"In Narrating Knowledge in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction, Donald E. Hardy examines themes in Flannery O'Connor's fiction concerning the limitations of human knowledge. He argues that attending to O'Connor's stylistic strategies allows the best access to her views about knowledge in all its manifestations - spiritual, rational, and emotional - whether the knowledge is that of the narrator, the narratee, or the characters of her narratives.

It also, he maintains, allows readers to appreciate the mysteries O'Connor sought to underscore.".

"In a study completely accessible to readers who possess no background in stylistics, Hardy undertakes analyses that are both qualitative and quantitative, both comparative and statistical. By illuminating convictions of O'Connor's that are latent in but constitutive of her fiction, his exploration deepens not only her readers' comprehension but their enjoyment as well.

It also suggests refinements of linguistic hypotheses with consequences for the revision of interpretive and analytic models applicable to the investigation of a wide range of literature."--BOOK JACKET.