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

[rizwana banu <riz_banu AT hotmail.com>]

quite often it becomes fashionable and essential, in the long period of time to stand up and explain with concrete specificity what would have passed off as obvious and clearly simple. In Percy's case it was okay and acceptable to see his world view of things with or without categorical insistence on being a southerner- merely in terms of being from the South and a writer at that. But, in today's globalized world do you not think that one is bound to allege loyalty to where he comes from and to what extent one reflects the concerns and sensibilities in terms of a community? It is not easily taken as in earlier times, when one would accept dissent within a community.
Percy,however was liberal in thought. Is it easy for a writer to voice dissent or proclaim divergent thought within southern literature and community? Has the ghost over grown to subsume independent and divergent thought? If yes, what is the future of southern writing?   

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From: rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:55:17 -0700
Subject: Re: [percy-l] FW: percy's southernness

I'm with you Karey. And aren't we all blind to what we are to some extent?  That injunction--know thyself--remains the most difficult one to follow. 

Percy may have hated being referred to as a Southern writer in the way that we all find labels confining, but the South was more than just a backdrop for his work.  For all that his writing is universal, if a reader doesn't understand something about the South and about Southerners, then some of Percy's meaning remains obscured.  Like it or not, that's how it is.  The same goes for his Catholicism.  If a reader knows nothing about the Catholic world view, then something is missed.  That doesn't mean that there isn't plenty left to chew over, but understanding where Percy is coming from helps. Otherwise, you might end up thinking that Binx is no more than medical student at the end of Moviegoer and miss the whole thing.  Like Will misses the whole thing at the end of The Last Gentleman.

For Karey, a statement attributed to Pat Conroy goes something like this:  “My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me, 'All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: On the night the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to sister.”

But that's the Southern Gothic stuff, with that whiff of incest, that darkness and violence.  And I agree that that wasn't Percy's particular milieu although somewhere back in the Percy line there was a Gothic writer--see Betram Wyatt-Brown's The Literary Percys for that story.

Ok, enough.  I'll do darn near anything to avoid real work!

--Rhonda

"You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing."
  
                                    Walker Percy

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From: karey1 AT charter.net
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:24:04 -0400
Subject: Re: [percy-l] FW: percy's southernness

There is the “southern gothic” meaning this species of southern writing contains the characteristics of the gothic; i.e.: dark and violent.  Faulkner and O’Conner have been said to be “southern gothic,” but I don’t see Percy there.

 

I am taking a Southern Literature course next semester – what does it mean?  Well,what Nikki says, you are southern, and you are a writer – does that distinguish you in any way from the rest of the country? How is it different?  One question to ask is, how does Updike (as in, the Rabbit series, same era) differ from Percy?  Percy is Southern, aristocratic, Catholic; Updike, Northern, lower middle class, Protestant. How are protagonists, themes, etc. different?

 

I have been told that “soul” arises from pain.  The South – of all regions of the country – went through pain after the Civil War – and I would say unjust pain, after being defeated and subsequently taken advantage of.  There is a soul to southern writing that manifests in the early to mid 20^th century. 

 

Catholic – Percy is obviously and consciously (and subconsciously) Catholic. 

 

Whether Percy saw a difference between himself and other authors from other regions is probably unimportant.  It’s hard to see ourselves.  Percy was especially blind to himself in lots of ways.

 

Karey

 

From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of rizwana banu
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:41 PM
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [percy-l] FW: percy's southernness

 

That is beautiful. The spirit of southern writing springs not from being similar but being diverse and celebrating all that pertains to the south, be it the history( it is one history for the white man and another for the black  and sometimes a shared history), religion, or gender. However, critics want to exaggerate the differences to the extent of convoluting the very joy and essence of being southern. This makes it hard to substantiate one's southernness with a necessity to take a stand on either this or that side.

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From: nikkibar AT aol.com
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:03:18 -0500
Subject: Re: [percy-l] FW: percy's southernness

The characteristics of being a Southern writer are 1. You should be from the Southern United States and 2 You should write. Walker hated being referred to that way and always would rather be read as simply a writer. That he was Southern was for him incidental and not of great importance. Nor is his Catholicism of any characteristic importance. Eudora Welty wasn't, nor was Faulkner. Nor am I, although nobody much reads my work the way they do with Percy, Welty, or Faulkner. And yet by all right I am a Southern writer and I'll fight the man what says it isn't so. Or at least smile in sardonic amusement.

 

Nikki Barranger

On Oct 21, 2009, at 4:40 AM, rizwana banu wrote:

 

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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