Date
5-2016
Department
English and Modern Languages
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Chair
Karen Prior
Keywords
Catholic, O'Connor, Poetics, Prayer, Redemption, Sanctification
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature | Literature in English, North America | Other English Language and Literature
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Emily, "Flannery O'Connor and the Poetics of Prayer: The Analysis of A Prayer Journal" (2016). Masters Theses. 411.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/411
Abstract
Prior to the recent discovery of her college prayer journal, kept between 1946 and 1947, knowledge of Flannery O’Connor’s religious influence and activity had been restricted to her letters and published works, such as Mystery and Manners and The Habit of Being. Works such as these shed light onto O’Connor’s background and religious views, making her Catholic faith obvious and explicit. This prayer journal exposes a new aspect of her faith – that is the personal relationship between herself and God shown through narrative. Her prayer journal makes it clear that her external expression of faith, showcased in most of her writing, exists as a consistent and natural outflow of internal personal beliefs. O’Connor’s prayer journal, published as A Prayer Journal in 2013, showcases her personal spiritual life and habitual practices through this honest narrative with God.
Included in
Literature in English, North America Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons
