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

["Henry P. Mills" <wppdirector AT gmail.com>]

Dear Percy-L Community:

Information about the upcoming Walker Percy Weekend slated for June 2-3 in St. Francisville, La. is available at https://www.walkerpercyweekend.org/. Tickets may be purchased through this link. I also paste below a list of the presenters and their topics for discussion. For those who attend, please consider sharing with the community your personal experiences with this year’s events. It is always pleasant to learn about Percy activities wherever they may occur.

Best regards,

Henry Mills

Director & Percy-L Administrator

The Walker Percy Project

www.ibiblio.org/wpercy

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2023 WALKER PERCY WEEKEND - PRESENTERS AND PANELS

"THE MOVIEGOER" AS THE SPIRITUAL SEQUEL TO "THE CATCHER IN THE RYE"

Saturday, June 3, 2023

8:00 AM  5:00 PM

Presented by Read Schuchardt, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Communication, Wheaton College

 

A CONSPIRACY OF DUNCES - MYSTERY AND MAJESTY IN A WRITER'S LIFE

Saturday, June 3, 2023

8:00 AM  5:00 PM

Presented by Bryan Giemza author of: "Irish Catholic Writers and the Invention of the American South.""

This talk investigates a longstanding rumor, hinted at in Walker Percy’s archival papers, that he did not merely receive the manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces, but wrote it himself. In exploring this mystery, and Percy’s place among Louisiana writers and events, Giemza unfolds his evolving relationship to his work over the course of a writing life and affirms the meaning-making power of literature in times of unanticipated crisis.

 

WALKER PERCY: THE NOVELIST'S ART

Saturday, June 3, 2023

8:00 AM  5:00 PM

Presented by Michael Kobre

In all of our discussions of Walker Percy’s philosophical ideas and moral convictions, we sometimes lose sight of his art as a novelist. But if we page through either of the collections of his interviews we’ll find almost as many references to writers like John Updike, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Ralph Ellison, and Kurt Vonnegut as we will to philosophers like Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Marcel. In this talk, I’ll examine Percy’s stature and achievement as a novelist working in the landscape of post-World War II American fiction. We’ll celebrate Percy’s art as a storyteller, a powerfully acute observer, and a dazzling linguistic stylist.

 

PANEL DISCUSSION: THE PLACES THAT MADE OUR FICTION

Saturday, June 3, 2023

8:00 AM  5:00 PM

Several contemporary authors of Southern fiction will discuss the influence of place on their writings as well as that of other southern writers. 

FAITH & FICTION IN THE BOOK “DANTE’S INDIANA”

Saturday, June 3, 2023

8:00 AM  5:00 PM

Randy Boyagoda is the author of  the novels "Original Prin" and "Dante’s Indiana." He is Professor of English at the University of Toronto, where he has held a series of senior administrative positions including Principal of St. Michael’s College where he also held the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts and Letters. Boyagoda is a novelist and literary critic with a particular interest in religion, satire, and family life. He is author of six books, including four novels, a biography of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and, most recently Dante’s Indiana and Original Prin. He contributes essays, reviews and opinions to publications including the Atlantic, the New York Times, First Things, Commonweal, and The Financial Times (UK), regularly appears on CBC Radio, and hosts a literary podcast for the Toronto Public Library.