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A Temple of the Holy Ghost

Flannery O'Connor

First published 1955
Type Short Fiction

A twelve-year-old girl tells of a visit from two older girls, her cousins, who are interested in sex. She gets some confused ideas from hearing them tell about their trip to the fair, accompanied by two boys, in the course of which they viewed a hermaphrodite exhibited as a freak, this account being muddled up with religious admonishments.

First published in Harper's Bazaar, May 1954.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1955 Cover A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Harcourt, Brace & Company Collection 85
October 1992 Cover A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Harcourt Brace Collection 80
October 1997 Cover Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers W. W. Norton & Company Anthology 461