Carter Martin's Introduction summarizes the "broad range of works" that Flannery O'Connor chose to review, including biographies, saints' lives, sermons and theology, fiction, literary criticism, and works related to psychology, philosophy, science and history.
Discusses the reviews collected by Leo J. Zuber -- her longtime book review editor and friend -- and considers why O'Connor contributed reviews to the particular publications she chose and the "recurrent concerns that emerge as themes in the reviews." Emphasizes her focus on, and committment to, books "about religion."
Concludes that O'Connor's reviews confirm that her art "arose from the religious convictions that she subjected to intenses scrutiny not only in her heart but in her mind as well."
Some sections were previously published in "Reader, Look for Yourself': Recovered Book Reviews," [Georgia Review 37.2 (1983): 371-82]. Provides an author and title index.
Reviewer's Note: Carter Martin is the author of: The True Country: Themes in the Fiction of Flannery O'Connor (Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 1994); and, contributed a number of articles to The Flannery O'Connor Bulletin and other published anthologies of criticism. His Ph.D. dissertation, completed at Vanderbilt University in 1991, is titled: "The Ethical Implications of Flannery O'Connor's 'Prophetic Imagination.'"
R. Neil Scott / Middle Tennessee State University