First Kindle eBook edition of the literary memoir Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind. Explores a certain author's "Adventures and Misadventure of Literary Savannah" upon encountering, in one form or another, authors Flannery O'Connor, James Alan McPherson, and John Berendt.
The first edition of GREETING FLANNERY O’CONNOR AT THE BACK DOOR OF MY MIND was published just as people around the world were adapting to the menace of the COVID-19 pandemic. Five years later, the eBook edition, complete with 4 unique digital paintings introducing each major section, arrives with the coronavirus plague mostly behind us. Not yet confined to America’s past, or the world’s for that matter, are some of the same challenging social, economic, and political ills which O’Connor wrote about so boldly, and controversially, during her lifetime. Were the author herself still alive today, she might very well add the word spiritual to the challenges just noted.(Reviews of the first edition may be read on AD by CLICKING HERE.)
Indeed, all three of the subject authors of this volume—O’Connor, James Alan McPherson, and John Berendt–– have labored to provide deeper understanding of the underlying factors that contribute to the different forms of conflicts and alliances between diverse members of American communities. All three also have definitive links to the city of Savannah, Georgia (itself as of this writing undergoing rapid evolutions due to growth in in port, film, and tourism industries).
Works by each writer, as well, have played a significant role in creation of the lens through which the author-artist Aberjhani views his hometown of Savannah. It is through that literary lens that he crafts the stories which allows readers to share in his very personal experiences of these iconic authors while traveling the world to discover and develop his own voice as a creative artist. Therefore, in addition to the above icons are statements on the impact upon his life of others such as: Malcolm X (for whom centennial observations are being observed in 2025), Bob Marley, Ntozake Shange, Jalalludin Rumi, and more.
This eBook edition of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of Mind becomes available at a time of important historical convergences. For one, diverse fans of O’Connor’s work, academic scholars, Catholics like herself, filmmakers, and many who share with her the distinction of having been born in Savannah, or resided in Milledgeville, Georgia, are acknowledging the 100th anniversary of her birth with numerous celebratory events. A second profoundly ironic factor is the second non-consecutive presidency of a U.S. commander-in-chief alluded to in the previous edition. What was described as “components of [an] authoritarian culture” in the first edition has taken on an amplified and urgent meaning for numerous Americans who believe democracy and their individual freedom are at risk.
If the text of this volume suggests anything at all when it comes to the private, public, political, or unknown spiritual forces that shape a given life or country, it is that literature often makes a far greater difference in humanity’s shared existence than many realize.
Book cover art by Aberjhani.
Excerpt
"The White photographer could in fact relate to the Black author’s Savannah experience because both, in younger days, had felt a need to place time and distance between them and the city in order to view it through a more humane and less damning perspective. Both would find ways to successfully transform personal liberation into public art.
"The parallel between their biographies was not unlike that shared by various Black and White characters in McPherson’s fiction who found themselves connected at certain levels, such as through music or employment, but alienated from one another in other ways, like habitual bias practiced in the name of tradition, or educational achievements.
"Two years later, I learned my friend Jack had been referring to a now legendary Gilmer Lecture program sponsored in part by the Poetry Society of Georgia in May 1981. McPherson had accepted the platform offered him to speak at the Telfair on Memories of Savannah: Personal and Historical. Because I had joined the U.S. Air Force a few months earlier, I missed out on the event. It was one of those practical jokes history sometimes plays on human desire by using desperation to steer us in one direction while our dreams float off in another."
When people think of Madagascar, what may come to mind is a Pixar film, a lemur paradise, or the source of 80% of the world’s vanilla beans. In A Taste of Madagascar: Culinary Riches of the Red Island, Emmanuel Laroche—a Flavor Explorer and Culinary
US State Journals, pages for you to fill in the blanks.
Nurture your creativity with My Indiana Journal, an interactive journal designed to spark your imagination and self-motivation
