Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

percy-l - Re: [percy-l] a couple more comments on Part I of the slow read.

percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org

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

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Leonard <leonardh6363 AT gmail.com>
  • To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] a couple more comments on Part I of the slow read.
  • Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2025 14:39:15 -0400

I agree... Rita's an enigma to me, so far.  I think Percy wouldn't be shy about suggesting Rita has romantic designs on Kitty, but I looked at the poetry as another existential "device" (for want of a better word), considering again his non-fiction. "The Loss of the Creature" (1958) reveals how things can be "recovered," which are lost to the alienated, including poetry. Remember his saying a student can better "get at" a Shakespeare sonnet if he or she encounters it in a biology lab than in an English class.  Will's encounter with Rita's notes to Kitty is far from a lit class at Harvard; and I can imagine being read to by Rita would help Kitty get at sonnets better than the usual way we find them.

And those hurricanes are similar in both novels. Percy talks about "aesthetic reversal" in "The Man on the Train" (1956), by which a person escapes the despair of alienation by encountering something out of the ordinary, especially disasters, from hurricanes to The Bomb.

I think the hurricane reversal, Rhonda, reads differently in 2025. I used to feel almost high from the forecast of an occasional storm stirring up the Gulf, then heading to Maryland. But post-Katrina, and thanks to climate change, they're more likely to inspire sheer terror. Wonder how Percy would characterize that.

Both essays are reprinted in his "Message in the Bottle."  They're not the easiest stuff to digest, but what I got out of them (and Percy) changed my outlook on life forever. No exaggeration. I was lucky enough to be introduced to "Love in the Ruins" in the '70s by the fantastic professor Lewis Lawson at the University of Maryland when I was unaware of "the specific character of despair." Among other insights, he showed us the connection between Percy's essays and his novels.  Can't say I'm "cured," but a healthy dose of Percy's ideas continues to leave me better off than I could ever have been without them.

Thank you guys,
Leonard

On Thu, Jun 19, 2025 at 1:15 PM RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com> wrote:
Good observation Janet, and good to hear from you on the list! I get some spidey-sense tingles that Rita has some designs that aren’t wholly wholesome. I’ve always wondered about that, but then I don’t think that Percy intended it to be how it reads to me in 2025. I think that he probably intended Rita to be a mentor figure only, but knowing what I know about the sonnets, it’s hard for me to see them as neutral. 

Anyone else with thoughts?

Rhonda
Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 18, 2025, at 5:53 PM, honeyjbc1 <honeyjbc AT gmail.com> wrote:



Anyone want to comment about why Rita and Kitty share Shakespeare Sonnets?


People feeling better in hurricanes on page 23 reminded me of The Moviegoer when accidents or other unpleasant surprises relieve the malaise.


----------------------------------
USING PERCY-L
* Read Percy-L Charter and Policies: https://ibiblio.org/wpercy/listserv/charter-policies.html
* Manage Your Membership: https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/info/percy-l
* Submit a Post to Percy-L: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org (Members only)
* Contact the Listserv Manager: percy.listserv.manager AT gmail.com

LISTSERV ARCHIVES
* View Percy-L Discussion Archives: https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/percy-l/

THE WALKER PERCY PROJECT
* Visit The Walker Percy Project website: https://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy

----------------------------------
USING PERCY-L
* Read Percy-L Charter and Policies: https://ibiblio.org/wpercy/listserv/charter-policies.html
* Manage Your Membership: https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/info/percy-l
* Submit a Post to Percy-L: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org (Members only)
* Contact the Listserv Manager: percy.listserv.manager AT gmail.com

LISTSERV ARCHIVES
* View Percy-L Discussion Archives: https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/percy-l/

THE WALKER PERCY PROJECT
* Visit The Walker Percy Project website: https://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page