Cuthbert and Fentrice in "Some Literary Patter."

Cuthbert had a theory: “The greatest writers from Georgia were either Catholic or disease-ravaged.”

Fentrice had an objection: “There’s a difference?”

Cuthbert laid out his arguments: “Carson McCullers had a bunch of strokes ... and Flannery O’Connor was Catholic.”

Fentrice added a point. “O’Connor also had lupus.”

Cuthbert was delighted. “Really? That’s awesome.”

“Two writers hardly make a theory. What about Dr. King?”

“He doesn’t count.”

“Why not?”

“He never wrote fiction.”

“Had a way with words, though.”

“I think Margaret Mitchell was Catholic.”

“You’re really gonna rank her over Dr. King?”

“Sermons aren’t fiction.”

“I’ve heard a few ….”

“There’s something about being Catholic in the Protestant south and/or being riddled with disease that gives you imaginative vigor. Outsiders and shut-ins have expanded powers of empathy.”

“W.E.B. Dubois wrote one of the Modern Library’s 100 best nonfiction books of the 20^th Century. And he was atheist and lived to 95.”

“Still, it wasn't fiction.”

“Your theory seems to have an inherent racial bias and probably encourages smoking. Also, your tastes are rather parochial.”

“I'll modify it. The best women writers from Georgia were either Catholic or disease-ravaged. … Or both.”

"I only read Tolstoy.”

"Heathen."