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

["Karl M. Terrell" <kterrell AT sheastokes.com>]

I think it's the approach of bad news that excites us.  The aftermath or
reality, however, dumps us back into ordinariness.  Hence, the
fundamental need to continue searching. 

Percy pointed out the weird, guilty giddiness we receive from bad news;
how we almost wish for it.  The media, of course, is onto this.  Several
weeks ago a plane crashed and all 100+ passengers walked away with no
deaths and few injuries.  The sense of disappointment among the talking
heads was palpable.

Karl

-----Original Message-----
From: dabeck AT iupui.edu [mailto:dabeck AT iupui.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 11:57 AM
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
Subject: Re: [percy-l] "What's so great about this Percy guy, anyway?"


 
I'm not sure what Percy would say about this recent disaster. I do know,

however, that conveying this idea--that tragedy can break us from our 
everydayness, even make life exciting again--is difficult to convey to
my 
college students. Some get it; some think it's crazy. 
 When I used to Lancelot along with Fight Club, I would point out the 
similarities (narrator/Tyler hoping that the plane he's on crashes, etc.
That 
feeling pain is better than feeling nothing, etc.
 I remember on and after 9/11 we had this discussion on the list. It
seemed to 
be an example of where Percy's hurricane theory didn't work.  Off to
class. -David

Quoting "Karl M. Terrell" <kterrell AT sheastokes.com>:

> * * This communication is CONFIDENTIAL * *
> 
> Tying the two current themes together ... I was also first attracted 
> to Percy by the sheer delight in reading his wonderfully smooth prose,

> and the way his likable characters roam outside the mainstream,
buffeting
> about, but ultimately in search of some truer path.   The search seems
> to begin with awareness of the discomfort of "everydayness."
>  
> I was particularly struck, early on, with his comparison (I forget 
> where, but he returns to this in several books) of a successful man 
> sitting in his fine home in Short Hills, N.J. on a Wednesday 
> afternoon, birds chirping contentedly in the trees against a clear 
> blue sky -- he should be feeling fine; the world is his oyster; but he

> finds himself profoundly ill at ease -- contrasted with the excitement

> one feels when a hurricane is bearing down.  Bad news takes us out of 
> the ordinariness of a Wednesday afternoon, where you're stuck and 
> don't know what to do, and wonder how in the hell you'll make it 
> through the next few hours.
>  
> But now the hurricane has passed, and has devastated a great city. 
> Amidst the grief, the ordinariness of a day-to-day struggle of 
> returning to the ordinary will take over.  I wonder how Percy would 
> write of that experience -- perhaps he has, and I don't recall (it's 
> been many years since I really spent a lot of time with WP).  Love in 
> the Ruins?  Maybe someone out there can point to a book or passage.
>  
> Karl
> -----Original Message----- .
> From: Dye, Steve [mailto:sldye AT bluegrass.org] 
> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 10:04 AM
> To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] "What's so great about this Percy guy, anyway?"
> 
> 
> My thoughts exactly...the New Orleans that many of have known and 
> loved for years (and that was so beautifully written about by Percy) 
> is gone forever...
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Stuart Chapman
> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 9:42 AM
> To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] "What's so great about this Percy guy, anyway?"
>  
> Been thinking about you, Percy, and everybody else New Orleans-related

> over these last few days, and I hope that you are ok.
>  
> It's just awful.
>  
> Stuart
> 
> Dave Duty <daveduty AT austin.rr.com> wrote:
> Is no one else on the list concerned about Nikki and the other New 
> Orleans area residents?
> 
> Nikki -- if your out there -- let us know if you and your loved ones 
> are ok -- God Bless -- Dave
> 
> JHForest AT cs.com <mailto:JHForest AT cs.com>  wrote:
> 
> 
> >> What would you say to a young person who asks, "What so great about
> this
> Percy guy, anyway?" <<
> 
> What keeps Walker Percy in print fifteen years after his death is the 
> sheer delight of reading his books.
> 
> A key word with Percy was "search." It seems to me all of his fiction 
> and non-fiction have to do with that topic. As he said:
> 
> "If I had the choice of knowing the truth or searching for the truth,
> I'd take the search." 
> 
> It's a subject of the search has been much on my mind lately if for no
> other reason than I'm at work on a book about pilgrimage (understood 
> not only as making journeys to distant shrines but an attitude about 
> being that has little to do with travel). One way of defining a
pilgrim 
> is a person on a search.
> 
> Jim Forest
> 
> * * *
> Jim & Nancy Forest
> Kanisstraat 5 / 1811 GJ Alkmaar / The Netherlands
> Jim's e-mail: jhforest AT cs.com <mailto:jhforest AT cs.com>  (alternative
> address: jhforest AT gmail.com <mailto:jhforest AT gmail.com> ) Nancy's 
> e-mail: forestflier AT cs.com <mailto:forestflier AT cs.com> (alternative 
> address: forestflier AT gmail.com <mailto:forestflier AT gmail.com> )
> Orthodox Peace Fellowship web site: http://www.incommunion.org
> <http://www.incommunion.org/> 
> Jim & Nancy Forest web site: http://incommunion.org/forest-flier/
> <http://incommunion.org/forest-flier/> 
> photo web site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/sets/
> <http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/sets/> 
> * * * 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   _____
> 
> 
> 
>  
> --
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>  
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at  http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy 
> <http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy>
> --
> An archive of all list discussion is available at 
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/percy-l/
> 
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> 
>   _____
> 
> Start your  
> <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=34442/*http:/www.yahoo.com/r/hs>
> day with Yahoo! - make it your home page 
> 
> 
> 
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> --
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> 
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> 


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