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

["janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com" <janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com>]

Lauren Stacy Berdy always says things very well here. 

"Readers aren't drawn to these things. It is too much work." How true. More and more I find readers self congratulatory and superficial. reading things and discussing them so that they validate themselves instead of rising to a challenge.

Anyway, Percy was surely a challenge for me, in every way. Yet somehow he fascinates me.

Thank you for this letter.

Janet Cantor

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From: Lauren Stacy Berdy <lauren.stacy.berdy AT gmail.com>
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: [percy-l] A New Member and a Question

Dear Mr. Kobre,


Dr Percy knew that our thoughts are illusions. (all those questions of his brought us back on ourselves)

 Above all he also knew that Kierkegaard was onto something when he wrote that the work of religions in natural man leads him to
to the acquisition of the self ( soul) and the attainment of freedom. This last word is the most important word for me about Dr Percy. He pointed a way towards freedom. He showed that we cannot see our own nothingness without submission to something higher. What one loves about Dr Percy is the transformation part. Mans possible freedom.
The search is the search for our soul. Dr Percy gave us a taste of our human ableness.
Readers aren't drawn to these things. Its too much work.
And yet....... let us not forget that "The Moviegoer" too had disappeared from just about everyone's sight before it was seen anew.

and about Bakhtin
The ever changing boundary where two people meet is a most important occurrence in the novels. ( think Sutter Vaught and Barrett, in "The Last Gentleman")
He takes dialogue seriously.
Something exchanged between two people is better than a monologue. You exchange news. What you do with it is another thing.......

Good wishes

On 10/6/2015 7:29 AM, Leslie Marsh wrote:

Hi Michael,

I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance. I too had been concerned with the wane in interest in WP but that happens to most thinkers and I think things are now on the up. I for one am editing a volume for Louisiana State University Press on WP's philosophy and a symposium for the journal ZYGON on WP on religion and science. I will be on the SAMLA WP panel looking at WP's political philosophy. 

I'll drop you a line at QUC.

Cheers,

Leslie Marsh

Medical School

University of British Columbia

On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 10:15 PM, Michael Kobre <kobrem AT queens.edu> wrote:

After a long, long delay, I’m happy to join the Percy-L community.  I’m a professor and Chair of the Department of English and Creative Writing at Queens University of Charlotte.  More to the point though, I’m the author of Walker Percy’s Voices which was published a long, long time ago (there’s that theme again) by the University of Georgia Press.  In my other life as a scholar, before spending the last 15 years as co-director of our MFA program in creative writing, I focused primarily on a Bakhtinian interpretation of Percy’s work and tried to hear in his prose the sort of polyphony of voices that Bakhtin discusses.  Since then, when I’ve had the opportunity to write about Percy, I’ve tried to examine the parallels and connections between Percy and Bruce Springsteen (who’s a lot louder and more famous than Bakhtin).

 

I’m working now, however, on an essay that examines the changing fortunes of the literary reputations of Percy and Richard Yates respectively.  Yates’ signature novel Revolutionary Road had been nominated for the National Book Award alongside The Moviegoer, and both books—at least on a superficial level—occupy a similar territory, following the lives of their protagonists in the new suburban landscapes of America (although to very different effects).  Yates felt that his loss of the National Book Award dramatically altered the trajectory of his career; the sales of his books were at best uneven, and by the end of his life virtually all of his work was out of print.  And yet, over the last decade or so, Yates’ work has enjoyed a significant revival.  Everything is back in print, and Revolutionary Road is now seen as a classic work of post-war American fiction and is—here’s an important component of my argument—a canonical work within the discipline of creative writing in particular.

 

By contrast however, it seems as though Percy’s work, which was far more celebrated when both Percy and Yates were alive, receives less attention these days.  Yes, there remains a loyal audience of Percy fans (I’m reaching out to many of you right now), but his work isn’t taught and discussed in the same way that Yates’ work is now. 

 

At least that’s my perception.  And this is one reason why I’m reaching out to all of you.  Do you agree that Percy’s work and reputation have become a little more obscure to the culture at large?  If so, can you think of evidence that supports this perception?  Any thoughts on this or help will be much appreciated.

 

Michael Kobre, MFA, Ph.D.

Chair, Department of English and Creative Writing

Queens University of Charlotte

1900 Selwyn Avenue

Charlotte, NC 28226

 

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-- 
Lauren Stacy Berdy
Lauren.Stacy.Berdy AT gmail.com

AmericanGarum AT gmail.com
LaurenStacyBerdy.com/Garum.html

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