Radical Ambivalence

This is the first significant book-length work to address race in O'Connor... By focusing on ambivalence as the primary attitude that O'Connor held toward African Americans and toward political and social questions bound up with race in the U.S. South, Radical Ambivalence provides the most nuanced account of what there is to be said on the topic thus far. -- Thomas F. Haddox, University of Tennessee Few scholars have considered O'Connor's talent and life with as much depth and breadth as Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, a Fordham University professor who has written critical examinations of O'Connor's work and life, and has even channeled the classic story writer's voice in poems. O'Donnell's appreciation for O'Connor makes her the perfect critic to write a necessary, complex book about O'Connor's views on race. Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O'Connor is a significant, challenging work of criticism. ---Nick Ripatrazone, Angelus News As the country continues to reel from racial injustice and police brutality, many American find themselves once again questioning their legacy of white privilege and their own complicity in structural racism. Angela Alaimo O'Donnell's new book, Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O'Connor, is a welcome opportunity for readers to grapple with this legacy in the life and work of one of the most talented writers of the 20th century. * America Magazine * Representation of race in O'Connor's fiction has been addressed in articles and book chapters, but Radical Ambivalence is the first book devoted exclusively to the subject. * Choice *

Angela Alaimo ODonnell is a professor, writer, and poet at Fordham University and the Associate Director of Fordhams Curran Center for American Catholic Studies. Among her recent books are Flannery OConnor: Fiction Fired by Faith (Liturgical, 2015) and Andalusian Hours: Poems from the Porch of Flannery OConnor (Paraclete, 2020).

List of Abbreviations | ix Introduction: Two Minds | 1 1 Whiteness Visible: Critical Whiteness Studies and OConnors Fiction | 13 2 Race, Politics, and the Double Mind: Flannerys Correspondence versus OConnors Fiction | 36 3 Theology, Religion, and Race: Constant Conversion and the Beginning of Vision | 70 4 Africanist Presence and the Role of Black Bodies | 97 5 The Failure and Promise of Communion | 125 Acknowledgments | 145 Works Cited | 149 Index | 155