"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Adrift after four years in the service, Hazel takes a train to the city of Taulkinham, buys himself a "rat-colored car," and sets about preaching on street corners for the Church Without Christ, "where the blind don't see and the lame don't walk and what's dead stays that way." Along the way he meets Enoch Emery, who's only 18 years old but already works for the city, as well the blind preacher Asa Hawks and his illegitimate daughter, Sabbath Lily. (Her letter to an advice column: "Dear Mary, I am a bastard and a bastard shall not enter the kingdom of heaven as we all know, but I have this personality that makes boys follow me. Do you think I should neck or not?") Subsequent events involve a desiccated, centuries-old dwarf--Gonga the Giant Jungle Monarch--and Hazel's nemesis, Hoover Shoats, who starts the rival Church of Christ Without Christ. If you think these events don't end happily, you might be right.
Wise Blood is a savage satire of America's secular, commercial culture, as well as the humanism it holds so dear ("Dear Sabbath," Mary Brittle writes back, "Light necking is acceptable, but I think your real problem is one of adjustment to the modern world. Perhaps you ought to re-examine your religious values to see if they meet your needs in Life.") But the book's ultimate purpose is Religious, with a capital R--no metaphors, no allusions, just the thing itself in all its fierce glory. When Hazel whispers "I'm not clean," for instance, O'Connor thinks he is perfectly right. For readers unaccustomed to holding low comedy and high seriousness in their heads at the same time, all this can come as something of a shock. Who else could offer an allegory about free will, redemption, and original sin right alongside the more elemental pleasure of witnessing Enoch Emery dress up in a gorilla suit? Nobody else, that's who. And that's OK. More than one Flannery O'Connor in this world might show us more truth than we could bear. --Mary Park
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Book Description #N/A. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Mike 168-013
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. 0.49. Seller Inventory # 0374505845-2-1
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0374505845
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 0.49. Seller Inventory # 353-0374505845-new
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0374505845
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0374505845
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0374505845
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0374505845
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # VIB0374505845
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.48. Seller Inventory # Q-0374505845