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percy-l - [percy-l] Walker Percy and Certification: "Somewhere vs. Anywhere"

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

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  • From: "Henry P. Mills III" <wppdirector AT gmail.com>
  • To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [percy-l] Walker Percy and Certification: "Somewhere vs. Anywhere"
  • Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2022 02:32:23 -0400

Somewhere vs. Anywhere, a Percy quote for the community to enjoy:


"Panic in the Streets with Richard Widmark is playing on Tchoupitoulas Street….There is a scene which shows the very neighborhood of the theater. Kate gives me a look—it is understood that we do not speak during the movie. 

Afterwards in the street, she looks around the neighborhood. 'Yes, it is certified now.' 

She refers to a phenomenon of moviegoing which I have called certification. Nowadays when a person lives somewhere, in a neighborhood, the place is not certified for him. More than likely he will live there sadly and the emptiness which is inside him will expand until it evacuates the entire neighborhood. But if he sees a movie which shows his very neighborhood, it becomes possible for him to live, for a time at least, as a person who is Somewhere and not Anywhere."

—Walker Percy, The Moviegoer




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