Part 4: Non-fiction and Catholic works that Flannery O’Connor recommends
“I suffer from generalized admiration or generalized dislike.”
The Habit of Being by Flannery O’ Connor p. 241
In The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor (August 1, 1988) edited by Sally Fitzgerald, lovers literature and students of literature are treated to a rare treat, this 640 volume that contains her passing comments, recommendations and critiques on over 100 titles.
- For books on the craft of writing that Flannery O’Connor recommends reading, click here.
- For the authors that Flannery O’Connor recommends reading, click here.
- For the novels and short stories Flannery O’Connor recommends reading, click here.
Word of God and the Word of Man
Barth, Karl.
About the trials of Biblical scholars since about 1880. Very enlightening to me. It’s certainly easier to be a Bible reader in 1962 than in 1904.
Three Mystic
Bruno, Father De J. M.
Highly enjoying the beautiful book
The Eclipse of God
Buber, Martin.
these boys have got a lot to offer us/I think this book you sent me is wonderful…Buber is an antidote to the prevailing tenor of Catholic philosophy which…is often apologetic rather than dialogic. Buber is an artist. That is one thing. Thomism usually comes in a hideous wrapper, but Buber’s thought is cast in a form that is always readable.
The Phenomenon of Man
de Chardin, Teilherd.
this is a scientific age and Teilhard’s direction is to face it toward Christ. / I might suggest you look into some of the works off…
(Book on Fenelon)
Fenelon, François.
Born Catholics
Forced on me…I found it more interesting than I had thought as there are many and diverse degrees of experience in it
The Unity of Philosophical Experience
Gilson, Etienne.
A book that might help you
History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages
Gilson, Etienne.
I surprised to come across various answers to Simone Weil’s questions to Fr. Perrin.
The Unity of Philosophical Experience
Gilson, Etienne.
I am an admirer of
Religious and the Psychology of Jung
Goldbrunner, Josef.
Jung is with the uncles and not the great uncles; which is not to condemn him. I admire him…to my way of thinking, Goldbrunner has used Jung in the only way that I think he can be used, which is in helping the person face his own psychic realities, or those realities that the great mystics have always faced and that the Church teaches (in spite of Jung’s insistence that she does not) we must face. Goldbrunner can do this because he believes in the objective reality of God.
Christian Thought and Action
Graham, Dom Aelred.
A very good book, heathen friend – amazed a Catholic writer could be so flexible
The Faith and Modern Man
Guardini, Romano.
The Lord
Guardini, Romano.
Very fine/there is nothing like [it] anywhere, certainly not in this country.
The Virgin Mary
Guitton, Jean.
Have had considerable light thrown on the subject for me
The Reformation in England
Hughes, Philip.
Certainly am enjoying…I feel like I was at it
The Lives of the English Poets
Johnson, Samuel.
Modern Man in Search of the Soul
Jung, Carl.
I am conscious in a general way of the world’s present historical position, which according to Jung is unhistorical. I am afraid I got this concept from…
The Conservative Mind
Kirk, Russell.
Which I admire
Miracles
Lewis, C.S.
Which is very fine. Deceptively simple. You really need to read every sentence twice.
On Prayer
Lewis, C.S.
This book is a good one but I don’t like to pray any better for reading it.
Christ and Apollo
Lynch, Fr. William S.J.
Has some good answers to the question of what-are-you-saying.
Art and Scholasticism
Maritain, Jacques.
The book I cut my aesthetic teeth on, though I think even some of the things he says get soft at times. He is a philosopher and not an artist but he does have a great understanding of the nature of art, which he gets from St. Thomas. / your freshmen may be improved by a look at [it]…he dwells on St. Thomas’s definition of art as a virtue of the practical intellect, etc.
The Mystery of Being
Marcel, Gabriel
are readable
God and Mammon
Mauriac, François.
References for writing advice
Mémoires Intérieurs
Mauriac, François.
I am going to send it to you to read what he says about Emily Bronte. He sounds so much like you he might be you. He also has some good things to say about Hawthorne.
a book on Greece
Miller, Henry.
Very fine
The Grammar of Assent
Newman, John Henry.
On the Theology of Death
Rahner, Karl.
It is great but difficult to read.
Two Portraits of St. Thérèse of Liseuix
Robo, Fr. Etienne.
He does away with all the roses, little flowers, and other icing. The book has greatly increased my devotion to her.
Interior Castle
Theresa of Avila.
Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism. It is a mine of information
Israel and Revelation
Voegelin, Eric.
He gets away from the Spengler-Toynbee business very effectively and instead of seeing history as civilizational cycles sees it as an exodus from civilization.
The World of The Polis
Voegelin, Eric.
2nd volume on the Greek polis, a masterful analyses of the Illad & of Aeschylys but other hunks and dull and over my head/parts were very exciting but for the most part you need to be a Greek scholar to read it.
Essays and Addresses
Von Hugal, Baron.
I like the book very much.
God and the Unconscious
White, Victor, O.P.
Know the terrific pleasure these books are going to give me / I think it is full of psychological explanations of dogmas and rituals, which requires that he ignore the accepted meanings of them.