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

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

I read a fascinating book several years ago by a war correspondent who
describes the terrible but exhilirating psychology that grips those in
the midst of war.  I'm traveling at the moment and can't pull it off my
shelf and give you the name.  But he talks about the inevitable pull of
the experience, suggesting that we are forever doomed to repeat it.  We
saw this country gripped in this as we headed into the Iraq war.  We
knew terrible things were going to happen, but separate from any
analysis of the pros and cons of the decision, we hungered for it.

A trivial comparison: at the age of 12, I had an accident and badly
broke my arm.  I remember that for days afterward I had a strong sense
that, if called upon, I could easily commit an act of violence.  But
when I now think back on this event, I physically shudder.  

There is something about these awful occurences that brings up a dark
side of our authenic selves.  I'm not sure we can wholly control this.
We can only hope, on balance, that the search will proceed toward a
light.

Karl
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Lynch <padraig AT well.com>
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
<percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wed Aug 31 19:16:28 2005
Subject: Re: [percy-l] "What's so great about this Percy guy, anyway?"

Gentle Folks:
While this all seems to be a part of what Percy said, along with the  
idea that we cannot originally experience the Grand Canyon if we have  
been over-exposed to pictures of the tourist site, the concept of  
rotation indicates more than a momentary stay against one's insidious  
life. The man on the train is confronted with a re-visioning of who  
he is. The "man asleep at the traffic light" remains asleep  
afterwards. The man on the train awakens to a different, more  
perceived self.

Nonetheless, Karl's comment reaffirms the news high that many feel  
watching CNN incessantly. But it is an inauthentic substitute for the  
deeper response of the man on the train. Perhaps even a poor  
substitute for feeling compassion for those affected by a disaster  
like Katrina.

Is this making sense?
P.
On Aug 31, 2005, at 6:50 PM, dabeck AT iupui.edu wrote:

> Karl,
> I think you're right. It is the anticipation more than the  
> aftermath. But
> probably it is also in the moment, to some extent. Like on the  
> battlefield
> (not that I've been there), the rush of the danger might make one  
> more "alive"
> in the moment (as I heard Jackson Browne sing the other day on the
> radio: "While the veterans, dream of the fight/While fast asleep at  
> the
> traffic light") but that same person might have to deal with PTSD  
> later.
>  I don't have Message in a Bottle with me, but the man on the train  
> is in the
> middle of a crisis when he notices his hand for the first time. I  
> guess it all
> depends on what the outcome is.
>  While slightly different, I remember a friend of mine whose  
> daughter died
> when she was six or seven, saying that it was the most painful  
> experience in
> his life, but at the same time, the most beautiful. He said that it  
> awakened
> him to what was important and to the presence of God (and he was a  
> pastor). In
> LIR, regarding his daughter's death, More asks something like, What  
> if you ask
> God for a miracle and it happens. What then? After that he says,  
> "Samantha,
> forgive me. I'm sorry you suffered and died, my heart broke, but  
> there have
> been times when I wasn't above enjoying it." One of the strangest  
> lines in
> Percy's fiction, in my opinion.
>  Does it tie into what we've been discussing (i.e. "hurricane  
> syndrome", etc.?)
> -David
>
>
>
> Quoting "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/>
>>> * * *
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>   _____
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> An archive of all list discussion is available at
>>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/
>>> <http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/>
>>>
>>> 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
>>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/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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>>> --
>>> An archive of all list discussion is available at
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>>>
>>> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> An archive of all list discussion is available at
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/
>>
>> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>> --
>> An archive of all list discussion is available at
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/
>>
>> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> An archive of all list discussion is available at http:// 
> lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/
>
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>
>

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