Georgia College & State University’s Flannery O’Connor Institute for the Humanities hosted a free, four-day conference Sept. 12-15 on campus to bring scholars and the community together to analyze, reminisce, and discuss the work and influence of Flannery O’Connor.
“O’Connor was an influential member of the Milledgeville community. She lived at the Cline Mansion with her mother, attended Peabody High School, and Georgia State College for Women (now Georgia College & State University). She wrote her short stories and novels on Andalusia Farm, where she lived until she passed away in 1964,” said Katie Simon, interim executive director of the O'Connor Institute at Georgia College. “Her work has rippled out to inspire others and make an impact beyond what she wrote.”
According to Simon, “Looking Forward Looking Back” was the title of the conference because it was about looking back at how O’Connor was perceived and discussed, and looking forward to innovative and new ways to use her literature as a basis for new creations, studies, ideas and more.
“This is Flannery’s centennial year. She would have turned 100, which is a big deal. She’s widely translated, anthologized, and taught all over the world. She has inspired so many researchers, educators, artists, musicians, and more,” said Simon.
“Looking forward is looking at what are ways we have to discover to engage with O’Connor, I think with any genius, and I call her a genius, that’s how their work is observed. When her work was published, we didn’t have the same understanding to analyze and apply her literature as today.”
Simon reported that about 90 scholars from across the country and internationally , plus about 200 attendees were present for the conference. The conference offered many simultaneous panels discussing various topics like the new movie Wildcat, based on one of O’Connor’s early short stories.
In addition to panels, attendees were able to see O’Connor’s impact on artists, like Colin Cutler who created a CD inspired by her literature, attend readings, explore areas off campus related to O’Connor and much more.
Keynote speakers at the conference included historic preservation architect Karen M. Gravel of Atlanta; Southern studies author Dr. Lisa Hinrichsen from the University of Arkansas; author and activist Dr. Mab Segrest from Connecticut College; and poet Mark Jarman from Vanderbilt University.
“Two book releases were also celebrated during the conference and attendees were able to go off-campus to enjoy many other offerings, such as the tour of Andalusia Farm with a focus on native plants,” said Simon.
“One of our keynote speakers spoke about the environment and connected it to O’Connor’s work beautifully. An environmental studies professor at Georgia College uses the farm to teach about native plants, since the farm has been preserved to appear as when she lived there, so we offered a tour of the grounds. There’s lots of roads you can follow in your interest to view O’Connor’s work, which is what the showcase was about.”
The goal of the institute is to view O’Connor’s life and work, archive it, and open a window for people across the world to create, study, discuss, and analyze Flannery O’Connor, whether based on her time period or through a modern outlook.
Many events are to come including a Southern Gothic Lecture Series, the promotion of a GCSU alumni’s new book, a gala, and birthday events at Andalusia Farm to celebrate O’Connor’s centennial year.