You may recognize the name from a popular ’90s band beloved by frat boys and once sued by Bob Dylan, but the Hootie mentioned in the title above has a puffer fish. It was not included. He was a Jesuit priest from Mobile, Alabama.He was also one of Flannery O’Connor’s closest friends and spiritual advisor: James Hart “Hootie” McCown, South Carolina
He has been in the spotlight this Friday as Ethan Hawke’s new Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat approaches release.This movie was reviewed in America Angela Alaimo O’Donnell called it “an encounter with a powerful imagination that captures the kind of person Flannery O’Connor was, all her flaws and contradictions, her great efforts, and her humanity.” “It leaves a vivid impression on the viewer.” Failure. ”
Researching our archives (and some help from our friends) America Editor Zach Davis and his nefarious friend (ChatGPT) discovered a story that Flannery-obsessed editors had somehow missed over the past few decades. It was Hootie McCown’s 1979 memoir, “In Memory of Flannery O’Connor.”
How Father McCown got his nickname “Hooty” (some records also spell it “Hooty”) is a mystery. However, Scott Watson (SJ), a Southern Jesuit of Hooty’s time and an acquaintance of O’Connor, was known as “Yuri.” And over the years, I’ve written songs like “Wrong-Way,” “Monk,” “Mugz,” “Blackjack,” “Mad Dog,” “Boom,” and, by God, Jesus known as “Three Finger.” I met some members. ” There is little rhyme or reason to these nicknames, except for the unlucky last guy who stuck his hand into a rattlesnake’s nest while picking grapes.
Born in Mobile in 1911, Hootie McCown was educated at Spring Hill High School and College before joining the Society of Jesus. In 1947 he was ordained a priest and served overseas as a missionary in Kenya, Mexico, Tanzania, and (much later) China. He also spent many years working in parishes and retreats in the American South. Hootie’s younger brother, Robert “The Blowfish” McCown (OK, fine, I made that up 🐡), also became a Jesuit. O’Connor later referred to the latter McCown article, published in Kansas Magazine, as “Educating the Prophet: Flannery O’Connor’s.” Violent people please avoid it”, the most sophisticated text ever written about her novels.
Hooty first met O’Connor in 1956, when O’Connor was an associate pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in Macon, Georgia. He criticized the Jesuits of his time for their lack of literary acumen, and was widely read in fiction.he wrote this America Especially after a well-read parishioner described Flannery O’Connor as “a Georgian, a budding writer, a Catholic, a convert, and a very arrogant person.” I was wrong), so I decided to take part in it. O’Connor Trail. ”
As McCown said, there were some awkward moments during the first visit.
I needed a ride from Horace Ridley to visit her in Milledgeville, 60 miles from Macon. He was a fat, big-hearted, uneducated whiskey salesman and a fan of new Cadillacs. So don’t get me wrong when you read that I came to her house first in a white Cadillac and then in a black Cadillac.
He found O’Connor initially aloof and unimpressed with him. Her mother Regina was openly skeptical of him. Perhaps, he writes, she “idly watched a priest and his daughter intercourse with a whiskey salesman.” However, McCown and O’Connor quickly struck up a close friendship, with her teaching him her literary matters and him offering her spiritual advice and her occasional comments on sin and grace. answered careful questions.
The two are likely to be frank with each other. America In the article, McCown described O’Connor’s spiritual concerns as “the scope and severity of a convent-raised schoolgirl,” and O’Connor once said that McCown was “scheduled to give a lecture on topics such as ‘The Literary Horizon of Catholic Thought.’ A grand title that says, “There is.” He didn’t know anything about this, but that didn’t deter him. ” Nevertheless, their love is clear in the letters. “We corresponded with her extensively and visited her frequently,” McCown wrote. Scholars have identified him as the inspiration for the (less flattering) priests mentioned in O’Connor’s short story “The Enduring Chill.”
Soon after the two met, McCown recommended O’Connor to Harold Gardiner (SJ), an erudite and somewhat difficult literary editor. America In 1957, her essay “The Church and the Novelist” was published in the same magazine. To her chagrin, Gardiner decides to save O’Connor from himself and bring her editorial pen to her text in a way that infuriates O’Connor. America McCown also recalled that moment, saying, “Ms. Flannery, bless her heart, was a bold and outspoken thinker who was not intimidated by the strict and sensitive people of Catholic moral theology at the time.” ” he said.
In 1958, McCown was transferred from Macon to Houston, Texas. He and O’Connor remained pen pals until her death in 1964, but never met in person. McCown died in 1991. A year before his death, he published his short memoir. On Crooked Lines: The Early Years of the Jesuits of Alabama.
When O’Connor died 27 years ago, Hootie McCown wrote a heartfelt letter to their mutual friend Thomas F. Gossett, author of the seminal 1963 book. Race: A History of Ideas in America) and his wife Louise:
I know how you feel about our precious Flannery, and you know how I feel. God has His reasons for removing these chosen souls from our needy world so quickly. But accepting it is an exercise in faith.
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This week’s poetry selection includes the following three poems: Andalusian Time: Poems from Flannery O’Connor’s Porch, written by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell.Readers can view all AmericaThe poem published by is here.
Also, a message from the Catholic Book Club: We have a new selection! We are reading the multi-volume work of Norwegian novelist and 2023 Nobel Prize winner Master John. septology. Click here to purchase the book and click here to sign up for the Facebook discussion group.
Every week in this space, America It features reviews and literary commentary on a particular author or group of writers (both old and new; our archives span over a century), as well as poetry and other offerings from America Media. We hope this will give you an opportunity to learn more about the literary works we offer. You can also alert your digital subscribers about some online content that is not featured in your newsletter.
Other Catholic Book Club columns:
Toni Morrison’s spiritual depth
What’s the fuss about Teilhard de Chardin?
Moira Walsh and the Art of Cruel Movie Reviews
Who is in hell? Hans Urs von Balthasar had an idea.
Happy reading!
James T. Keene
