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

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

My first reading of The Moviegoer left me a little puzzled by his aunt (can't remember her name; my book is on campus). Anyway, it wasn't until I became more acquainted with Kierkegaard did she become easier to understand.

The MG is, as a first novel, his most overt Kierkegaardian book. The epigram is a SK quote. We read about Kierkegaardian terms, such as "repetition" and "rotation." The aunt, from what I can see, personifies Kierkegaard's ethical realm/sphere: be a good person, do the right thing, but faith is unnecessary.

That's one way of seeing her.

BTW, I'm enjoying the discussion.

-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 janetcantor37--- via Percy-L <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
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Subject: [External] Re: [percy-l] The Last Gentleman

 

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Binx's aunt flummoxed me, too

 I loved her because she kept Binx in line and I thought Percy loved her too for the same reason. Imagine my surprise when scholars were unhappy with her for reasons of their own. We each read Percy and are sure we know what he is on about. But sometimes, as is often the case, we read him through the prism of our own experiences.

In general, non scholar me, it is not a prerequisite that I respect a character in a novel. It is the journey the novelist sends me on that matters. 

You should love the fun house story of Love in the Ruins.

As you read and reread these challenging novels, see if you can decipher a bottom line from all of them. To me they all have similar conclusions. See if you agree.

Happy reading.

Janet Cantor

On Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 1:31 PM, Michael Martin Serafin

<michael_serafin AT hotmail.com> wrote:

I am making my way through Percy's writings in order of publication. I just finished "The Last Gentleman" for the first time. Now, I am an elderly northeastern working-class Pole with a high-school education, who makes minimum- wage, and likes to read. I love Percy's elegant turns of phrase, but, some of his characters sail over my head. Binx Bolling's aunt was one of them. This time, it's Sutter. I like him for his intellect, but not for his sociopathic self-absorption. That said, Will Barrett's behavior throughout the novel also had me scratching my head. I am not as highly educated as most, if not all, on this listserv. I am moving onto "Love In The Ruins" as soon as it gets delivered , hopefully this week.

Michael Serafin

Chicopee, MA.

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