I\u2019m in the middle of reading Mystery and Manners, a posthumous collection of Flannery O\u2019Connor\u2019s non-fiction….<\/p>\n
What really struck me…. were a few brief observations at the very end of the piece. The speech was given at some kind of writers\u2019 conference, and O\u2019Connor had apparently been given a few of the participants\u2019 short stories ahead of time. She finished by marking a few problems she had seen in them. First, she noted \u201cthe use of language in these stories was such that, with one exception, it would be difficult to distinguish one story from another\u201d\u009d (102). There were clich\u00c3\u00a9s, she said, but not one enduring image. Second, it was impossible to tell where these stories unfolded. They could have happened anywhere in the world without changing the story. Finally, the characters functioned as siphons for ideas or particular actions; they lacked real, story-driving personality.<\/p>\n
Again, mutatis mutandis, these are the problems in a great deal of theological and philosophical writing…..<\/p>\n