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  • From: John Pearson <jp AT jlarsp.com>
  • To: percy list <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] Walker Percy Talks About the Ending of The Moviegoer
  • Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2024 09:44:17 -0500

I loved hearing him say, as speaking from the Beyond, "There is no surer prescription for disaster in any novel than to put it to ideological use, whether it be philosophical, Christian or Marxist." Almost heretical in the halls of Percy academia! 


Leonard, I thought the same thing, and I do think Percy has a point. This line made me think of something I heard Kurt Vonnegut say about writing novels—“If you keep the plot moving and have character development, you can say anything you want.” I think Percy understood this (as do all great novelists)—if you keep people reading, then you can put in your philosophy. If the story and characters lose the reader, they’ll never get to the philosophy. And of course, in some ways we read novels to be entertained. Percy knew how to entertain and to generate great philosophical discussions generations after his novels were published.

On Aug 18, 2024, at 9:30 AM, Percy-L Listserv Manager <percy.listserv.manager AT gmail.com> wrote:

I am forwarding the below comments by Leonard Hughes on through to the list.
Henry Mills
Percy-L Listserv Manager


--------- Forwarded message ---------
From: hughesl6363 AT aol.com <hughesl6363 AT aol.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 17, 2024 at 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: [percy-l] Walker Percy Talks About the Ending of The Moviegoer

Chuck and my new friends in the Project,

Chuck, thank you for sending that wonderful artifact.

I was amazed and excited when I luckily ran across it as reprinted in 2012 in the New Orleans Review. The reprint included a preface that explained it was written when Mr. Smith and my old acquaintance Lewis Lawson were asked to work on a planned Norton Critical Edition of the Moviegoer. I wonder why such a much-needed project was never revived.

I was so happy to have found the letter a few years ago when revising a paper on the novel, partly because it provided support to my concern that attention to Percy's art had taken a back seat to his philosophy. I loved hearing him say, as speaking from the Beyond, "There is no surer prescription for disaster in any novel than to put it to ideological use, whether it be philosophical, Christian or Marxist." Almost heretical in the halls of Percy academia! 

What a great letter.

--Thank you and Mr. Smith for sharing it,
Leonard 

On Saturday, August 17, 2024 at 09:36:10 AM EDT, lowry.charles AT gmail.com <lowry.charles AT gmail.com> wrote:



> Mes amis,
>
> I think you will all find this very interesting.  About two weeks ago list member and long-time Percy friend Marcus Smith sent me a file which he tried to post to the list but which was rejected as too large.  After some technical adjustments, it is presented here.
>
> Sincere thanks to Marcus for sharing this material, and to Henry for maintaining this wonderful venue.
>
> I note that these comments from Walker Percy were written less than a year before his death, May 10, 1990.
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