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Subject: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion on Walker Percy

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  • From: "Henry P. Mills" <wpercy2 AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: percy-l <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] dead
  • Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 23:12:09 -0500

Title: Re: [percy-l] dead
Thanks for the more than enjoyable edification, Chuck.  We could use more of it.  I will take this as a good moment to say Percy-L the communication channel is decidedly not dead, nor will it be anytime soon.  It runs very stably and soundly through the digital machineries of UNC and will remain active as long as I have the presence and ability to sit at the keyboard.  So whether or not there is actually any Percy “chatter” at any given point, the potential for intersubjective connection still remains as a constant for the, at present, 117 members subscribed. One may also always return to past discussions when on a search for Percy by visiting the list’s archives at  <http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/>, if not find and re-invigorate subjects there to new life by returning them to new discussion.  All things held constant, therefore, Percy-L is not dead, nor will it be as long as 2 remain members, and we are a far piece from there.

Regards,
Henry Mills

PS-Just as a little trivia, can anyone say when Percy-L was launched?





From: chaslow53 AT aol.com
Reply-To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 22:29:15 -0400
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [percy-l] dead


Well, it is obviously true that the list is not as active as it once was.  I think there are many of us (we exchange private e-mails from time to time, where you smarter folk can't catch us) who are fans of the novels and don't really have a great interest in the philosophy.  I'm not sure what WP would have thought of us, but there it is.
 
And even of those of us interested in the novels, there appear to be two groups.  The academics are ever eager to trace sources and influences, but the "layfolk" are more interested in using the novels to help answer WP's "ordinary Thursday afternoon at 4:00" conundrum: how is it that we can spend the morning reading philosophy and history and theology and fiction and walk away from it with no idea at all of how we are to lead our lives after lunch?
 
Two historical/literary thoughts present themselves here.
 
* William Buckley is reported to have said that he read Moby Dick at 55 and it changed his life.  I cannot vouch for that, either that he said it or that it changed his life.  I speak here as one who edifies, not with authority.  What I can say is that I read The Moviegoer at 52 and it changed my life.  I am interested in an exchange of ideas, not necessarily restricted to that sort of reaction, of what the Percy novels mean in the individual lives of those who read and contemplate them.  To the extent that the novels broaden our understanding of the "dark journey," they are valuable; they become even more valuable when we understand how they affect others as well.
 
* John Henry Newman was the author of A Grammar of Assent, The Idea of a University and a thousand papers on points of Church history and doctrine so austere and obscure that we are staggered to this day to contemplate his output.  Yet when he was made a Cardinal, he chose as his motto something that showed a side of him that none of us today would associate with him: Cor ad cor loquitur, the heart speaks to the heart.  So, too, Walker Percy wrote novels whose message, whether in Binx's relationship with his mother or in Tom Moore's relationship with his second (Presbyterian!) wife or in Lancelot's pipe-clanking with is fellow inmate, could not be clearer: cor ad cor loquitur.  
 
I'm not saying that this should move us to sentimental essays based not on WP's novels but on sociological flights with only the remotest connection.  I am just saying that there are a lot of us who read and treasure the novels because of their _expression_ of what Binx experienced as "God's importunate grace" and discussions which are too philosophical or too technical are not going to grab us, because we are neither philosophers nor academics.  That's why you don't hear from that group too very often.
 
Damn, I guess I am intent on retaining my amateur status!
 
Chuck Lowry
Brooklyn, New York


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