Author versus art: interpreting O'Connor, Walker, and Jackson

¶ … Flannery O'Connor's fiction, under the spell of the writer's occasional comments, has been unusually susceptible to interpretations based on Christian dogma. None of O'Connor's stories has been more energetically theologized than her most popular, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." O'Connor flatly declared the story to be a parable of grace and redemption, and for the true believer there can be no further discussion. As James Mellard remarks, "O'Connor simply tells her readers -- either through narrative interventions or be extra-textual exhortations -- how they are to interpret her work" (625). And should not the writer know best what her story is about? A loaded question, to which the best answer may be DH Lawrence's advice: trust the art, but not the artist."

Paraphrase

Stephen Bandy states that while O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" has been interpreted as a profoundly Christian work, when it comes to judging the art itself (rather than the artist's intention) the story does not necessarily do what the author suggests it does. O'Connor's personal belief and conviction (publicly acknowledged) is one rooted in the theological doctrine of grace acting in conjunction with redemption -- but as DH Lawrence noted, the art is what matters -- not what the artist says (Bandy 107).

Direct Quotation

While many critics positively agree that Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a story that cannot easily be forgotten, Helen Nebeker notes that "beneath the praise of these critics frequently runs a current of uneasiness" (100).