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

[RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com>]

Oh yes! Camus was definitely an influence on Percy, as was existentialism in general. I would argue that Marcel and Heidegger were greater influences and that in a sense his dialectic with Sartre was even a more powerful force than Camus. On the other hand, Camus’s argument on suicide had a profound impact on Percy’s life. Not just his thought or his fiction, but how he managed to continue to live, to endure Wednesday afternoons, and to rise about the death-longing that had plagued his family. Thinking about it more fully, I recant the earlier statement which placed other existentialists ahead of Camus. I seem to remember The Fall being an influence on Lancelot along with Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground. 

Thanks for the prompt that allowed for a good mental romp through lots of Percy related things!

Rhonda

Sent from my iPhone

On May 15, 2022, at 12:45 PM, Michael Martin Serafin <michael_serafin AT hotmail.com> wrote:



It is my understanding that this month Camus' "The Stranger" turns 80.  Was Camus an influence on Percy?

Michael Martin Serafin

Chicopee, MA.

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