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

[RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com>]

Janet, thanks for your questions.

I appreciated the succinctness of your comment, "This is a book of its time, post Becket, the existentialists, and the absurdists," for in that comment you gesture toward the answer of one of your own questions.  Is the novel an existential book? Yes, Percy himself said that he intended it that way. Remember Binx's memory of becoming aware of his own hand while in Korea?  He awakened to his own existence, something which was repeated in his post-military life and started him on his search. He is searching for a meaningful life, recognizing that most around him are not awake to their own existence. Instead, they are like the bourgeoisie and the humanists that Sartre mocks in Nausea. The difference, as my listmates have already pointed out is that Percy's existentialism is a Christian existentialism. But, as Binx says, he refuses to be edifying. He does, however, say that he will help others along their way. And in the scene with his siblings, he tells them the truth, as he always does. So when Therese (wasn't it her?) asks if Lonnie will be able to waterski in heaven and Binx answers yes, he is reaffirming their faith and the promise of the resurrection.  That scene, by the way, was one that Percy said was an intentional nod to Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamozov, when the children all cheer for Alyosha. 

I too find the book hilarious--funnier every time I read it. I love that he calls the dog Rosebud. I love the description of the scientists as freckled brontosauruses. I love when Binx reflects that every time his aunt has a talk with him, he has to find a girl. His "This I Believe" bit cracks me up.  And his dryness when he comments that his uncle is no Cato.  I could go on and on, but you get the point.

The epigraph should, I think, be understood in the context Kierkegaard placed it in. His The Sickness Unto Death ultimately defined despair as being out of the presence of God. In a later novel, Percy explains it as a homesickness for a home we don't realize we miss.  But Binx is onto it, and that is what he is searching for. You wrote "he is carrying out normal activity and conversation, and no one having discourse with him, knows about his interior life. The only one who  knows it all is his fellow mentally discomfited, Kate. In the end, he will accept everydayness as he takes care of Kate." I respectfully disagree. I see him like Kierkegaard's religious man, who was indistinguishable from his fellow citizens because the movement to the religious is internal.  Rather than accepting everydayness, rather than choosing the Little Way, he has taken the absurd leap of faith that belief in God demands.

One last thing, I think the enjoyment of the job, the secretaries, the movies, the library card, etc, is all an elaborate pose that he drops when he moves to a more religious way of thinking and seeing the world. In the epilogue, he says he doesn't go to the movies any more.

--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

> From: jeriley AT uark.edu
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:18:56 +0000
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] The Moviegoer
>
> Janet:
>
> Thank you for the compliment-- I'm glad you found the comments helpful. And thank you for kick-starting a discussion on The Moviegoer,
> which remains my favorite Percy novel, followed closely by The Last Gentleman, Love in the Ruins and Lancelot. Some of the later novels are
> probably better as novels (i.e. works of art), but something about the way Percy handled the first-person narrative voice in The Moviegoer
> connected with me when I first read it, and still does.
> Are you familiar with the story of how the great writer A.J. Liebling "discovered" The Moviegoer while in New Orleans researching Huey
> Long? Liebling's enthusiasm for the novel went a long way toward getting The MG nominated for--and winning--the National Book Award in 1962.
> It's a great story (see Jay Tolson's biography). Luck never hurt, even for Walker Percy!
>
> Cheers,
>
> John Riley
> Reference & Index Arkansas
> Mullins Library
> University of Arkansas
> Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
> ________________________________________
> From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] on behalf of percy-l-request AT lists.ibiblio.org [percy-l-request AT lists.ibiblio.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 12:25 PM
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Percy-L Digest, Vol 78, Issue 7
>
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> 1. Re: Percy-L Digest, Vol 78, Issue 5 (janet cantor)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:45:55 -0700 (PDT)
> From: janet cantor <janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com>
> To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
> <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] Percy-L Digest, Vol 78, Issue 5
> Message-ID: <403839.24708.qm AT web63607.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Thank you, John, for these comments. They are valuable in keeping up the analysis of The Moviegoer. I especially like that you say you would keep away from anything described as a Christian morality tale, yet you consider this one of your favorite novels; and I liked your idea that a book is enough if it is a well written novel, which this one certainly is.
> But best of all I value your insight? that we should "...remember in the epilogue Binx does say that he is "his mother's son after all."? I interpret that to mean that he has chosen the catholic faith over Aunt Emily's stoic philosophy."
> That is excellent.
> Janet
>
> --- On Tue, 10/12/10, John E. Riley <jeriley AT uark.edu> wrote:
>
> From: John E. Riley <jeriley AT uark.edu>
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] Percy-L Digest, Vol 78, Issue 5
> To: "percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Cc: "John E. Riley" <jeriley AT uark.edu>
> Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 3:12 PM
>
> Janet:
>
> I like your reading of the novel and your questions at the end.? And I had to chuckle at your comment that
> you are "merely a reader."? I feel sure that Walker Percy had great respect for his readers--he understood that
> every writer needs readers; without readers, a writer's work is unfulfilled, exists in a vacuum.
>
> As to the question of whether The Moviegoer is an existentialist novel or a "Christian morality tale" as you think,
> I believe it should be enough to say that it is a novel. The Moviegoer is a well-written novel, certainly, funny in its way, possibly a great novel;
> If you connected with it at any level then that is enough, in my opinion.? The problem with labels and categories
> is that they create pre-conceived ideas in people's minds.? Personally, I would stay far away from any novel described as
> a "Christian morality tale" and yet the Moviegoer is one of my favorite novels.
>
> Aunt Emily is certainly central to the novel.? The reason Binx cannot speak of the search around her is that she
> is so settled in, and persuasive about, her own perspective.? She does help in keeping Binx grounded, keeps him
> from being some Jack Kerouac-like figure constantly roaming the earth.? He does not have much in common with Aunt
> Emily, however.? It may be a generational thing.? But remember in the epilogue Binx does say that he is "his mother's son
> after all."? I interpret that to mean that he has chosen the catholic faith over Aunt Emily's stoic philosophy.
>
> Kate certainly has her problems; she is depressed to the point of being a suicide risk (though she says at one point
> that the thought of suicide is what keeps her going).? She would probably be diagnosed as bi-polar today.? Her
> character reminds me of the book's epigraph, that the precise nature of despair is simply this: it is unaware of
> being despair (I'm quoting from memory; I believe the saying was Kierkegaard's).? Kate is at least self-aware
> enough to realize that something is seriously wrong.? What she can give to Binx is a "built-in bullshit detector"
> (to paraphrase Hemingway; remember Binx says at one point that he believes in "a good kick in the ass"),
> while Binx can obviously help Kate with the day-to-day challenges of concrete reality.
> The beauty of any marriage relationship is that each person potentially has something to give to the other that helps complete
> that person, make him or her a "better person" for lack of a better phrase.? So I see their marriage as on solid footing,
> though it is obviously an open question regarding their future.
>
> Those are my thoughts.? I appreciate the fresh perspective you bring with your comments and questions.
> Best of luck to you, Janet!
>
> John Riley
> Reference & Index Arkansas
> Mullins Library
> University of Arkansas
> Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
> ________________________________________
> From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] on behalf of percy-l-request AT lists.ibiblio.org [percy-l-request AT lists.ibiblio.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 3:53 AM
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Percy-L Digest, Vol 78, Issue 5
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:48:31 -0700 (PDT)
> From: janet cantor <janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com>
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [percy-l] The Moviegoer - Please ignore my previous posts
> Message-ID: <34801.9363.qm AT web63607.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Dear Percy-L,
>
>
>
> I am a 72 year old general reader and have numerous questions after
> completing the Moviegoer. Please overlook my earlier posts to the list
> as I am new to listservs in general. Please allow me to tell you of my
> experience with the book.
>
>
>
> I read and reread the book. I led a discussion of it in my book group.
> My reading was absolutely different from theirs. This stunned me. I
> found the book funny, endearing and uplifting. They found it depressing
> and hopeless.
>
>
>
> I include below two items I?d like to present to the list: 1) a personal
> review I wrote about the MG for Amazon, and 2) the questions I still
> have after exploring my thoughts about the book in my review. ?I intend
> to edit my review after I have reread the book in the future and my
> thoughts have become more clear. I am not a scholar, merely a reader.
>
>
>
> My overall question concerns that the book was written in the 50's. It
> seems to me that it is not correct to read it narrowly from the
> perspective of current attitudes. Please forgive any naivete I may bring
> to my reading as present in my review. I will come back to the book in
> about a year and see if I agree with myself.
>
>
>
> Rest assured any help or responses to this post that anyone can give me will be decidedly appreciated.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Janet Cantor
>
>
>
>
>
> MY PERSONAL AMAZON REVIEW
>
> A masterpiece, September 25, 2010 ?
>
> SPOILER ALERT. Do not read this review until after you have finished the book and considered it for yourself.
>
>
>
> If fifteen people read and reviewed The Moviegoer,
> they could create fifteen different descriptions of it. If one person
> read it a year later, he could write a completely different review of it
> from the one he wrote the year before. It all depends on what is
> emphasized, the southernness, New Orleans,
> the story of ancestries, the blacks and whites or the relationship of
> the story to Kierkegard. There are so many aspects of the novel to
> consider.
>
> This is a funny book, an endearing book. The writing is gasp inducing gorgeous.
>
> This is a book of its time, post Becket, the existentialists, and the
> absurdists. It follows a half century of the realization of the great
> scale of the horror man is capable of perpetrating on his fellow men. Salinger has been writing about teenage angst. Yet, while it is so relevant to the late nineteen fifties, Binx's story finds resonance to this day.
>
> It is ?funny to read how Binx plots to make his secretary fall in love
> with him. The descriptions of movies and their use to him and how he
> makes a movie house more real are wonderful. Look on page 216 for a line
> that gives the reader pause on the subject of the title.
>
> ?Binx's elaborate descriptions of the components of his search make up a
> good portion of the story. Yet every time he is with Aunt Emily, he
> either can't talk about it or it seems to be smaller in importance. And
> in the face of Aunt Emily's big rant at him in part five, he understands
> that he is finished with his search.
>
> His search, he tells us, is to forestall the everydayness; in his head he criticizes other people who are satisfied with ordinary lives.
> All the while he is thinking and working out the details of his search,
> he is carrying out normal activity and conversation, and no one having
> discourse with him, knows about his interior life. The only one who
> knows it all is his fellow mentally discomfited, Kate. In the end, he
> will accept everydayness as he takes care of Kate.
>
> It is a great theme in a lot of literature, the concept of coming home. Ulysses, The Wizard of Oz,
> Pippin, the musical, where he realizes he is not extraordinary and will
> settle as man, woman, child in an every day existence, and Candide, who
> after his upsetting adventures will join with his love and just make
> his garden grow. And so it is here. The epilogue may be one of the most
> gorgeous things I have ever read. Tender, quiet, accepting; Kate and
> Binx will make it, I believe.
>
> The book is described as an existential novel. What kind of existential
> protagonist loves his job, loves making money, and goes to great lengths
> to protect his clients' accounts? What kind of existential character
> loves others, his half brother, Lonnie and Aunt Emily? He even has a kind of love for minor characters like Mr. Kinsella and the ladies in ticket booths. And Kate and Binx have a kind of love for each other.
>
> This book doesn't seem to be an existential novel as much as a rebuke to the existentialists. Walker Percy
> seems to be saying to them, "Come off it. Get with the program. It's
> enough already." ?Aunt Emily as she scolds Binx in Part Five represents
> this.
>
> To discuss this book and leave out Aunt Emily is to forget someone
> central to it all. For this reader she is most important of all for
> Binx. It is his love of her, he even enjoys it when she scolds him, that
> keeps him from going off the deep end. And her brilliantly written big
> rebuke at the end is what saves him from himself. One is reminded of the
> biblical verse that says now I am become a man and must put away childish things.
>
> One is reminded of another biblical verse when the book is over. And now
> abideth faith, hope and charity (love) but the greatest of these is
> charity.
>
> Lonnie's Faith is pure and perfect. The scenes between Lonnie and Binx
> are utterly exquisite. Binx couldn't care less about religion, yet his
> love of Lonnie makes him happy and interested as Lonnie describes his
> faith to him. And when Lonnie tells Binx he is taking his communion for
> Binx, that is a spectacular moment.
>
> Hope? Is there hope for Binx? I think so and I think Walker Percy thinks so, too.
>
> And, as has already been noted, love runs throughout the novel.
>
> I don't think this is an existential novel. I think it is a Christian Morality Tale.
>
> ???
>
> MY OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS
>
> Is the book an existential book, contrary to what I thought?
> Is Aunt Emily as important to the story as I thought?
> Is his half brother as important as I thought and are the scenes with him as gorgeous as I found them?
> Is the book meant to be funny and endearing or depressing?
> Is
> the end meant to be uplifting or are they destined for the divorce
> court in a few months as so many have suggested to me? Here's how I read
> the end. There was a line in the book when they were in Chicago
> and Kate declared that she knew how she could live in a big city - if
> Binx told her what to do. So when he is taking care of his siblings (a
> repetition of when his aunt comforted him when his brother, Scott, died)
> and he needs Kate to do his business for him, he tells her what to do. I
> just loved that.
> Is
> Kate simply a bipolar person? Or did Aunt Emily restrict her freedom
> and self _expression_ so much that she became mad? This last was not my
> impression. It was what someone suggested to me. I saw no evidence of
> that. Is that in the book?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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