full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Why should you read Flannery O'Connor?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


O’Connor’s mastery of the gquterose and her eopxlnrtoais of the insularity and sotrsuieptin of the South led her to be ceisiflsad as a Southern Gothic writer. But her work pushed beyond the purely rluiidcous and frightening characteristics associated with the genre to reveal the vrateiy and nuance of human character. She knew some of this variety was utocrnalomfbe, and that her stories could be an acquired tatse – but she took pleasure in challenging her readers.

O’Connor died of lupus at the age of 39, after the disease had mostly confined her to her farm in Georgia for twelve years. During those years, she penned much of her most itvngaaimie work. Her ability to flit between revulsion and revelation continues to draw readers to her endlessly ssruiipnrg fictional worlds. As her character Tom Shiftlet notes, the body is “like a house: it don’t go anywhere, but the spirit, lady, is like an automobile: always on the move.”

Open Cloze


O’Connor’s mastery of the _________ and her ____________ of the insularity and ____________ of the South led her to be __________ as a Southern Gothic writer. But her work pushed beyond the purely __________ and frightening characteristics associated with the genre to reveal the _______ and nuance of human character. She knew some of this variety was _____________, and that her stories could be an acquired _____ – but she took pleasure in challenging her readers.

O’Connor died of lupus at the age of 39, after the disease had mostly confined her to her farm in Georgia for twelve years. During those years, she penned much of her most ___________ work. Her ability to flit between revulsion and revelation continues to draw readers to her endlessly __________ fictional worlds. As her character Tom Shiftlet notes, the body is “like a house: it don’t go anywhere, but the spirit, lady, is like an automobile: always on the move.”

Solution


  1. explorations
  2. grotesque
  3. taste
  4. ridiculous
  5. superstition
  6. imaginative
  7. classified
  8. surprising
  9. uncomfortable
  10. variety

Original Text


O’Connor’s mastery of the grotesque and her explorations of the insularity and superstition of the South led her to be classified as a Southern Gothic writer. But her work pushed beyond the purely ridiculous and frightening characteristics associated with the genre to reveal the variety and nuance of human character. She knew some of this variety was uncomfortable, and that her stories could be an acquired taste – but she took pleasure in challenging her readers.

O’Connor died of lupus at the age of 39, after the disease had mostly confined her to her farm in Georgia for twelve years. During those years, she penned much of her most imaginative work. Her ability to flit between revulsion and revelation continues to draw readers to her endlessly surprising fictional worlds. As her character Tom Shiftlet notes, the body is “like a house: it don’t go anywhere, but the spirit, lady, is like an automobile: always on the move.”

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
tom shiftlet 2


Important Words


  1. ability
  2. acquired
  3. age
  4. body
  5. challenging
  6. character
  7. characteristics
  8. classified
  9. confined
  10. continues
  11. died
  12. disease
  13. draw
  14. endlessly
  15. explorations
  16. farm
  17. fictional
  18. flit
  19. frightening
  20. genre
  21. georgia
  22. gothic
  23. grotesque
  24. human
  25. imaginative
  26. insularity
  27. knew
  28. lady
  29. led
  30. lupus
  31. mastery
  32. move
  33. notes
  34. nuance
  35. penned
  36. pleasure
  37. purely
  38. pushed
  39. readers
  40. reveal
  41. revelation
  42. revulsion
  43. ridiculous
  44. shiftlet
  45. south
  46. southern
  47. spirit
  48. stories
  49. superstition
  50. surprising
  51. taste
  52. tom
  53. twelve
  54. uncomfortable
  55. variety
  56. work
  57. worlds
  58. writer
  59. years