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

["Beck, David A" <dabeck AT iupui.edu>]

I'm not sure we can go as far as saying Lance found redemption. I didn't see any evidence of that. He makes his confession but doesn't seem to bothered by what he has done. He didn't receive absolution, because he wasn't repentant.

It seems to me the "transformation" is that of Fr. John (Percival). At first, he is troubled, abstracted, and seems to be having doubts. After hearing Lance's ravings, he realizes that he has to make a choice. Then he returns wearing his clerical "outfit" and seems to have found renewal in his faith. I read somewhere (did Percy say it?) that Fr. John is the real protagonist.

If I'm wrong, I've led many a college student astray over the years. :-)

Just my two cents.

-David

David Beck
Senior Lecturer
English Department
Indiana University and Purdue University at Indianapolis
425 University Boulevard, CA 343-E
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317-278-2550

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From: Percy-L <percy-l-bounces+dabeck=iupui.edu AT lists.ibiblio.org> on behalf of Lauren Berdy <lauren.stacy.berdy AT gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2020 1:32 PM
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
Subject: [External] Re: [percy-l] Percy-L Digest, Vol 161, Issue 6

 

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. “If there is, that subjective self will evaporate. If
that is what heaven or hell is, what we are with ourselves, then that can be one thing for Lance and
another for Percival, and while we are living, that subjective self is a "poison" to the social and
objective selves of being alive among others and things. Lance's confession all along seems to be the
story of that poisonous influence in his life and how it became his redemption at the end.”

 

The reason this human was so captivated by reading Dr Percy was how he himself struggled with his own subjective self.

 

The communion tween Percival and Lance was a way to transmit the unknowing?

The interval between two thoughts is not a blank but a silence.  Whilst the Former is a sign of inadequacy, the latter enables thoughts to complete themselves so that they are not crowded. ( think how many times DP went to silently commune with other men(…the interval is used in art………think Chinese painting…to encourage the onlooker to look at the picture poised and silent. The  space in the painting corresponds to the interval between the thought and the mind.

 

Perhaps reality cannot be communicated but, it can somehow be known? Is that then Compassion?

 

Thank you

 

 

 

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From: Thomas Gollier
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2020 12:13 PM
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
Subject: Re: [percy-l] Percy-L Digest, Vol 161, Issue 6

 

Mike,

Sorry for the ambiguity in what I wrote. In reading Lancelot I felt all along that he was talking to God
— primarily because he wasn't getting any answers — and I didn't realize until pretty far along that this
other character was Percival. It was not a conversation with God but a conversation with another

seeker of the Holy Grail. This was even better, more Walker Percy to me, but either way, God or Percival

was already dead or beyond life, and when I wrote "he too" I was referring to Lance dying in the
explosion along with the others in the house.

So when Percival says "yes," he still has to tell Lance that he too is no longer living, and what they
have been discussing all along has been what "heaven" is, or should be. If I can go further out on the
limb here, I'd posit that "heaven" (as well as "hell") is how and what we are with ourselves. Unlike

how we maintain ourselves with others intersubjectively and with things objectively, there can be no

dishonesty or pretense about who we are with ourselves. If there is, that subjective self will evaporate. If
that is what heaven or hell is, what we are with ourselves, then that can be one thing for Lance and
another for Percival, and while we are living, that subjective self is a "poison" to the social and
objective selves of being alive among others and things. Lance's confession all along seems to be the
story of that poisonous influence in his life and how it became his redemption at the end.

That view of "heaven" is probably no less ambiguous than what I wrote the first time, but in my defense, I
think it's what makes art art ("poetic writing" that also involves "poetic thought" as Wallace Stevens
put it). Anyway, I'm not trying to substantiate all this; I'm just trying to describe the vista Percy opened

up in my own imagination. I'd certainly be interested in your take on it.

Thanks,
Tom

 

On Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 1:49 PM Michael Larson <larsonovic AT gmail.com> wrote:

Tom,

 

Thanks for the note. I find the idea that Percival has died in the explosion to be intriguing. Would his final visit to Lance then be that of a ghost? Are you suggesting that what he has to tell Lance comes from beyond the grave?

 

I'm not following the end of your thought, though. They might have two different ideas of heaven, but I don't see how there can be poison in both ideas, especially if we allow, as the two men do, that it cannot be both, objectively. And further, though they might both "pick" an idea, the reality remains indifferent to their choices. It just is what it is.

 

But do steer me differently if I have not understood your meaning.

 

Best,

Mike