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percy-l - [percy-l] Forwarded for Karey Perkins: SAMLA Percy session

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

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  • From: Henry Mills <hpmills3 AT austin.rr.com>
  • To: percy-l <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [percy-l] Forwarded for Karey Perkins: SAMLA Percy session
  • Date: Tue, 01 May 2007 21:09:56 -0500

Title: Forwarded for Karey Perkins: SAMLA Percy session

Percy fellows:
 
I will be chairing a session at the annual convention of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (see topic below).  Am seeking papers on the topic: “Walker Percy Today” –  that topic should be broad enough to fit many different Percy interests.  I think Percy is relevant today – but somehow is not included in college curricula as much as he should be!  Some of the suggestions came from listserv observations, as you can see below – Nikki compared Lancelot to a Jihadist; someone here (don’t remember who) also noted LIR echoed Katrina.
 
Just e-mail a one-page abstract to me at karey1 AT charter.net by May 15.  The SAMLA website is  http://www.samla.org <http://www.samla.org/>  (or http://samla.gsu.edu <http://samla.gsu.edu/> ) with the conference information – November 9-11, 2007, in Atlanta, at the Renaissance Hotel downtown.
 
I would love to see some of you at the conference, at the session, or giving your paper for the session!  We’ve conversed over the years, and though I have been silent lately (attempting to diligently finish a dissertation before I pontificate on a listserv…), hopefully, we’ll be able to reconnect and meet!
 
Karey Perkins
Senior Professor of English, DeVry University
Alpharetta, Georgia
 
Topic:  Walker Percy, an honorary memory of SAMLA, is sometimes considered “merely” a topical writer and, in the 17 years since his death, seems to have faded from the literary landscape.  College literature courses, even those on southern literature, only infrequently include Percy’s writing.  How is Percy relevant to us today?  Does his study of symbol and language have anything to offer linguists, philosophers, or anthropologists today?  Are his dystopian science fiction novels, his social satires, and his social parodies out-of-date – or was he a prescient visionary, still current today and in the future?  Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the similarities between the psychology of Lancelot and a modern day terrorist; Love in the Ruins as a description of the chaos and racial divide in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; the Knotheads and the LEFTPAPAS forecasting the political divide in America today; More’s lapsometer in Love in the Ruins and patient medication in The Second Coming echoing the popularity of Prozac and other anti-depressants today. One-page abstracts sent to Karey Perkins at karey1 AT charter.net by May 15, 2007.  Complete papers should be no more than ten pages or 20 minutes to read.


 
Whoops – was it Rich Gray who first noticed Lancelot as a jihadist? I went back through the archives and perhaps it was.  At any rate, my re-reading of Lancelot confirmed that perspective – Lancelot has the psychology of a terrorist in every way.
 
Karey




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