Browse Items (1664 total)

As a writer and an appreciator of fellow contemporary writers, Brainard Cheney read and provided commentary on the writings of many authors of his day. The first work of Flannery O’Connor’s that Cheney read was her initial novel, Wise Blood. Cheney’s…

This letter is in response to O’Connor’s introductory letter on February 8, 1953. Writing from his home in Smyrna, Tennessee, Cheney takes this opportunity to sympathize with O’Connor’s bad reviews; his own writing has received its share of negative…

Housed with the Cheney Collection in Special Collections at the Vanderbilt University Library are a number of manuscripts written by friends and colleagues of the Cheneys. Here is presented a copy of Flannery O’Connor’s essay “The King of the Birds,”…

Following Brainard Cheney’s review of Wise Blood, Cheney and O’Connor began a correspondence that was to last until her death in 1964. In their first letter, O’Connor indicates her respect for Cheney’s review, and introduces herself. She responds to…

In addition to her formidable talent as a writer of fiction, O’Connor devoted much of her too-short life to writing letters; she wrote to friends and acquaintances all over the country, about an array of topics. This graph depicts a digital network…

Flannery O'Connor's first novel Wise Blood was published in 1952. That same year, Brainard Cheney, a southern writer living in Nashville and associated with the literary movement known as the Agrarians, wrote an appreciative review which prompted…

Flannery O’Connor wrote in her 1961 essay “The King of the Birds,” “In short, I am the only person on the place who is willing to underwrite, with something more than tolerance, the presence of peafowl. In return, I am blessed with their rapid…

Living on Andalusia farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, O’Connor and her mother, Regina, had many pastoral responsibilities. O’Connor would have used a rake such as this to spread seed for her many beloved peacocks. In her 1961 essay “The King of the…

The "women and fashion" section of the postcard collection speaks to images of women in popular culture. Women rode bicycles, played sports and lived actively, as other cards in this collection show. These idealized views of women sent to Caruso…

This Easter card was sent to Enrico Caruso from Pepino in 1902. Unlike the American tradition of sending Christmas cards, the French holiday tradition is sending New Year’s cards. Easter cards are prevalent in this group as well, often with displays…