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

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

Jim:


Thanks for calling attention to this article--a great story.  As I recall, 
Jay Tolson in his biography did a good job of piecing together how the 
Moviegoer was nominated and then won the NBA.  The only detail I remember 
differently from this was Libeling happening upon the novel in a New Orleans 
bookshop while doing his "Kingfisher" research.  It makes me wonder how--or 
if--Percy's career would have gone differently had he not received a 
prestigious award for his first novel.  I know Percy himself didn't attach 
much importance to such awards, but publishers certainly do (or did)!  
Obviously the Moviegoer was deserving--it's still my favorite Percy novel, 
and would make my desert island list.
 
John Riley
Reference
Mullins Library
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA


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Today's Topics:

   1. re the National Book Award that went to "The Moviegoer"   in
      1962 (janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com)


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

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2012 12:51:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: "janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com" <janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com>
Subject: [percy-l] re the National Book Award that went to "The
        Moviegoer"      in 1962
To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
        <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
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        <1351972267.78733.YahooMailClassic AT web141105.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Fascinating. Thank you.

--- On Sat, 11/3/12, Jim Forest <jhforest AT gmail.com> wrote:

From: Jim Forest <jhforest AT gmail.com>
Subject: [percy-l] re the National Book Award that went to "The Moviegoer" in 
1962
To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" 
<percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Saturday, November 3, 2012, 11:37 AM

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/11/_1962_national_book_awards_scandal_the_story_behind_the_moviegoer.html


                    Scandal at the National Book Awards
                    Was The Moviegoer?s victory in 1962 a fix?

                    By Benjamin Hedin|Posted
                    Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, at 11:10 PM ET






























                        Walker Percy's author photo from the original Knopf 
edition of The Moviegoer


                        Photo by Hazel Ogden















The short list for the 1962 National Book Award in fiction was remarkable, 
including a number of works today regarded as classics, like Catch-22 by 
Joseph Heller, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, and Franny and Zooey by
 J.D. Salinger. Yet the prize went to an obscure first novel by a
45-year-old Southerner, a doctor who contracted TB during his residency
and turned to writing instead. No one predicted The Moviegoer by Walker Percy 
would win, and 50 years later, as we prepare to hear this year?s winner, it 
remains one of the great upsets in the history of the National Book Awards. 
But was the fix in?











I talked to some of the players in that surprising decision, hoping to find 
out how The Moviegoer
 was crowned and whether it is true, as alleged, the novel won thanks
only to shady backroom politicking. Percy?s victory set off a
controversy that involved the most powerful man in publishing, a famous
journalist eager to take credit for the award, and a cub reporter who
would go on to become one of the most celebrated writers of our time.










Catch-22 was considered the favorite, and yet Percy?s
greatest opposition, ironically, came not from Heller or any of the
other nominees but his own publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. When the
charismatic, mercurial founder of the house that bears his name learned
it was Percy the judged had tabbed, he exclaimed, ?They?re running the
prize into the ground!? Knopf, who had been in the business since 1915,
was known for his acuity and taste, for taking a chance on authors other
 publishers were loath to sign but later wished they had. He had failed,
 though, to recognize Percy?s talent, and had recently fired Stanley
Kauffmann, the editor who acquired The Moviegoer and worked
with Percy through four rewrites. In the days before the winner was
announced Knopf endorsed another one of his books, The Ch?teau by William 
Maxwell, and knew it reflected poorly on him to be seen missing the mark so 
widely.












Knopf had no idea how The Moviegoer had been nominated to
begin with. According to National Book Awards protocol, only judges
could put forward a book. Yet with Kauffmann fired, neither Knopf nor
anyone in his house had brought Percy?s novel to the attention of the
jurors, and no one?in such a fertile, competitive year especially?was
talking about The Moviegoer. The book had not even sold through
 its initial printing. When Knopf did find out how it ended up on the
short list he was mortified. The man responsible was none other than
A.J. Liebling, the great sportswriter and New Yorker reporter?and an author 
Knopf had published before the two had a falling out. ?










The day after the awards ceremony Liebling told a gathering at Columbia 
University The Moviegoer ?got
 in by the sheerest chance.? Percy?s victory, it turned out, could be
traced to a single morning. On May 28, 1961 Liebling was paging through
the New York Times. He had just completed a book about
 Earl Long, the conservative, erratic governor of Louisiana, brother of
Huey, and with his mind still on that state, Liebling paused over a review 
that began,
 ?Every night at dusk, when the Gulf breeze stirs the warm, heavy air
over New Orleans, a 29-year-old wanderer named Binx Bolling emerges from
 his apartment, carrying in his hand the movie page of his newspaper,
his telephone book and a map of the city.? Liebling went out and bought
the book under discussion: The Moviegoer. Later he recommended it to his 
wife, the novelist Jean Stafford, who happened to sit on the National Book 
Awards fiction jury.










Liebling had a Falstaffian presence, was fat and jowly, brilliant and
 egoistic. He wanted in this context to be seen as a crusader for
justice. Knopf, he told the audience at Columbia, had failed in its
promotion of The Moviegoer. Without A.J. Liebling, one was left
 to presume, a masterpiece may have been forever lost to posterity. But
there was more to the story: A decade before, Knopf had published
Liebling?s book Chicago: The Second City, and Liebling had
never forgiven Knopf for not pushing the book vigorously enough. Now,
given the opportunity to embarrass his old publisher for failing to
champion Percy?s text, he did not hesitate to put the boot in.










But in his hauteur Liebling underestimated Knopf, and did not foresee
 how craftily the magnate would respond. Rather than confront Liebling
directly, Knopf decided to use the media, and he would do more than just
 issue spin.










Gay Talese was 30 years old in 1962, and had recently moved from sports to 
news in his coverage for the New York Times.
 The book awards was ?the worst possible assignment you could get,? he
says. ?The sanitation department would be much better than book
publishing. Athletes never complained. People in the literary world are
always complaining.? But a letter to the editor or an aggrieved call to
the Times office was nothing compared to what Talese was about to experience. 
Reporting on the seminar at Columbia
 he wrote, apropos of Liebling and Stafford: ?Judging what he deemed
inferior novels for the National Book Award, he told her about The Moviegoer. 
She picked it up and also liked it. Apparently she convinced the two other 
fiction judges of the merits of the novel.?Thus a legend was born: that The 
Moviegoer emerged victorious because of the partisanship of a 
husband-and-wife team, one
 that bucked procedure (and ethics?) to railroad home a book others were
 reluctant to anoint. A lot of bluster and outrage ensued. The magazine Show
 printed an editorial protesting that the judges had cheated Heller of
an honor that was rightfully his, and both Stafford and Liebling had to
issue statements averring the process had been conducted fairly.
Stafford admitted to nominating The Moviegoer on her husband?s
recommendation but added, ?What is not true is that I ?convinced? or
made any attempt to convince my colleagues of the merits of the book.
Our meeting was not long and it was conducted in remarkable peace and
agreement.?










Herbert Gold, a novelist who was also a member of the fiction jury
that year, confirms Stafford?s description. Talese?s report, he says,
?is complete bullshit. The fact was I loved The Moviegoer. I
went to New York with that book under my arm hoping to convince the
other two judges. But I can?t claim credit because Jean also loved the
book.? The third judge, Lewis Gannett, a columnist for the New York Herald 
Tribune,
 was reportedly happy to comply. In fact, according to Gold, Gannett was
 not on intimate terms with the books on the short list. ?My wife liked
that one? was about all he could muster in response to some, and The 
Moviegoer won unanimously on the first ballot.










But Talese?s story was the version on record, and it was cited for
years after. Stafford had to answer to the controversy until her death
in 1979, and to this day Talese stands by his report. ?If I wrote it,?
he told me last month, ?then it?s true. I am not a fiction writer like
Walker Percy.? Which means the only explanation for the affair is that
Talese was fed bad information. When an irate Liebling asked how he knew
 Stafford had coerced the other judges, Talese said his source worked at
 Knopf. He might as well have said his source?s name was on the spine of
 Knopf?s books. Several had heard Knopf complaining of ?a conspiracy
engineered by Joe Liebling,? and it seems the publisher was eager to
deflect some of the attention he was getting for not supporting The Moviegoer.










Percy?s novel, in other words, was simply caught in a joust between
two proud, self-assured men bent on slighting the reputation of the
other. But that novel was given new life, with thousands of copies sent
out in paperback. So if what happened in 1962 reminds us of the worst of
 what a literary fete can entail?infighting, a cliquish grievance made
into national news?we should remember it also demonstrates the best.
What are prizes for, in the end? Sure, the culture machine needs them,
publicity departments and the gaggle of blogs, but does literature? The
glitzy rah-rah of the awards dinner, the indignation suffered on the
losers? behalf: None of it factors into the progression of tradition.
What the Booker, Pulitzer, and National Book Awards pretend to
accomplish?identifying which works of poetry and prose are
superior?takes generations to work out, and we can all name authors, the
 Julia Peterkins and Conrad Richters,
 who are known today only for being forgotten, who claimed one medal or
many in their lifetime but whose work no longer resonates. Rescuing an
overlooked but deserving title?that?s the most these awards can do, and
Percy, though he had gotten a late start, would never have to worry
about securing a publisher or a readership again.










Percy knew that, and responded to the fracas with nothing more than a
 shrug of bemusement. Of all the principals he behaved with the greatest
 aplomb. After accepting the award he returned home to Covington, La.,
across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, and resumed work on his next
 novel, The Last Gentleman. In a letter of thanks to Stafford
he acquitted Knopf of any neglect and, marveling at the fortuitousness
of his situation, reflected on how unlikely the ultimate source of his
gratitude was. ?If I understand it correctly,? Percy wrote, ?had it not
been for Mr. Liebling (and his recent interest in Louisiana) The Moviegoer 
might
 never, would never have been considered. To think then, that if it
hadn?t been for old Earl, etc. For the first time, I feel kindly toward
the Longs.?
* * *









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