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

[Ken Armstrong <armstron AT ohiou.edu>]

To each his own, I guess. Thanatos was by far my favorite Percy book. 
Searingly funny and over the hump of the somewhat personal, romantic tics 
of earlier books.

Ken Armstrong

At 02:31 PM 8/25/2006, you wrote:
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> Thanks for the comment. I also thought Thanatos Syndromw was a rare case 
> of Percy running “amok” and becoming uncharacteristically “hyperactive” – 
> WAY over the top. It made my head spin. It is the one Percy book I never 
> re-read.
>
> Steven L. Dye, MA
> Director
> Bluegrass MH-MR Board, Inc.
> 1500 Leestown Road, Suite 338
> Lexington, KY 40511
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of srcoyote AT aol.com
> Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 2:21 PM
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] humor in Love in the Ruins versus sadness of Lancelot
>
> Steven:
>
> I work in a similar field (services to people with cognitive 
> disabilities), and live in Cincinnati.  That is the only thing different I 
> would have written in a paragraph about LITR. . . oh, except that I first 
> read it in 1993 (stumbling on to it in a bookstore in Pensacola, FL).  My 
> sister who works in mental health and who is not as keen on Percy as 
> readers of this list, names LITR as the one book she actually 
> liked.  There are very few books that make me laugh out loud, and LITR is 
> one of them.
>
> And
>
> Rich:
>
> I think you'd find Thanatos Syndrome much darker (perhaps not as dark as 
> Lancelot) than LITR even though it features the same character.
>
> David
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sldye AT bluegrass.org
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 2:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] humor in Love in the Ruins versus sadness of Lancelot
> I re-read LITR every 5 years or so, too. It is one of my favorite novels
> and I find it just as humorous - and relevant - in 2006 as I did upon
> first serendipitous reading (stumbled onto it in a book store in New
> Orleans) in 1983.  I also laugh out loud a lot while reading it. As for
> being relevant, I thought of LITR in the dark days after 9/11 and I also
> thought about it when Katrina hit New Orleans.  I work in the mental
> health field, so ol' Dr. Tom More is a kindred soul to me for many
> reasons.
>
> Steven L. Dye, MA
> Director
> Bluegrass MH-MR Board, Inc.
> 1500 Leestown Road, Suite 338
> Lexington, KY 40511
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> <mailto:percy-l-bounces%40lists.ibiblio.org>percy-l-bounces@lists..ibiblio.org
> [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Gray, Rich
> Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 12:59 PM
> To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
> Subject: [percy-l] humor in Love in the Ruins versus sadness of Lancelot
>
> I just re-read Love in the Ruins after about ten years.  It is supposed
> to be dated, but I found it relevant -- and funnier than I remembered
> it.  Members of my family were asking what I was laughing about.
> Stryker announcing his discovery at the Love Clinic:
>     "I think you might be interested to learn, Tom, that since June
> we've been using not one subject at a time" -- he touches my arm with a
> withered finger--"but two."
>     "Two?"
>     "Yes.  A man and a woman.  Here's the breakthrough."
>
> After LITR, Percy wrote Lancelot, somber and violent.  How can this
> swing in mood be accounted for?  The other four novels are similar in
> blending satire with serious theme development.  And no one is killed (I
> believe).
>
> Rich Gray
>
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