The Violent Bear It Away: A Novel by Flannery O'Connor - June 2007

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2007. Paper Back. New. Flannery O'Connor wrote two novels, this being her second and last. Even before we find the title page, she begins her mysterious assault: ''From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away'' (Matthew 11:12). This spare and often disturbing story is borne by only four characters, all uncles and nephews: the elder Mason Tarwater, his nephew Rayber, the younger Francis Tarwater (son of Rayber's sister, raised by his great-uncle Mason), and Bishop, Rayber's own ''dim-witted'' son. Both Rayber and the younger Tarwater live deeply conflicted lives, torn by their ''prophetic'' blood, living within the fragile tension of complete abandonment to or denial of its call. They can't shake their uncle's eyes, ''insane, fish-coloured, violent with their impossible vision of a world transfigured.'' In her genius, O'Connor hands us no fine or noble character. We find purity of heart in the young Bishop, but even his light seems overcome by the Tarwater ''affliction.'' Still, there is a hard won redemption here. If conflict is any indication of a soul's desire for the good, then it might be as the early Christian father John Cassian wrote: ''By their own desire they brought a certain force to bear on the heavenly kingdom and anticipated the particular signs of their calling.'' 243 pp.