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At the intersection of literary theory and linguistics, The Body in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction extends the innovative thesis that it is possible to grasp the central struggle between spirit and matter in O'Connor through a close quantitative examination of the interactions of grammatical voice and physical bodies in her texts. Donald E. Hardy demonstrates that the many constructions in which the body parts of O'Connor's characters are foregrounded, either as subjects or objects, are grammatical manipulations of semantic variations on what linguists deem the middle voice--roughly indicating that the subject is acting upon himself or herself.

Hardy combines computational and linguistic methodology to provide a productive approach to understanding O'Connor's use of the body and its parts in her explorations of the sacramental and the grotesque. Linguistic analysis of grammatical middle voice is coupled with quantitative analysis of body-part words and the collocations in which they appear to present a new point of entrance to understanding O'Connor's stylistic manipulations of the body as central to the rift between spirit and matter. In addition to the middle voice, Hardy approaches ergative and reflexive voice patterns in O'Connor and demonstrates the value in using log-likelihood and dispersion quantitative measures for identifying empirical evidence in literary studies. He shows O'Connor's fiction to be unique even at the sentence level and, moreover, offers an original reading of her work rooted in computational analysis.

Through this method of reading the struggle between the incarnational and the sacramental in O'Connor, Hardy makes a valuable contribution to the growing body of work that is introducing linguistic terminology and concepts into literary studies and by extension the broader field of interpretive humanities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An interpretive approach to the humanities in particular.
It is not enough to simply read great literature, we must also think about what it is we've read -- and ponder not only what the author has written, but the why and the how of the writing if we are to derive maximum value from our efforts and time spent with that particular body of work and that particular author. Such is the case with "The Body In Flannery O'Connor's Fiction: Computational Technique And Linguistic Voice" by Donald E. Hardy (Professor of English, University of Nevada - Reno). Using as the basis for his extensive analytic treatise, Professor Hardy draws upon three major essays he had written (and for the purpose of this book, re-written to make it a comprehensive and organized text) to present an innovative thesis with respect to O'Connor's use of grammatical voice and physical bodies in the texts of her novels. Combining computational and linguistic methodologies, Professor Hardy illustrates and highlights O'Connor's use of the body and its parts in her literary explorations of the sacramental and the grotesque. The result is a seminal literary analysis of impeccable interpretive scholarship. "The Body In Flannery O'Connor's Fiction" is a welcome addition to academic library reference collections in general, and an important contribution to the utilization of linguistic terminology and concepts for an interpretive approach to the humanities in particular. ... Read more

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In Narrating Knowledge in Flannery O’Connor’s Fiction, Donald E. Hardy examines themes in Flannery O'Connor's fiction concerning the limitations of human knowledge. He argues that attending to O'Connor's stylistic strategies allows the best access to her views about knowledge in all its manifestations—spiritual, rational, and emotional—whether the knowledge is that of the narrator, the narratee, or the characters of her narratives. It also, he maintains, allows readers to appreciate the mysteries she sought to underscore.

Surveying O'Connor's fiction, early as well as late, Hardy concludes that the writer's differentiation between grades of knowledge, along with the intimations she offered of what lies behind knowledge—of the ineffable behind the rational—finds only partial expression in the content of her narratives and in her narrative summings-up. For a thorough understanding it is necessary to turn to her employment of certain linguistic devices open to analysis. These include dependent clauses, for rendering presuppositions explicit; negations, for blocking suppositions; and participials describing what is seen, for bringing out implications.

In a study completely accessible to readers of O'Connor who possess no background in stylistics, Hardy undertakes analyses that are both qualitative and quantitative, both comparative and statistical. By illuminating convictions of O'Connor's that are latent in but constitutive of her fiction, his exploration enlarges not only her readers’ comprehension but their enjoyment as well. It also suggests refinements of linguistic hypotheses with consequences for the revision of interpretive and analytic models applicable to the investigation of a wide range of literature. ... Read more

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This lovely vintage sheet music is suitable for framing. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Newsmakers 2004 Cumulation, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 965 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Newsmakers provides timely and informative profiles of the world's most interesting people. Separate obituaries provide concise profiles of recently deceased newsmakers. ... Read more

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From the Paramount Picture: "Sing You Sinners" ... Read more

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This WordMath program teaches how to do math word problems by means of strategies of attack. Each page organizes problems around a high interest theme. ... Read more

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DEVOTED TO PHOTOPLAY APPRECIATION. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by The Register Guard on September 30, 2003. The length of the article is 496 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Three legends.(Editorials)(Donald O'Connor, Althea Gibson, Elia Kazan)(Editorial)
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: September 30, 2003
Publisher: The Register Guard
Page: A10

Article Type: Editorial

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