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

["John E. Riley" <jeriley AT uark.edu>]

Janet and list:

I recently completed a Master's thesis on The Moviegoer and Last Gentleman so 
the latter is very fresh in my mind.  Here goes...

So, both novels have strongly autobiographical elements, which is something 
you say and then move on because it's ultimately irrelevant (Read the Tolson 
bio if you're interested).  The two protagonists certainly share 
commonalities, though the Last Gentleman's narration keeps us at more of a 
distance from Will Barrett than is the case for Binx Bolling.  Both 
protagonists are involved in a search, but Barrett's search is much more 
haphazardly undertaken--he knows something is missing in his life and 
philosophy and so he is continually looking for THE ANSWER, whether is be in 
psychoanalysis, a technologically-advanced German telescope, 
upper-middle-class values (Kitty Vaught), a father figure/mentor/confidante 
(Sutter Vaught), the New Mexico desert, etc...The novel is a kind of 
picaresque in that Barrett is constantly moving and covers a wide range of US 
geography.  

The novel is an impressive commentary on American culture circa 1965.  There 
are so many cultural references and allusions that you could spend weeks 
tracing them.  Percy weaves seminal events of the day into the narrative, 
particularly those surrounding race relations (or lack thereof).  These 
include:

--Levittown--the suburb(s) created as middle-class white havens.  Attempts to 
desegregate were met with mob violence (Barrett gets punched in the nose by 
an angry homeowner)

--James Meredith's attempt to desegregate Ole Miss (Barrett gets caught in 
the middle of an angry mob on campus and is knocked out by a swinging 
flagstaff)

--Reference to the Birmingham church bombing in Sutter's journal

--Freedom riders (scene in Ithaca, MS bar, Barrett helps the activists escape)

--Others?

Come to think of it, Barrett is sort of a Forest Gump-like character.

So Percy moves into the arena of cultural criticism with Last Gentleman, 
though I think he does it better in Love in the Ruins, where the satirical 
tone and futuristic setting allows for better treatment of the themes, in my 
opinion.

Even though I've read it multiple times, I'm still not sure where to rank 
Last Gentleman among Percy's novels.  Sometimes I think it's his best and 
sometimes I think it's among his worst (though even his worst was pretty 
good).
It seems unfocused, if that's the right word, and does not have a 
particularly satisfying conclusion (is it just me, or did Percy have trouble 
ending his novels?). But his descriptions of American manners and the 
physical/cultural landscape makes this journey worthwhile.  I know I discover 
new things with each re-reading.

Sorry for the too long post, and I hope I don't come across as didactic.  You 
just caught me at the right--or wrong--time!
I look forward to hearing from others.

By the way, has anyone seen the Percy documentary yet? Reviews?





John Riley
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
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Today's Topics:

   1. The Last Gentleman (janet cantor)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 22 May 2011 16:21:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: janet cantor <janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com>
Subject: [percy-l] The Last Gentleman
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <619898.1247.qm AT web125906.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I just finished The Last Gentleman and I would like someone to tell me his 
ideas about it especially the way it ended.
I read in an Amazon review that Percy said it was his version of Dostoevsky's 
The Idiot.
I found the book engrossing all through and found a lot of the same themes 
and ideas that were in The Moviegoer.
Can someone get a discussion of this book started please?
Janet Cantor

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