Description

A brilliant, innovative novel, acutely alert to where the sacred lives–and where it does not First published in 1960, The Violent Bear It Away is a landmark in American literature–a dark and absorbing example of the Gothic sensibility and bracing satirical voice that are united in Flannery O Connor s work.
In this, O Connor s second novel, the orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousin, the schoolteacher Rayber, defy the prophecy of their dead uncle that Tarwater will become a prophet and baptize Rayber s young son, Bishop. A series of struggles ensues, as Tarwater fights an internal battle against his innate faith and the voices calling him to be a prophet while Rayber tries to draw Tarwater into a more reasonable modern world. Both wrestle with the legacy of their dead relative and lay claim to Bishop s soul. All this is observed by O Connor with an astonishing combination of irony and compassion, humor and pathos.