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

["Gray, Rich" <RGray AT montreat.edu>]

I'm an instructor at Montreat College in Western North Carolina.  My Percy interest focuses on his novels.

 

I just met with a reading circle who were finishing Thanatos Syndrome, Percy's last novel.  Some of them objected articulately to the chaos in the plot: the Belle Ame school scene toward the end, the barrage of themes, Father Smith's whacky sermon at the end, and Tom More's passivity.  I responded that this jumble of odd characters and scenes is Percy's way of reaching out toward the unnamed, post-Christian, chaotic age. 

 

How would any of you respond?

 

 Rich Gray

[Original Message-----
From: Earthrise Press [mailto:earthrisepress AT comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 7:07 AM
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [percy-l] Re: Some Random Thoughts, Largely Unrelated, Based on Previous Discussions and Readings

"Wade Riddick"  wrote:
> Well, the list appears to have gone dark, which isn't surprising what with
> the increasing corporate ownership of media and all.

I've been occasionally lurking around for some months out of interest
in Percy's work, surfing the website too. How about attempting a
"revival" with one of my favorite quotations from Percy:

Sign Posts in a Strange Land, 309:

"The old modern age has ended. We live in a post-modern as well
as a post-Christian age which as yet has no name....

"It is post-modern because the Age of Enlightenment with its vision
of man as a rational creature, naturally good and part of the cosmos,
which itself is understandable by natural science--this age has also
ended. It ended with the catastrophes of the twentieth century."

What are we to make of the catastrophes of the 21st Century?
Not off to an especially good start, are we?! Or too gloomy
a quotation to prompt comment?

Frederick Glaysher

Earthrise Press
P. O. Box 81842
Rochester, MI 48308-1842
Voice: 248-651-3380
FAX: 248-608-6424
EarthrisePress AT Comcast.Net
www.fglaysher.com