O’Connor: ‘A Late Encounter with the Enemy’

 If you’re looking for a symbol of the Lost Cause, General Tennessee Flintlock Sash gets my vote.

He’s 104. He wasn’t a general. His uniform came from publicity people who had him pose for pictures at the premiere of a motion “pitcher” in Atlanta. The truth of the matter doesn’t matter because he doesn’t remember what happened. The most genuine thing about him was his love of attention. He especially liked posing for photos with pretty “guls.”

It seems to me that the best scenario for symbols of such traditions is to have them die in public, on stage, and see if anyone notices.

I have always had trouble with Flannery O’Connor. I don’t like Gothic of any kind, but Southern Gothic is the worst, in my book. There are so many things wrong with O’Connor’s view of the world I don’t know where to start. But I think “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a work of genius and “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” is in the same league.

Thanks, Christopher, for the suggestion.

• Flannery O’Connor, “A Late Encounter with the Enemy,” was collected in A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories; New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1955. It’s here: 

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