Finding Flannery - The Art of Trying Twice

Finding Flannery - The Art of Trying Twice

By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures

Recently, I was given the opportunity to try something again, an experience I highly recommend.

Years ago, late high school, perhaps, I tried to read Flannery O'Connor and didn’t like her stories. I can’t even recall which ones I read, only that I closed the book unimpressed and moved on.

A lot has happened since high school.

Because I’m no longer the same person, I’ve made a quiet habit of revisiting the books I once placed on my “hated” list. (And honestly, I still don’t think high school is the right environment for Les Misérables or Atlas Shrugged. Some books require longer digestion than a semester allows and more patience than a teenager possesses.

Oddly, I don’t remember why I disliked O’Connor, but I do remember why I resisted returning to her for so long. In the book Wild, Cheryl Strayed held up O’Connor as a marker of 'sophisticated ' (snobby) reading.

I don’t want to be sophisticated.
Especially not the smug, literary kind of sophistication that makes everyone at the table a little tired.

Still, Flannery O’Connor came up again recently, and this time it wasn’t her reputation that caught my attention; it was her struggle with lupus. More specifically, it was her line: “I can, with one eye squinted, take it all as a blessing.”

That stopped me cold.  I understood that sentence immediately. Sometimes, in spite of everything, I have found "the accident" a blessing too. So I picked up Everything That Rises Must Converge.

And something shifted.

Now I’m searching for a copy of her complete works, one I can own, annotate, and return to. Her writing is sharp, uncomfortable, funny, and deeply honest in a way I couldn’t see when I was younger. What once felt distant now feels precise.

It’s astonishing what can be rediscovered when you allow yourself to try again.

That said, some things remain unchanged. I still hate Swiss chard and will not be revisiting that particular experience. Thank you very much.

I only hope I don’t become sophisticated now.

_____________________________________________________________________________

About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life

She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.

You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.

✨ #TakeTheBackRoads

Enjoyed this post? Support the adventure by visiting my sponsors, shopping the gallery, or buying me a cup of coffee!