Wildcat

Set in the postwar era, the narrative follows O'Connor's early career, her trip to New York to pursue a publisher's approval, and her ongoing struggle with lupus. The period is marked by the growth of American literary culture and a strict Catholic milieu influencing personal and artistic choices. It culminates with a note that she would live for many more years, despite long-term illness.

The story moves between Flannery O'Connor's Southern homeland and the bustling New York literary world. It centers on a boarding-house setting in the South and scenes in Manhattan as she seeks publication for Wise Blood. The juxtaposition highlights a life lived between intimate, faith-filled routines and the demanding energy of the mid-century publishing scene.

🖋️ Creativity

The film frames writing as a vocation that sustains Flannery through illness and social expectations. It tracks her voice across imagined stories and real-life encounters, showing how imagination clashes with publishers, critics, and daily pain. The narrative treats art as both refuge and witness, shaping a distinctive Southern voice.

✝️ Faith

Catholic faith anchors Flannery's choices and charitable impulses, even as she grapples with doubt and the demands of a secular literary world. The film portrays religious practice as a source of discipline and a lens for evaluating morality in her fiction. The priestly guidance and journal meditations illuminate a writer trying to align art with belief.

🩺 Illness

Lupus shapes her daily life, forcing adjustments like using crutches and seeking treatment. The illness threads through her writing process and personal relationships, highlighting endurance and vulnerability. The film ends by acknowledging her long fight with the disease and its impact on her work.