Wise Blood
''Wise Blood'' is the first novel by American author Flannery O'Connor, published in 1952. The novel was assembled from disparate stories first published in ''Mademoiselle'', ''Sewanee Review'' and ''Partisan Review''. The first chapter is an expanded version of her Master's thesis, "The Train", and other chapters are reworked versions of "The Peeler," "The Heart of the Park" and "Enoch and the Gorilla". The novel concerns a returning World War II veteran who, haunted by a life-long crisis of faith, resolves to form an anti-religious ministry in an eccentric, fictionalized Southern city after finding his family homestead abandoned without a trace. The novel received little critical attention when it first appeared but has since come to be appreciated as a classic work of "low comedy and high seriousness" with disturbing religious themes. It was placed 62nd in ''The Guardian's'' list of 100 greatest novels. Plot summary Recently discharged from service in World War II and survivin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a sardonic Southern Gothic style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters, often in violent situations. The unsentimental acceptance or rejection of the limitations or imperfections or differences of these characters (whether attributed to disability, race, crime, religion or sanity) typically underpins the drama. Her writing reflected her Roman Catholic faith and frequently examined questions of morality and ethics. Her posthumously compiled ''Complete Stories'' won the 1972 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and has been the subject of enduring praise. Early life and education Childhood O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of Edward Francis O'Connor, a real es ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mania
Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a mental and behavioral disorder defined as a state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression together with lability of affect." During a manic episode, an individual will experience rapidly changing emotions and moods, highly influenced by surrounding stimuli. Although mania is often conceived as a "mirror image" to depression, the heightened mood can be either euphoric or dysphoric. As the mania intensifies, irritability can be more pronounced and result in anxiety or anger. The symptoms of mania include elevated mood (either euphoric or irritable), flight of ideas and pressure of speech, increased energy, decreased need and desire for sleep, and hyperactivity. They are most plainly evident in fully developed hypomanic states. However, in full-blown mania, they undergo progressively severe exacerbations and become more and more obscur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amy Wright
Amy Wright is an American actress and former model. She has appeared in such films as '' The Deer Hunter'', '' Breaking Away'', '' The Accidental Tourist'', '' Hard Promises'', '' Crossing Delancey'', and '' Miss Firecracker''. She is the widow of actor Rip Torn. Early years Born in Chicago, Wright is a graduate of Beloit College. Career Wright acted in summer-stock productions in Rockford, Illinois, before going to New York, where she studied acting with Uta Hagen. She starred with Eric Schweig in ''The Scarlet Letter'' and '' Tom and Huck'' (both made in 1995). She produced a Netflix series called ''The Next Step''. Wright starred in the original production of '' Breakfast with Les and Bess'' as Shelby. Wright also appeared on Broadway in the original productions of '' Fifth of July'' and '' Noises Off''. Wright currently is on the faculty of HB Studio in New York City. Personal life Wright was married to actor Rip Torn Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brad Dourif
Bradford Claude Dourif (; born March 18, 1950) is an American actor. He was nominated for an Oscar, and won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his film debut role as Billy Bibbit in ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975). He is also known for portraying Gríma Wormtongue in ''The Lord of the Rings'' series (2002–2003) and voicing Chucky in the ''Child's Play'' franchise (1988–present). Dourif's other film roles include '' Wise Blood'' (1979), '' Ragtime'' (1981), ''Dune'' (1984), '' Blue Velvet'' (1986), '' Mississippi Burning'' (1988), '' The Exorcist III'' (1990), '' Alien Resurrection'' (1997), the 2007 remake of ''Halloween'' and its sequel. He also appeared in many television series, notably ''Deadwood'' (2004–2006, 2019), for which he received Primetime Emmy and Satellite Award nominations for his portrayal of Amos "Doc" Cochran. Early life Dourif was born in Huntington, West Virginia, on March 18, 1950, to Joan Mavis Felton ( née Bradford), an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics, including '' The Maltese Falcon'' (1941), ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' (1948), '' The Asphalt Jungle'' (1950), '' The African Queen'' (1951), '' The Misfits'' (1961), '' Fat City'' (1972), '' The Man Who Would Be King'' (1975) and '' Prizzi's Honor'' (1985). During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Academy Award nominations, winning twice. He also directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston, to Oscar wins. In his early years, Huston studied and worked as a fine art painter in Paris. He then moved to Mexico and began writing, first plays and short stories, and later working in Los Angeles as a Hollywood screenwriter, and was nominated for several Academy Awards writing for films directe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wise Blood (film)
''Wise Blood'' is a 1979 black-comedy drama film directed by John Huston and starring Brad Dourif, Dan Shor, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton, and Ned Beatty. It is based on the 1952 novel '' Wise Blood'' by Flannery O'Connor. As a co-production with Germany the film was titled ''Der Ketzer'' or ''Die Weisheit des Blutes'' when released in Germany, and ''Le Malin'' when released in France. Plot Hazel "Haze" Motes ( Brad Dourif) is a 22-year-old veteran of an unspecified war and a preacher of the Church of Truth Without Christ, a religious organization of his own creation, which is against any belief in God, an afterlife, sin, or evil. The protagonist comes across various characters such as teenager Sabbath Lilly Hawks, her grandfather Asa Hawks who is a conventional sidewalk preacher; and a local boy, Enoch Emery, who finds a "new" Jesus at the local museum in the form of the tiny corpse of a shrunken South American Indian. Hoover Shoates is a promoter who wants to manage Haze ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Giroux
Robert Giroux (April 8, 1914 – September 5, 2008) was an American book editor and publisher. Starting his editing career with Harcourt, Brace & Co., he was hired away to work for Roger W. Straus, Jr. at Farrar & Straus in 1955, where he became a partner and, eventually, its chairman. The firm was henceforth known as Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where he was known by his nickname, "Bob". In his career stretching over five decades, he edited some of the most important voices of the 20th century, including T.S. Eliot, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Merton, and published the first books of Jack Kerouac, Flannery O'Connor, Jean Stafford, Bernard Malamud, William Gaddis, Susan Sontag, Larry Woiwode and Randall Jarrell and edited no fewer than seven Nobel laureates: Eliot, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Derek Walcott, Nadine Gordimer, Seamus Heaney, William Golding and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In a 1980 profile in the ''New York Times Book Review'', poet Donald Hall wrote, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rinehart & Company
Rinehart & Company was an American publishing company founded in 1946. Renamed Rinehart & Company in 1946, the publishing company merged with Henry Holt and Company and the John C. Winston Company in 1960, to form Holt, Rinehart and Winston (HRW). History Frederick R. Rinehart formed a publishing house, Farrar & Rinehart, in partnership with John C. Farrar and Stanley M. Rinehart, Jr., his late brother. In 1946, after Mr. Farrar's departure for the new house of Farrar & Straus, the firm became Rinehart & Company. Rinehart & Company was the successor to Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. The latter was renamed Rinehart & Company in 1946 following the departure of John C. Farrar. The brothers Stanley M. Rinehart, Jr. and Frederick R. Rinehart continued to operate the company until its merger with Henry Holt and Company and the John C. Winston Company in 1960, to form Holt, Rinehart and Winston (HRW). The Rinehart brothers were the sons of Mary Roberts Rinehart, a famous mystery writer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ascetic
Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their practices or continue to be part of their society, but typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures, and also spend time fasting while concentrating on the practice of religion or reflection upon spiritual matters. Various individuals have also attempted an ascetic lifestyle to free themselves from addictions, some of them particular to modern life, such as money, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, entertainment, sex, food, etc. Asceticism has been historically observed in many religious traditions, including Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Stoicism and Pythagoreanism and contemporary practices continue amongst some religious followers. The practit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Madonna And Child
In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in Christian iconography, divided into many traditional subtypes especially in Eastern Orthodox iconography, often known after the location of a notable icon of the type, such as the '' Theotokos of Vladimir'', '' Agiosoritissa'', '' Blachernitissa'', etc., or descriptive of the depicted posture, as in ''Hodegetria'', '' Eleusa'', etc. The term ''Madonna'' in the sense of "picture or statue of the Virgin Mary" enters English usage in the 17th century, primarily in reference to works of the Italian Renaissance. In an Eastern Orthodox context, such images are typically known as '' Theotokos''. "Madonna" may be generally used of representations of Mary, with or without the infant Jesus, is the focus and central figure of the image, possibly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dwarfism
Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dwarfism is , although some individuals with dwarfism are slightly taller. ''Disproportionate dwarfism'' is characterized by either short limbs or a short torso. In cases of ''proportionate dwarfism'', both the limbs and torso are unusually small. Intelligence is usually normal, and most have a nearly normal life expectancy. People with dwarfism can usually bear children, though there are additional risks to the mother and child dependent upon the underlying condition. The most common and recognisable form of dwarfism in humans (comprising 70% of cases) is achondroplasia, a genetic disorder whereby the limbs are diminutive. Growth hormone deficiency is responsible for most other cases. Treatment depends on the underlying cause. Those ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mummy
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least 1615 AD (see the section Etymology and meaning). Mummies of humans and animals have been found on every continent, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats. Many of the Egyptian animal mummies are sacred ibis, and radiocarbon dating suggests the Egyptian Ibis mummies that have been analyzed were from time frame that falls between approximately 450 and 250 BC. In addition to the mumm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |