Mary Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge

Michael J. Meyer (DePaul University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1965

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

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Flannery O’Connnor’s story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” was first published in 1961 just a few years before the author’s death from lupus in 1964. The title, a powerful depiction of a troubled mother/son relationship, won O’Connor the prestigious O. Henry Award in 1963 (the second time she had achieved this honor) and was later published posthumously in 1965 in a collection that bore the same title.

The historical context of this tale of racial bigotry and patronizing attitudes toward African Americans is important to a full understanding of O’Connor’s fiction. Set in the South where the aristocratic plantation culture continued to be prevalent even after the Civil War ended, the story line is surely impacted by the onset of integration and the repeal of the laws

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2416 words

Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "Everything That Rises Must Converge". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 June 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5253, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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