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

[WILLIAM E LEWIS <welewis AT wisc.edu>]

In one of his letters to Percy, Shelby Foote recommended Blood Meridian (though he did so with the caveat that "you're likely to despise it"). One of the greatest examples of commerce between the two minds (if not necessarily between the two men) is this line from Blood Meridian:

A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with,

I can't think of a better paraphrase of the predicament that lies at the heart of Percy's work. 

W

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William E. Lewis, Ph.D.

Space Science and Engineering Center

University of Wisconsin-Madison

1225 West Dayton St

Madison WI 53706

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From: Percy-L <percy-l-bounces+welewis=wisc.edu AT lists.ibiblio.org> on behalf of RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2023 12:22 PM
To: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [percy-l] Percy & McCarthy?

 

Great question! I did a little sleuthing. Percy had The Orchard Keeper and Blood Meridian in his collection, which is now housed at the UNC-Chapel Hill Wilson library. I'm not yet living close enough to Chapel Hill to check whether there are indications that Percy read the books. I wonder if he ever mentioned McCarthy in his later interviews? As for McCarthy, in the article , "The Intertextual 'Suttree': Walker Percy, Cummings, and Community," Scott D. Yarborough argues that The Last Gentleman has a profound intertextual relationship to Suttree. That suggests that McCarthy read some Percy. I think they would have liked each other's work, but I can't be sure. Not without a lot more research. What does anyone else know?

Rhonda McDonnell

Member of the Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism

Texas Tech University

"You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing." ~Walker Percy~
  

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From: Percy-L <percy-l-bounces+rhonda_mcdonnell=msn.com AT lists.ibiblio.org> on behalf of Michael Martin Serafin <michael_serafin AT hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2023 9:25 AM
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [percy-l] Percy & McCarthy?

 

Lot of tributes poring in for Cormac McCarthy. Did Percy and McCarthy ever cross paths? Considering Percy and Flannery O'Connor knew each other, and dark violence was a large part of O'Connor's fictional world, as was McCarthy's, that is why I ask the question.

Michael Serafin