The violent bear it away

by Flannery O'Connor · 1960

A haunting exploration of faith, family, and the struggle between the sacred and the profane.First published in 1955, The Violent Bear It Away is a landmark in American literature. This dark and absorbing novel showcases Flannery O'Connor's Gothic sensibility and bracing satirical voice. It follows the orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousins, the schoolteacher Rayber, as they defy the prophecy of their dead uncle—that Tarwater will become a prophet and baptize Rayber's young son, Bishop.Tarwater fights an internal battle against his innate faith and the voices calling him to be a prophet, while Rayber tries to draw Tarwater into a more "reasonable" modern world. Both wrestle with the legacy of their dead relatives and lay claim to Bishop's soul. O'Connor observes this struggle with an astonishing combination of irony and compassion, humor and pathos, revealing her brilliance as an innovative writer acutely attuned to the interplay of the sacred and the mundane.