Flannery O'Connor's Manhattan

In Flannery O’Connor’s Manhattan, the mid-century fiction writer’s relationship with, and connections to, New York City are discussed, explored, considered and, at times, interpreted. Because O’Connor lived the last fourteen years of her life (years that comprised the bulk of her adulthood) with her mother on the Andalusia farm in rural Milledgeville, Georgia, this aspect of her life is rarely delved into. The book starts with a preface that describes the author’s physical, intellectual, and emotional journey to find the Manhattan that mattered to O’Connor. This is followed by an introduction that reviews O’Connor’s life and introduces the main sources used: five personal address books, dating from about 1945, when O’Connor was enrolled in the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, to her death in 1964. Following that, the book’s subject matter is considered in two parts. Part I, New York City, delves into the times O’Connor either lived in or visited Manhattan, with her first recorded trip taking place in 1943 and the final in 1958. Part II, The Listings, presents and defines the people and businesses (particularly in the publishing industry) recorded in the address books. Because information about the famous among these is easy to obtain, less is written about them, while longer explorations are given to the unknown, the less-famous, and the forgotten. Finally, as so many of these people and places are connected, readers are provided indications (“see entry”) when a person or place mentioned is covered elsewhere in the book.