The Correspondence of Flannery O'Connor and the Brainard Cheneys

Stephens uses his previous work on his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Maryland in 1985 to provides O'Connor scholars with an indexed, annotated, chronological compilation of the correspondence between Flannery O'Connor and Brainard and Frances Neel Cheney. Using letters donated by Brainard Cheney to the Vanderbilt University Library, those included range from February 8, 1953 to July 16, 1964. The volume includes a foreword by Brainard Cheney, a seventeen-page introduction by Stephens providing useful biograpical and other related details, and four appendices: Frances Neel Cheney's review of A Good Man is Hard to Find; Brainard's reviews of Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away; and, Brainard's response to an article by John Hawkes. Stephens states that all of the 188 of the letters -- except five from O'Connor -- are presented "transcribed whole and uncut." They deal with a wide variety of topics, including: their writing projects; news of friends and family; invitations to visit and comments related to recent visits; farm news (including incidents at Andalusia); O'Connor's notes on her peacocks and other birds; and various theological discussions. [Reviewer's note: the material deleted from three of the five letters (6, 84 and 87) relate to racial issues, while the other two (90 and 151) have a single name deleted from each. Originals are located in the "Brainard Bartwell Cheney Papers" in the Special Collections Department of the Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University, (Box 6, Folders 58-62). Reader's are also referred to Terrye Newkirk's M.A. thesis, also located in Vanderbilt's Special Collections: "Cheers: Letters of Flannery O'Connor to Brainard and Frances Neel Cheney, 1953-1958."] R. Neil Scott / Middle Tennessee State University