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

[rizwana banu <riz_banu AT hotmail.com>]

What exactly are the characteristics of  being a southern writer? Is it difficult or necessary to prove being a white catholic southern writer? How is it different from being a protestant writer and a white anyway?

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From: nikkibar AT aol.com
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:41:03 -0500
Subject: Re: [percy-l] FW: percy's southernness

Dear Rizwana,  

It is doubtful whether Uncle Will would have been thought of by his contemporaries as bigoted. Walker certainly wasn't. It would also be a mistake to assume that Southern implies bigotedness. There are lots of folks hereabouts who are not, although sometimes we have to struggle against it. If you want to understand Uncle Will's influence on Walker, reread The Moviegoer. There is therein a beneficent aunt who is a kind of alter ego of uncle Will, someone who stands for the things of the generation before to which we are loyal without surrendering our inner most selves. You might get some further insight into the matter by reading Walker Percy Remembered. I have some trouble figuring what you mean by alienated in your last question. You might read Eudora Welty (particularly her piece about the death of Medgar Evers) and although it may be hard to follow the ironies within the works (many Americans can't) look at Flannery O'Connor, particularly A Good Man Is Hard To Find. It would be difficult to describe Miss Welty as being alienated but if I catch the drift of your question she may fit with what you mean. I hope this doesn't confuse the issue further for you.

Nikki Barranger

On Oct 20, 2009, at 5:14 AM, rizwana banu wrote:

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From: riz_banu AT hotmail.com
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: percy's southernness
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:43:38 +0530

I have been trying to understand Percy's southernness  in terms of his biography, as regards the influence of "Uncle Will" on him. I find that inspite of his upbringing in a upper class southern background he had a mind of his own which went beyond mere class distinctions and vested interests in retaining class distinctions. Percy was able to see clearly the two sides of the coin as regards the civil war, not as a defeat of the South but as one of a particular class of society. Percy with his southern roots of aristocracy was yet not bigoted. He seems to be a minority within his own circle. Who are the other southern novelists during the period from 1960s to 1990s or even contemporary novelists who seem to be alienated/unique in their understanding within their own group?    

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