A Prayer Journal
By Flannery O'Connor and W. A. Sessions
4/5
()
About this ebook
"I would like to write a beautiful prayer," writes the young Flannery O'Connor in this deeply spiritual journal, recently discovered among her papers in Georgia. "There is a whole sensible world around me that I should be able to turn to Your praise." Written between 1946 and 1947 while O'Connor was a student far from home at the University of Iowa, A Prayer Journal is a rare portal into the interior life of the great writer. Not only does it map O'Connor's singular relationship with the divine, but it shows how entwined her literary desire was with her yearning for God. "I must write down that I am to be an artist. Not in the sense of aesthetic frippery but in the sense of aesthetic craftsmanship; otherwise I will feel my loneliness continually . . . I do not want to be lonely all my life but people only make us lonelier by reminding us of God. Dear God please help me to be an artist, please let it lead to You."
O'Connor could not be more plain about her literary ambition: "Please help me dear God to be a good writer and to get something else accepted," she writes. Yet she struggles with any trace of self-regard: "Don't let me ever think, dear God, that I was anything but the instrument for Your story."
As W. A. Sessions, who knew O'Connor, writes in his introduction, it was no coincidence that she began writing the stories that would become her first novel, Wise Blood, during the years when she wrote these singularly imaginative Christian meditations. Including a facsimile of the entire journal in O'Connor's own hand, A Prayer Journal is the record of a brilliant young woman's coming-of-age, a cry from the heart for love, grace, and art.
Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O’Connor was an American novelist and short-story writer, who over the course of her short career produced two novels and more than thirty short stories, including the critically acclaimed Wise Blood, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” and “Everything that Rises Must Converge.” Set primarily in the rural South, O’Connor’s Southern Gothic stories, strongly influenced by her Catholic faith, often portrayed the spiritual transformation—often violent, always painful—of a flawed individual. In 1972, she was posthumously awarded a National Book Award for Collected Stories, and was the first twentieth-century fiction writer to be collected and published by the Library of America. The Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, given annually by the University of Georgia Press, was named in her honour. O’Connor died in 1964 of complication from lupus.
Related to A Prayer Journal
Related ebooks
The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Giving the Devil His Due: Demonic Authority in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor and Fyodor Dostoevsky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Passing by the Dragon: The Biblical Tales of Flannery O'Connor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds Through Others' Eyes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Language of Grace: Flannery O' Connor, Walker Percy, and Iris Murdoch - Seabury Classics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHotly in Pursuit of the Real: Notes Toward a Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDear Regina: Flannery O'Connor's Letters from Iowa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers: Selections from Her Novels, Plays, Letters, and Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Letters of Flannery O'Connor and Caroline Gordon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O'Connor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stories from the Flannery O'Connor Award: A 30th Anniversary Anthology: The Early Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoly the Firm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mariette in Ecstasy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlannery O'Connor, Hermit Novelist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTremendous Trifles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential T.S. Eliot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWritings on Reconciliation and Resistance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot God's Type Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mind of the Maker: The Expression of Faith through Creativity and Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gospel in George MacDonald: Selections from His Novels, Fairy Tales, and Spiritual Writings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Religious Biographies For You
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking Up in Heaven: A True Story of Brokenness, Heaven, and Life Again Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Passport to Heaven: The True Story of a Zealous Mormon Missionary Who Discovers the Jesus He Never Knew Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat black Hasidic lady: a Memoir of a Dark-Skinned Hasidic Woman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Howard Thurman and the Disinherited: A Religious Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman They Wanted: Shattering the Illusion of the Good Christian Wife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paul: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Brothers: The Dramatic Story of a Palestinian Christian Working for Peace in Israel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Quiet: My Story of Overcoming Anxiety and the Practices that Brought Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Elisabeth Elliot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel: How Truth Overwhelms a Life Built on Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil in the City of Angels: My Encounters With the Diabolical Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here I Stand - A Life Of Martin Luther Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters and Papers from Prison Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Confessions of St. Augustine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bonhoeffer Abridged: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Prayer Journal
41 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful, thoughtful and vulnerable.. writings, musings, prayers of O'Connor.
Very short book, took me less than a day to read. Very inspiring. Only wish there had been more entries. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This small book contains a somewhat corrected transcription and a facsimile of a prayer journal kept by author Flannery O'Connor in 1946-1947. She kept it in one of those old Sterling notebooks with the marbled paper cover and lined pages. It contains the prayers of her heart. Some pages are missing, and in some cases at least, O'Connor herself tore them out. The book offers us a glimpse into O'Connor's spiritual life as she was embarking on her writing career. She desired to be a good writer and prayed for that. She seemed to be somewhat sporadic in her journaling as are most persons. She wrote daily for awhile and then was absent for periods of time. At other times she wrote some days but not others. The editor of the published volume did try to note where pages had been torn out. The journal itself even begins mid-sentence because of torn-out pages. In some instances, I wondered what led her to write that day's entry. She seems to be well-versed in philosophy. This small volume is important to those studying O'Connor's fiction works. We can only wonder about future works she might have created if her life had not been cut short by lupus at age thirty-nine.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A short book of which half is photocopies of O'Connor's journal. As a writer myself, and a person of deep faith in a Divine Being (whatever one wishes to call that Divinity), I was fascinated by her struggle to keep faith in God & herself, and by her constant pleas to God to grant her ambitions to be more than a mediocre writer (possibly because they echo my own prayers) However, cynically, I wondered who tore out the missing pages - was it the publishers themselves(to keep the journal focused on he writing prayers) and were they really missing when the journal was found? I'm not a fan of living celebreties biographies and advice books - but O'Connor is no longer living, and her talent has stood the test of time. Thus, this journal could have been a great inspiration to unpublished authors. It is fascinating seeing her insecurities & ambition laid bare. I did, however, expect a prayer journal to cover other aspects of her life, and that was missing from this very short book. I did, however, like the photocopies of the actual journal and seeing her actual handwriting.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A fascinating insight into the inner world of one of the twentieth centuries better authors. It is remarkable to see the depth of her comments. You feel like you are sharing with her as you read. It is truly inspirational to read these.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is short book filled with inspiration as well as insight into the mind and spiritual life of Flannery O'Connor. The book consists of short prayers that the author wrote in her personal journal and give us a picture of the things she valued and wanted to achieve both personally a professionally. Through the author's pen we see that she feels a strong connection between art and the creator.
Book preview
A Prayer Journal - Flannery O'Connor
The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Introduction by W. A. Sessions
Editor’s Note
A Prayer Journal
Facsimile
Notes
Also by Flannery O’Connor
Copyright
INTRODUCTION
BY W. A. SESSIONS
From January 1946 to September 1947, Flannery O’Connor kept a journal that was, in essence, a series of prayers. She was not twenty-one years of age when she began this journal, and at twenty-two, when she wrote the last entry, it was clear that her prayer journal had already made a difference in her life.
In this journal, written in Iowa City, where she had initially gone to study journalism but ended up in writing workshops, O’Connor reckoned with her new life. Here, she consecrated herself to a force that had surrounded her, so she believed, since her birth, in Savannah, Georgia, on March 25, 1925. Iowa City, in the American heartland, seemed the polar opposite of the racially mixed but segregated port city, which in her time was exotic (the last great port southward, before Cuba and the Caribbean). For her, Savannah had opened up more than the diversity of human existence. There a series of Catholic rituals and teachings had offered her young life a coherent universe. By 1946, Savannah had for O’Connor ceded to the university world of Iowa, where new influences, including intellectual joys, brought with them questions and skepticism.
In that freedom, O’Connor began her journal and initiated a rare colloquy. She began to compose entries that soon transcended simple meditations on the perplexities of life. From the start (we do not have the first pages) the journal contained lyric outcries that became a singular dialogue. In fact, she seemed to be inventing her own prayer form. Abrupt, truncated, and serial, the individual entries convey great intensity: Oh Lord,
she cries out toward the end of the journal, make me a mystic, immediately.
This urgency was present even in her final cry of disappointment. By then she knew that she would not have an immediate answer from the