The Complete Stories

The publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established
Flannery O'Connor's monumental contribution to American fiction. There
are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear
in the only two story collections O'Connor put together in her short
lifetime—Everything That Rises Must Converge and A Good Man Is Hard to Find. O'Connor
published her first story, "The Geranium," in 1946, while she was
working on her master's degree at the University of Iowa. Arranged
chronologically, this collection shows that her last story, "Judgement
Day"—sent to her publisher shortly before her death—is a brilliantly
rewritten and transfigured version of "The Geranium." Taken together,
these stories reveal a lively, penetrating talent that has given us some
of the most powerful and disturbing fiction of the twentieth century.
Also included is an introduction by O'Connor's longtime editor and
friend, Robert Giroux.