Five page biography on Flannery O'Connor.

Flannery O'Connor

The famous author, Flannery O'Connor, was born on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. As a young child, Flannery was baptized; her Christian name then became Mary Flannery O'Connor. She was the only child of the devout Roman Catholics, Regina L. Cline and Edward F. O'Connor, Jr. O'Connor's mother came from a very prominent family in Georgia and her father worked in real estate and construction. In the fall of 1938, her father was diagnosed with the disease lupus erythematosus and died in 1941 (Shuman 1136).

At the age of twelve, her family moved to Andalusia, the Cline homestead in Milledgeville, Georgia. Here, Flannery kept several peacocks as pets along with her beloved peafowl. "As early as her teenager years, she knew that she wanted to become a writer" (Shuman 1136). During her adolescent years, she read the works of Nathanial Hawthorne, whose themes of sin and redemption influenced her writings.

English: Robie Macauley with Flannery O'Connor at ...

English: Childhood home of American author Flanner...

English: Childhood home of American author Flanner...

Also, the works of Edgar Allen Poe influenced her by his use of violence, the macabre and grotesque language in his short stories. During O'Connor's career, her primary mentor was Caroline Gordon, who was a leading southern writer and teacher of literature and creative writing (Shuman 1136).

In 1942, Flannery graduated from Peabody High School and entered Georgia State College for Women located in Milledgeville. During college and high school years, she drew satiric cartoons for student newspapers, which helped her develop comic skills and use of exaggeration (Shuman 1136). In June 1945, O'Connor graduated from Georgia State College with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and English (Shuman 1137).

At the age of twenty-one, her first short story titled "The Geranium", was published and appeared in the popular Accent in 1946. Her talent for writing fiction won her a scholarship to the University of Iowa, where...