU¶V ([SHULHQFH LQ ,UDT was published by Cornell University Press. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Lylas Dayton Rommel has taught classical languages, ancient and modern literature and humanities for nearly thirty years. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Dallas, where she wrote her dissertation on the poetics of shame in Feodor Dostoevsky and William Faulkner. Her current interests include the parallels between Russian and American literature and art, the impact of evolutionary psychology on the study of art and art making, and the teaching of writing. She is Associate Professor of Literature at Ave Maria University. Mark Schiebe is a doctoral candidate at The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. His dissertation investigates the connections between business and artistic values in American literary naturalism, demonstrating how Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, and Abraham Cahan,

442

About the Authors

despite reservations about capitalism, were pioneers in illuminating the relationship between artistic creation and the pursuit of money. W. A. Sessions is Regents¶Professor Emeritus at Georgia State University. His play A Shattering of Glass was a winner (with the playwright Rebecca Gilman) of the Festival of Southern Theatre and produced at the University of Mississippi, Oxford. To Boundary House was a finalist in the Louisville Theatre play competition and has been given national readings along with several other plays of his, including his latest play The Blue Heron. He has published poetry in The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, The California Quarterly, and national and international journals. He is also considered as one of the ZRUOG¶V IRUHPRVW VSHFLDOLVWV LQ WKH VWXG\ RI )UDQFLV %DFRQ WKH English Renaissance philosopher, having published a number of books on Bacon. His Francis Bacon Revisited (1995) is now considered a standard text for the study of Bacon. His 500-page biography of the Tudor poet, Henry Howard, the Poet Earl of Surrey, was published by Oxford University Press in 1999 and went into a paperback edition in April 2003. He finished the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (at age 19) and was the founding editor of the literary journal, The Carolina Quarterly. +H FRPSOHWHG KLV 0DVWHU¶V DQG 3K' DW &ROXPELD University in New York in English and Comparative Literature. He has published thirty-five essays in books and over seventyfive articles in scholarly journals and six books. He is now completing the authorized biography of Flannery O¶Connor. Janine Tobeck is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin±Whitewater. She studies bad characters in post-World War II American literature, and has written about D IHZ ZKR SRSXODWH WKH ILFWLRQ RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU .XUW Vonnegut, and William Gibson, among others.

Index ³$´%HWW\+HVWHU , 19, 164, 182, 252, 303 Absurdity, xvi, 15, 18, 20, 21, 34, 35, 68, 69, 75, 79, 96, 103, 112, 151, 155, 167, 168, 182, 185, 189, 190, 191, 194, 233, 239, 245, 246, 250, 251, 268, 274, 350, 411, 430, 431 Agamben, Giorgio, xvii, 121-125, 130-139, 428, 440 Alienation, 28, 29, 30, 32, 96, 99, 100, 102, 105, 106, 107, 162, 170, 174, 185, 188, 194, 199, 294, 295, 296, 300, 405, 430 Ambiguity, xv, 6, 231-253, 329, 431 Amper, Susan, xvi, 43-58, 426, 437 Animals, xv, xvii, 4, 12, 37, 78, 91, 101, 103-105, 108-109, 112, 119-140, 185, 195, 196, 197, 289, 290, 341, 369, 393, 398, 400, 427-428 Anthropological machine, 119, 126, 131, 133, 135137, 427 Anticlericalism, 276, 277, 282 Antinomianism, 28-29, 3539, 425

Aquinas, Saint Thomas, 61, 68, 78, 83, 212, 227, 231, 233 Arendt, Hannah, 121, 139 Aristotle, 88, 122, 123, 200, 227, 228 Asals, Frederick, 4, 12, 14, 17, 21, 65, 66-68, 88, 97, 107, 114, 390, 392, 397, 400, 402, 403, 415, 422 Atheism, xvii, 97, 153, 191, 276, 277, 282, 430 Atkinson, Andrew Peter, xvi-xvii, 59-90, 426, 437 Augustine, Saint, xviii, 61, 62, 66, 86, 89, 231-235, 240-241, 243-245, 246247, 253, 297, 431 Automobile, xiii, xiv, xvi, 4, 7, 14, 17, 53, 54, 58, 98100, 107, 111-113, 146, 147, 171-173, 195-197, 199, 245-247, 270-271, 274, 278, 280-281, 294, 321, 347, 350, 358-360, 362-363, 365, 384, 395396, 405-411, 413, 414, 417, 420, 421, 435 Bacon, Jon Lance, 53, 58, 104, 114, 280, 282, 416, 422, 423 Bakhtin, Mikhail, 281, 293, 304

444

Balthasar, Hans Urs von, 80, 88 Baptism, 83, 85, 213, 401 Bare life, 122-124, 130, 428 Barnes, Elizabeth, 340-341, 353 Barth, John, 339, 340, 353, 408, 414, 423 Barth, Karl, 35, 70, 88, 189 Bataille, Georges, 341-342, 353 Bauman, Zygmunt, 258263, 266-272, 275, 282, 431-432 Baym, Nina, 367-368, 369 Beatific vision, 61-62, 69, 76, 81-82, 427 Beats, 406, 408 Benjamin, Walter, 121, 139 Bergson, Henri, 116, 146147, 150, 155, 156 Bernanos, Georges, 87 Bethlehem, 57, 220, 242 ³%LEOH %HOW 7KH´   33, 39, 41 Biopolitics, 122-126, 130131 Body, 4, 7, 19, 59, 65, 80, 107, 122, 136, 146, 198, 217, 232, 267, 362, 366, 385, 393, 394, 395, 396, 400, 401, 404, 409, 410, 411, 418, 420, 421 Bondi, Roberta, 8-9, 16, 21 Boren, Mark, 113, 114, 148149, 156

Index

Brinkmeyer, Robert, 96, 114, 281, 282 Brittain, Joan T., 197, 203, 368, 369 Brod, Max, 162, 163, 172, 174, 178 Browning, Preston M. Jr., 31, 40, 368, 369 Bulgakov, Serguis, 83, 89 Caldwell, Erskine, 181, 203, 329 Calvinism, John Calvin, 61, 62, 63, 64, 70, 71, 77, 86 Camus, Albert, 74, 96, 184, 189, 190 Capote, Truman, 203 Carmelites, 207, 226, 228 Caruso, Teresa Clark, xviii, 329, 355-370, 434, 438 Caruth, Cathy, 353, 384, 387 Cash, Jean W. , 161, 178, 183, 203, 371, 387 Catharsis, 297, 298 ³7KH &DWKROLF 1RYHOist in WKH 3URWHVWDQW 6RXWK´ 2¶&RQQRU  Cheney, Brainard, 225, 228 Cofer, Jordan, xvii, 161179, 429, 438 Comedy, xiii, xvi, xvii, 5, 14-17, 19-20, 23, 49, 63, 72, 75-77, 86, 91, 93-94, 96, 99, 101, 103, 113, 142-145, 148, 149-157,

Index

245, 250, 275, 298, 399, 401, 425, 427, 429 Comic doubling, xvii, 94, 108, 427 Communism, 138, 405 Conscience, 111, 143, 144, 320, 384, 408, 421 Consumerism, 38, 53, 104, 401, 417 Conversion, xvii, 5, 6, 44, 72, 75, 84, 116, 143, 144, 211, 217, 231, 232, 233, 234, 240, 243, 301, 383, 407, 423 Cooke, Alexander, 120, 121, 139 Counterculture, xix, 405422, 434 Crane, Stephen, 375-376, 387 Cumberland, Debra L., xvi, 3-23, 425, 438 Dante Alighieri, 63, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 86, 235, 240, 280 de Lubac, Henri, 61, 63, 86 Democracy, 124, 138, 285, 292, 339, 340, 353 Desert fathers, 5-6, 8, 21, 22 Detachment, 105, 148, 149, 154, 265, 267-268, 294 Dickstein, Morris, 412-414 ³'LJQLWDWLV +XPDQDH´ [The Declaration on Religious Liberty], 301, 304 ³The Displaced 3HUVRQ´

445

2¶&RQQRU 4, 372, 373, 380, 387 ³Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith,´ 6869, 89 Donahoo, Robert, 315, 327, 328, 329 Doppelganger, 393-394, 399, 435 Dostoevsky, Fyodor, xviii, 116, 285-304, 432, 441 Driskell, Leon V., 197, 203, 368, 369 Edmondson, Henry T. III, xviii, 203, 204, 207-228, 430, 438-439 Ellison, Ralph, xix, 341, 353, 412-413, 418 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 8, 22, 155, 156, 408, 413414, 421, 435 Empathy, 10, 16, 145, 150, 336, 345, 352-353 Essex, xiii, 17, 58, 98, 100101, 107-108, 110-112, 116, 171, 173, 245-246, 250, 364, 395, 399, 403, 409-412, 421, 427 Eucharist, 83, 221 ³(YHU\WKLQJ 7KDW 5LVHV 0XVW &RQYHUJH´ 2¶&RQQRU  Everything That Rises Must Converge 2¶&RQQRU  97, 115, 119 Existentialism, xvii, 96, 97,

446

100, 112, 116, 167, 189, 427 Faulkner, William, xix, 203, 233, 244, 328, 403, 441 Feeley, Kathleen, 28, 29, 30, 39, 41 Feminist criticism, xviii, 187, 309-331, 355-370, 433, 434, 438, 439 ³The Fiction Writer & His &RXQWU\´ 2¶&RQQRU  164, 416 Film adaptation of Wise Blood, xviii-xix, 389404, 435 Fitzgerald, Jonathan D., xvi, 25-41, 425-426, 439 Foreigners, 106, 267, 280, 374 Foucault, Michel, 121-123, 140 Free will, xvii, 63, 70, 71, 86, 141, 143, 144, 250, 405, 406, 428 Freud, Sigmund, 187, 392 Fundamentalism, 26, 27, 39, 40, 195 Garrigou-Lagrange, Reginald, 73, 84-85, 89 Gender, xviii, 310, 328, 329, 355, 357, 367, 368, 370, 433 Gentry, Marshall Bruce, xviii, 3, 22, 113, 115, 309-331, 389, 403, 404, 433, 439

Index

Giannone, Richard, 3, 5, 67, 22, 232, 252 Gide, André, 96, 184 Gilpin, W. Clark, 8, 22 Gorilla, gorilla costume, xiii, xv, 12, 14, 37, 7778, 108-109, 129, 131136, 166, 197, 258, 273275, 279, 281, 366, 400, 401, 417, 427 Good, goodness, 4, 11, 13, 14, 44, 47, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 67, 70, 75, 7983, 86, 87, 167, 178, 189, 204, 226, 227, 287, 290, 293, 294, 297, 305, 320, 427, 438 ³*RRG &RXQWU\ 3HRSOH´ 2¶&RQQRU    117, 291, 330, 416 ³$ *RRG 0DQ ,V +DUG WR )LQG´ 2¶&RQQRU   120, 126, 137, 291, 322, 371, 372, 373, 415 A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories 2¶&RQQRU  Gordon, Caroline, 66, 68, 162, 163, 181, 234, 367 Gordon, Sarah, 3, 22, 227, 228, 314, 315, 316, 328, 329, 330, 355, 361, 369, 370, 433, 438 Gothic, xviii, xix, 201, 202, 203, 389, 390, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404,

Index

435 Grace, xiv, xvii, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 36, 41, 46, 48, 56, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 70, 72, 73, 74, 76, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 90, 120, 161, 164, 175, 177, 194, 198, 207, 215, 220, 222, 228, 240, 247, 285, 291, 344, 371 Grant, Paul Benedict, xvii, 141-157, 428, 439 ³*UHHQOHDI´ 2¶&RQQRU  291, 372-373 Grossman, Dave, 379 Guardini, Romano, 221, 227, 228, 303 The Habit of Being: Letters RI )ODQQHU\ 2¶&RQQRU, 9, 10, 22, 46, 58, 97, 116, 138, 140, 178, 183, 193, 194, 203, 204, 208, 209, 210, 212, 213, 214, 220, 221, 228, 235, 240, 249, 253, 281, 282, 423 Han, John J., xiii-xx, 181205, 430, 437 Hardy, Donald, 368, 370 Hartman, Carl, 33, 39, 69, 72, 148, 164, 303 Hassan, Ihab, 201, 202, 204 Hawkes, John, 3, 5, 18, 22, 36, 87, 143, 145, 155, 156, 201 Hemingway, Ernest, 96,

447

184 Hendin, Josephine, 3, 22 Herbert, George, 143-144, 156 Herman, Judith, 384-385, 387 Herr, Michael, 378-380, 386, 387 Hillyer, Aaron, xvii, 119140, 427, 440 Holmes, Richard, 377-380, 387 Homer, 81, 83, 375, 377, 378 Homo Sacer, 121, 124, 130, 138, 139 Hopkins, Gerard Manley, xviii, 207-212, 226, 228, 430 Humanism, 22, 96, 116, 120, 123, 133, 134, 333, 335, 428 Human nature, xvii, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 68, 69, 72, 74, 75, 77, 80, 83, 84, 291, 367, 368, 426 Humor, xvii, 15, 16, 20, 38, 64, 94, 96, 101, 106, 113, 116, 141-157, 161, 162, 164, 168, 176, 177, 181, 182, 191, 321, 399, 400, 427, 428, 429, 440 Huston, John, xiv, xix, 389, 398-402, 404, 435 Jansen, Cornelius, Jansenism, xvii, xvii,

448

59-90, 426, 427 Jesuits, 60, 63, 86, 207, 301 Judaism, 164-166, 177, 178 ³-XGJPHQW 'D\´ 2¶&RQQRU  Julian of Norwich, 8 Kafka, Franz, xvii, 96, 124, 139, 161-179, 181-191, 194, 199-202, 204-205, 233, 429, 430 Kerouac, Jack, 408, 412, 413, 423 Kuna, Franz, 188, 190, 204 ³7KH /ame Shall Enter )LUVW´2¶&RQQRU), 11 Laughter, 15, 17, 20, 22, 75, 77, 101, 107, 113, 114, 116, 145-151, 156, 157, 172, 202, 378 Law, 28, 36, 45, 51, 52, 121-124, 130-131, 136, 139, 172-176, 186, 188, 259, 268, 285, 286, 291292, 296-297, 301, 395, 432 Leiter, Andrew B., xvii, 93117, 427, 440 Lewis, R. W. B. , xv, xx, 163, 168, 175, 177, 178, 408 Liberalism, 138 ³7KH /LIH