Wise Blood
-
- $0.99
Publisher Description
Wise Blood is a masterpiece of allegory and farce (a blending of humor and tragedy). O'Connor takes issue with a world in which Jesus is but another moral man, in which the Incarnation is valid only to the unintellectual, and in which people can—through their own actions or natural goodness—save themselves. Published in 1952, Wise Blood is a compelling portrait of isolated characters in their search for spiritual truth.
The plot of the novel revolves around Hazel Motes, who returns after several years of service in the military to find his family home in ruins and the members of his family either dead or missing. Partially in response to this discovery, he travels to the city of Taulkinham and begins preaching a new gospel, the Church Without Christ, which advocates a humanistic reliance on self rather than on God.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bronson Pinchot turns in a virtuosic performance of O'Connor's darkly comic classic first novel. After serving a stint in the army, Hazel Motes finds himself adrift, alone, and rent by spiritual confusion. Pinchot's narration is superb: dynamic, well paced, and infused with a perfect Southern drawl. Instead of simply creating voices for the characters, Pinchot embodies them. His Hazel is nasty, nasally, and angry; his Enoch Emery boasts a congested twang; and the entire cast is likewise brought to life by Pinchot's precise and perceptive characterizations and his brilliant evocation of O'Conner's grotesqueries. A Farrar, Straus, and Giroux paperback.
