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

["Jonathan Potter" <jdp AT scn.org>]

I had a brief conversation with Walker Percy in November of 1989.  When I
asked him what he was working on, he said it was a journal he had kept
during lent and that he was going to borrow the title from Aquinas' "Summa
Contra Gentiles."  He added wryly that his publisher was opposed to the
title because  people wd be confused and think it was about the Nicaraguan
contras.

I also visited the Chapel Hill archives in 2000 and didn't see it referenced
in the inventory.  It seems to me the Samway biography mentions it.  Since
Samway edited Signposts in Strange Land, I wd suspect he also has (or had)
access to the Contra Gentiles ms as well.

Jonathan Potter
Spokane, WA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "RHONDA MCDONNELL" <rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com>
To: <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 5:46 PM
Subject: Re: [percy-l] Contra Gentiles?


> Thanks for the vote of confidence, Karey, but I don't have much to add.
> While I think Dr. Ketner is right--the sum of the parts = contra gentiles,
> it also seems that he was working on it actively. If I remember correctly,
> reference to the project appears both in  correspondence to Ketner and in
> his correspondence with Shelby Foote.   But that doesn't mean that he had
> anything down on paper.  I'm hoping to get to the Chapel Hill archives and
> see what may be revealed, if anything.  What little I've picked up from
> reading the correspondence seems to indicate that he was planning on a
> Christian apologetic for the post-Christian world.   In other words, a
LOST
> IN THE COSMOS type of project (remember his working title for that one was
> NOVUM ORGANON, if I remember correctly).  Not to beat that dead mule, but
> that's the primary reason I see him as reaching beyond the post-Modern
> vision toward some future that has yet to be glimpsed.  But we'll see if
my
> research bears that out.
>
> Sorry Mike, not too much enlightenment from these quarters.
>
> Rhonda
>
>
> >From: "Karey L. Perkins" <karey AT charter.net>
> >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: Re: [percy-l] Contra Gentiles?
> >Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 17:25:20 -0400
> >
> >I think Rhonda would be a great person to ask about that -- she seems to
> >have gone far in her research in that area --
> >
> >KP
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Mike Frentz
> >To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
> >Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 10:24 PM
> >Subject: [percy-l] Contra Gentiles?
> >
> >
> >Does anybody happen to know how far Percy got on his Contra Gentiles,
> >which, if I remember correctly was a defense of the Church somehow
aligned
> >with Peirce's principles, based on the model of Aquinas?  Any record of
it
> >after his death?  Does the manuscript exist in his papers, perhaps?  Just
> >curious if anyone in this august group knows anything about it.
> >
> >(actually, the SUDDEN SILENCE has been killing me on this list..  Hoping
> >the big one (sobig etc..) didn't do us in.  Figured this was better than
a
> >"TEST" message  :-)
> >
> >Mike
> >
> >--
> >
> >An archive of all list discussion is available at
> >http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
> >
> >Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> >--
> >
> >An archive of all list discussion is available at
> >http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
> >
> >Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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> --
>
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>