Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-226).

This volume provides an examination of Flannery O'Connor's use of religious themes such as original sin, redemption, and the incarnation in her writing. It details O'Connor's vision of the secular world as the shadow or revelation of spiritual truth. The author feels that O'Connor's aesthetic was shaped by logos theology (identifying Jesus with the Word of God), and that she used regional materials for what she believed they revealed about the absolute. It is unlikely that O'Connor would still be read as widely as she is had she not possessed an immeasurably fine ear for the nuances of regional dialect and a precise understanding of local customs and eccentricities. It is her masterful recreation of these elements that many critics particularly admire. The author contends that the effectiveness of O'Connor's fiction lies in how she fuses elements from popular culture with biblical stories and images of violence. He also explores O'Connor's use of distortion to reveal the spiritual meaning of a story.

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