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

[<Robert_Pauley AT oxy.com>]

Title: Message

I don't think "totally" is the right adverb for any Walker Percy position. He was too intellectually supple. Remember his piece on abortion in the New York Times -- ... "Something to displease both sides." I believe he would have found a way to deconstruct the moral and semantic choplogic of "gay marriage" while allowing for the truth of gay love as a personal bond, and of society's need to accept this, short of formal social or religious sanctification. He would, again, have displeased both sides.  

 

Best, RP  

-----Original Message-----
From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of James Piat
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 4:59 PM
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
Subject: Re: [percy-l] gay marriage

Dear Phil,

 

I think we are all very much products of our circumstances  -- and tend to get more conservative as we age. Of his writings I like Percy's essays the most, and The Movie Goer more than The Thanatos Syndrome.  I'm not so sure Percy would be totally against gay marriage were he around today.  Times change; people change. 

 

Regards from Atlanta

Jim

I think Percy would be totally against gay marriage. But that's why I'm glad I don't walk around wearing a "WWPD?" wrist band. I think he was definitely a product of his time and place, and his later novels particularly illustrate his out-of-place feeling in the 1970's. And didn't it seem like he became more conservative and doctrinaire as he grew older? It's been a while since I've read Percy, but I remember The Thanatos Syndrome being a lot more "preachy" than his early novels...

 

Regards from Chapel Hill,

Phil