The Genius



Among his many talents, Irish writer Frank O’Connor had a particular gift for showing the world through the eyes of young, precocious, often naive protagonists, like Larry Delaney of his 1954 story “The Genius.” Larry wants to be the town’s first proper genius and win the affections of Una Dwyer — first, he just has to find out where babies come from.


A Late Encounter with the Enemy



This week’s episode features a reading of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter with the Enemy.” Written in 1953 and published in 1955 in her short story collection “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” this is O’Connor’s only story dealing with the American Civil War.


My Oedipus Complex



“Never, never had anyone spoken to me in that tone before. I looked at him incredulously and saw his face convulsed with rage. It was only then that I fully realized how God had codded me, listening to my prayers for the safe return of this monster.” — 7-year-old Larry, speaking of his father, in Frank O’Connor’s “My Oedipus Complex.”


Axis



We feature another great short story by Alice Munro titled “Axis,” first published in The New Yorker in 2011. As in many of Alice Munro’s short stories, the characters aren’t like anyone I know, but they never seem contrived or invented. I would say that she loves creating characters and then observing them as they go their own way.