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

[Karey Perkins <kareyperkins AT gmail.com>]

Hi Percy peeps!  

As many of you may already know, the annual SAMLA (South Atlantic Modern Language Association) conference is coming up this November 9-11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA.  

Barring a new pandemic, another hurricane, or some other unforeseen catastrophe that has beleaguered us lately, it looks like we will be meeting IN-PERSON for the first time in three years!  I especially enjoy the in-person experience, being able to chat with those who know and love Percy as I do—hopefully this year that will happen.  We always have a strong Walker Percy presence at SAMLA (whether remote or in-person), and we hope to have that once again!  

Just a reminder:  Here again is the Percy CFP; topics are open and flexible as long as they are related to either Percy’s fiction or philosophy, but if you do have a topic related to the conference theme (more info on that here:  https://samla.memberclicks.net/), please submit it!  

300-word abstracts are due by July 28 to kareyperkins AT gmail.com and kperkin1 AT scsu.edu.  Some ideas for topics include:  

Walker Percy and (In)Security

Papers for this traditional session may focus on any aspect of Walker Percy’s life and works, either fiction or non-fiction. Especially welcome are topics relevant to the SAMLA 95 conference theme: (In)Security. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• How Percy’s apocalyptic novels (Love in the Ruins, The Thanatos Syndrome) and non-fiction (Review of A Canticle for Leibowitz, end of Lost in the Cosmos) reflect our collective future insecurities.
• What Percy’s portrayal of the political divide in America (Leftpapas and Knotheads, black vs. white, social and economic classes in conflict) reveals about today’s divisions that threaten to tear apart our country and democracy.
• How identity is related to insecurity: Psychiatry is a central element of every Percy novel, portraying many anxious psychological patients, insecure in their selves, identities, and roles in society. Consider also that Percy often wrote that individual psychological ills are often produced as a coping mechanism for societal sickness.
• What do Percy’s writings show about how technology and the unfettered pursuit of capitalism might challenge the idea of what it is to be a human being? Consider his use of tech such as lapsometers (seen as a cure for spiritual ills) or Americans’ role as primarily consumers in a capitalist world (replacing a well-developed inner life), or other aspects/topics in his fiction and nonfiction.
• What is the future of Percy studies, considering Percy’s status as a regularly taught topic in English departments today seems precarious as well. Do alterations to the literary canon and challenges to academic freedom threaten the place of a Percy scholar in academia today?

Please send 300-word abstracts on these topics or ANY aspect of Percy’s fiction or non-fiction (not just limited to conference theme of “(In)Security”) by July 28, 2023, to Dr. Karey Perkins, South Carolina State University, to both kperkin1 AT scsu.edu and kareyperkins AT gmail.com. Please also include a brief bio and any A/V requirements in your abstract.

I hope everyone is doing well and having a wonderful summer! 

Karey

Karey Perkins, M.A., M.A.T., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
Faculty Senate Secretary
296A Turner Hall, South Carolina State University
Orangeburg, SC 29117
kperkin1 AT scsu.edu | 803-536-7016
www.scsu.edu 
Member, Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX  79409-0002
kareperk AT ttu.edu | https://www.depts.ttu.edu/pragmaticism/

https://www.kareyperkins.net/