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

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  • From: John Pearson <jp AT jlarsp.com>
  • To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] moviegoer
  • Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 20:39:55 -0500

It's interesting that the introspective students didn't connect with the Moviegoer. I was about as introspective as a college student gets, and I connected with it mightily as an undergrad. However, it wasn't as part of a class. It was extra-curricular reading; a recommendation of a friend of a friend. I sometimes wonder if I'd have connected with it as much as I did if I read it for a class. Certainly there were novels I read for class that had an impact on me, and a lot obviously depends on the professor. But there is something about making a discovery while at university, but not from the official classes.


John Pearson
Chicago, IL 60657
jp AT jlarsp.com

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." Edward Abbey
"News is what powerful people want to keep hidden. Everything else is just publicity." Bill Moyers
"The World is Divided into People Who Think They are Right." Peggy Seeger
On May 16, 2006, at 7:09 PM, RHONDA MCDONNELL wrote:

You've identified the thing that makes the novel worth teaching for me. Some
of the students who were moved by MG really surprised me. It touched
something within them and made them re-examine their lives and their plans.
On the other hand, some of the students who seemed introspective--searchers
like Binx--didn't connect with the novel at all. Go figure!



--Rhonda
. . . what people really fear is not that the bomb will fall but that the
bomb will not fall . . .
--Walker Percy





From: "Beck, David A" <dabeck AT iupui.edu>
Reply-To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
<percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
<percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [percy-l] moviegoer
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 22:59:09 -0400

Robert,
I hope that the "existential salience of Binx's predicament" comes
across to my students. If not, the whole thing is a wash. But, at the
same time, Dostoevsky's underground man shares some of the same signs
of alienation (I don't consider Dostoevsky outdated). On the other
hand, you bring up a great point: America is a different world from the
world of TMG. That's why I think students appreciate Dostoevsky (and
most of mine like C&P) or any "period piece" better than something that
is somewhat contemporary.
One of my favorite passages in TMG is when Binx has a conversation with
Walter:

"Oh Lord. What's wrong with the goddamn world, Binx?"
"I am not sure. But something occurred to me this morning. I
was sitting on the bus--"
"What do you do with yourself out there in Gentilly?" (39)

To me this passage sums it up: either you get it (the search) or you
don't. Walter doesn't get it. Many people make statements, platitudes,
ask questions, but never really want to "search" for an answer. It's
easy to spit out a question, but quite another to look deeply into our
own existence, our place in this world. That aspect of the novel is
probably more real today than it was when Percy wrote the book. We have
more ways to hide from the search. Or perhaps we have more ways to
disguise what we are doing and call it a search
(does that make sense?).
We have more tv channels to distract us, more obligations (taking
kids here and there--when did sports begin at age five?), more
technology (he says as he writes this email), etc. For me, the
challenge is to show students that something "ain't right" with our
day-to-day existence (or at least it's not right for most of us). So,
to show students that there is more to life than what is on the
surface, to encourage them to dig deeper and see the mystery that lies
beneath our day-to-day existence (to notice the dung
beetle)--that is what I hope this novel can do to them (as it did for
me). And, of course, I hope to inspire myself to continue the search.
Like Binx after reflecting on dung beetle, I get home and "forget all
about it."
Whew! Sorry for the long email. But the more we correspond, the more
I see the importance of this book (and am glad that I decided to try it
again). It is a novel that, according to some of us, changed lives
(that's why it beat out Catch 22 for the National Book Award--of
course, there probably is a Heller listserve....)
Thanks for all of the feedback.
-David



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