Thesis (M.A.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-75). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-96).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 2002. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125).

In her essay, “The Grotesque in Southern Fiction,” Flannery O’Connor notes, “Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one” (44). In the introduction to this collection, I investigate the importance of the grotesque, gothic, and surreal elements that tend to make up the depictions of the South in the works of authors such as Flannery O’Connor and Brad Watson and several horror writers, such as Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft, exploring how horror can be used to emphasize the stranger elements of Southern fiction. In my own stories, I present both realistic depictions of suffering and sin in the South, as well as the strange and surreal, presenting the South not just as a world for freaks, but as a freakish world in and of itself.

Throughout her fiction, Flannery O' Connor uses character reflections to present mirror analogues. The recurrence of these mirror analogues inspired me to look deeper into her fiction for analogues that might superficially appear to be unrelated and dissimilar. I found that in addition to her more obvious reflections there was another whole set of what I term reflectors that have the same function of pointing up traits or corresponding characteristics between characters by dwelling upon their dissimilarities. For the sake of convenience I have divided the mirror analogues in O'Connor's fiction into two categories: reflectors and reflections.

The majority of critics interested in the religious elements of Flannery O'Connor's fiction argue that her texts illustrate her professed Catholic faith. For many of these scholars, the author's nonfiction figures predominately in their interpretations of her fiction. This thesis highlights the presence of Evangelical theology in O'Connor's short fiction by utilizing an approach that is underrepresented in scholarly examinations of her works: reading O'Connor's texts without considering the author's personal beliefs. Through this approach, the Evangelical dimensions of O'Connor's short stories become apparent. This thesis contends that each of the six short stories discussed exemplifies Evangelical theology as they emphasize the fallen nature of humanity, depict the action of grace as transformative, and suggest that willful cooperation is not necessary to salvation. By demonstrating that O'Connor's short fiction reproduces Evangelical theology, this thesis aims to provide scholars with a basis for reconsidering the relationship of her works to the literary tradition of the largely Protestant South.

No description available.

This thesis is an investigation into the nature of the characterizations of women and Negroes in the fiction of Flannery O'Connor and the extent to which the attitudes, beliefs, and ideas contained in the background of the author influenced such portrayals. The thesis identifies these influences as her native South and the Roman Catholic Church and concludes that her misogynistic treatment of women and sympathetic handling of Negroes proceeds from values placed on both groups in such influences.

This study seeks to question old and common misconceptions concerning the american literary genre Southern Gothic. By using the carnival theory, the theory about the "grotesque" by Mikhail Bakhtin, this study seeks to explain and reach a better understanding of some works defined as Southern Gothic - so called because of the significance that is attributed in the genre to the geographical location in the southern United states. This study analyzes carnivalesque transgression in short story collections by Flannery O´Connor, Eudora Welty and Dorothy Allison, and the main purpose is to investigate if the genre really is as dark as it is often described by critics; pessimistic, absurdly shocking and without any affirmation regarding the beauty and strength of life.  Transgression is here defined as the transgression made by fictional characters when their bodies and their actions refuses to conform to the norms established by "the official world". By using Bachtins terminology my main thesis is to investigate positive and life-affirming transgression in A Good Man is Hard to Find, A Curtain of Green and Trash. The study further investigates the ways in which the bodies of the fictional characters become grotesque and in what way the characters through their behaviour become carnivalesque. The short stories are also compared with eachother from both a tematic and historic perspective: can changes through time be observed? Does the grotesque form or expression change in any way from Welty to Allison? The conclusion of the study is that both grotesque and carnivalesque forms can be found in the short stories, and it can be considered carnivalesue in a true Bakhtinian way, as both positive and affirming. The study also finds that the grotesque tends to become more positive and life-affirming through time.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.