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

[Henry Mills <wppdirector AT gmail.com>]

This is a forwarded post for list member Chuck Lowry 
<lowry.charles AT gmail.com>.

Thanks, Chuck!

Henry Mills

--
Post by Chuck Lowry:

I went this afternoon to the Walker Percy exhibit put on by New York  
Encounter, a cultural outreach of the Catholic association Communion 
and  Liberation.  The program comprised twenty-nine (yes, I counted 
them)  posters arranged around four walls.  The slides offered 
perspectives on  biographical, literary and philosophical aspects of 
Percy's life and work.

The commentary was prepared and the Percy quotation selected by Tom 
Tobin, an academic who is a familiar figure at New York-area 
conferences  on Percy. Tom makes no secret of the fact that he read *The 
Moviegoer*  at the behest of an acquaintance and immediately put his 
life on hold  until he had read all the rest of Percy.  That is, I note, 
exactly what  happened to me.  Tom seemed to indicate that his two 
favorite Percy  novels were *Love in the Ruins* and *The Second Coming*.

Between Friday evening and Sunday evening there were eight or ten 
"guided tours" around the posters.  I was fortunate to attend one at  
noon today that was conducted by Tom himself, though he did not conduct  
them all.  The tour I was on took nearly an hour.

I had the impression that most of the folks on the tour were more 
interested in Catholicism than in literature, but in an hour they got a  
good bit of information on Percy's life, the influences on him and the  
varieties of his work.  If I may be taken as a typical member of this  
list, I would probably say that I did not learn anything, but I was  
reminded --pleasantly-- of many things, and I'm sure now that I'll go  
back and look at some Percy writing again. It is, I am sure you will  
all agree, a great thing to be reminded of the great Percy quotations.   
I shall close this note with one such:

"I believe in God and the whole business but I love women best, music  
and science next, whiskey next, God fourth, and my fellowman hardly at  
all. Generally I do as I please. A man, wrote John, who says he 
believes  in God and does not keep his commandments is a liar. If John 
is right,  then I am a liar. Nevertheless, I still believe." *Love in 
the Ruins*

Substitute *literature* for *science* and I think I'll plead guilty and  
throw myself on the mercy of the Court.

Chuck Lowry
Brooklyn, NY



From wppdirector AT gmail.com  Sat Jan 18 10:20:02 2014
From: Henry Mills <wppdirector AT gmail.com>
Reply-To: wppdirector AT gmail.com
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To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: John R. May - Obituary - Longtime supporter of The Walker Percy
Project and Noted Religion and Film Scholar
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Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:20:02 -0500
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Dear Percy-L Community,

For those of us who knew him, I have the sad news to share of the 
passing of John R. ("Jack") May this past December 21 in Baton Rouge,
LA.

An originating board member and ongoing supporter of The Walker Percy 
Project, Jack reached countless students with his kindness and always 
cheerful wit during his more than 35-year tenure at Louisiana State 
University as a professor and longtime chair of the Department of 
English.  As a former Jesuit and religious studies and film scholar -- 
alongside his perennial encouragement of his students -- Jack also did 
much to introduce the public in central Louisiana to Walker Percy's key 
writings and ideas through the humanities discussion programs he 
organized in public libraries. Most recently, he served as a valued 
adviser to the Dewey Winburne Biography Project, who also was an early 
supporter of the educational aims of the Percy Project.

I, along with many others, will miss Jack's kindness, his wise (and 
often wry) manner of mentorship, and his daily and living witness to the 
manifest love of Christ.  On all levels, Jack's was a life lived well as 
shared with and rewarded by the joyous companionship of his wife Janet, 
a love and belonging they each deserved so well together and which they 
shared so freely to touch others.

I hope you will take a moment to read his obituary below and join me in 
offering thanks be to God for the lives of Jack and Janet May, and 
blessings now and on into the future on their family.

Regards,
Henry Mills

------------------------------------------------------------------------
REMEMBRANCES
In honor of Jack (and Janet), along with this post, I'd like to invite 
those in the Percy-L community who knew Jack to share any remembrances 
they may wish to offer for inclusion in the list's permanent archives. 
These remembrances and those from the Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home in 
New Orleans will be posted to the list.

RELIGION AND FILM SCHOLARSHIP
For those who are interested in Jack's insightful and keen mind as they 
live on in his writings, many of which treat Flannery O'Connor as 
another topic of interest to the list, I include below a listing of his 
career book publications.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
OBITUARY

    John R. May (1931-2013) - The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA;
    published Dec. 23-25, 2013

    A resident of Baton Rouge, he died Saturday, December 21, 2013 at
    11:40 p.m. surrounded by his children. He was 82 and a native of New
    Orleans, Louisiana. He was an Alumni Professor of English and
    Religious Studies, Emeritus at LSU. Prior to his time at LSU he
    served God and his community as a Jesuit Priest. He was a beloved
    scholastic to his students of Jesuit High School. His career at LSU
    lasted from 1976 to 2012 during which he taught courses in religion,
    literature and film and served as chairman of the English
    department. He received his Ph.D. in literature and religion from
    Emory University and authored and edited several books on religious
    symbolism in film and American literature. He will be remembered as
    a kind spiritual man who gave freely of his time in the service of
    his family and friends. Wearing a perpetual smile, he guided many on
    their journey through the difficulties of the human experience. He
    was a devoted husband, father, and brother. He was known lovingly to
    many as "DaddyJack". He will be dearly missed. He is survived by his
    sons, John D. May and Charles Taylor Walet, III; a daughter Jan W.
    Keller; and 8 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife
    Janet P. May; parents, Henry G. and Corinne Sbisa May and Lutille
    Pomarede Santana; a brother, Col. Donald F. May, USMC; and a
    daughter Julie W. Poyadou. In lieu of flowers, the family gratefully
    requests donations to the Baton Rouge Food Bank,
    http://www.brfoodbank.org, for those who wish to honor Jack in this
    way. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass in
    the Chapel of Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain
    Blvd., Thursday, December 26, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. Visitation will
    begin at 11:00 a.m. until service time. Interment will follow in
    Metairie Cemetery. Please view and sign the Family Guestbook, at
    http://www.lakelawnmetairie.com.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
PUBLICATIONS OF JOHN R. MAY, PHD (former S.J.)

BOOKS:
*Toward a New Earth: Apocalypse in the American Novel.* Notre Dame: 
University of Notre Dame Press, 1972.
*Film Odyssey: The Art of Film as Search for Meaning.* Coauthor, Ernest 
 Ferlita. New York: Paulist Press, 1976.
*The Pruning Word: The Parables of Flannery O'Connor.* Notre Dame: 
University of Notre Dame Press, 1976.
*The Parables of Lina Wertmuller.* Coauthor, Ernest Ferlita. New York: 
Paulist Press, 1977.
*Nourishing Faith through Fiction: Reflections of the Apostles' Creed in 
Literature and Film.* Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward, 2001.

EDITED COLLECTIONS OF ORIGINAL ESSAYS:
*The Bent World: Essays on Religion and Culture.* Atlanta: Scholars 
Press, 1981.
*Religion in Film.* Coed. Michael Bird. Knoxville: University of 
Tennessee Press, 1982.
*Image and Likeness: Religious Visions in American Film Classics.* New 
York: Paulist Press, 1992.
*New Image of Religious Film.* Kansas City: Sheed and Ward, 1997.


*************************************
Henry Mills, Director & Editor
The Walker Percy Educational Project, Inc.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
wppdirector AT gmail.com