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

Save to Bookshelf

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

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

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 25 November 2024.]

Mary Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback