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Rhonda, et al,
I know the book club. 🙂 We live in a different time. I'm not sure what can be taught and what can't be taught, in the age of super-sensitivity. Next year will be my final year in academia. I loved it from the beginning, but, like most
instructors in the humanities, I'm glad to get out, though sad at the same time. Everything has changed, including the lack of lit courses to teach. I used to teach Percy, but our lit courses have been narrowed to so few that I can't teach Percy or lit again.
But, on topic, I always thought, given a creative director and script writer, Lancelot could make a great movie, with flashbacks from his cell.
-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 From: Percy-L <percy-l-bounces+dabeck=iupui.edu AT lists.ibiblio.org> on behalf of RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 5, 2022 10:13 PM To: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org> Subject: [External] [percy-l] Percy and the movies and such
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Always good to see the list having some activity!! Regarding The Second Coming, I fear the best of it will be lost in a film translation. I’ve always been a bit unsettled at the age gap between Will and Allie, and I wonder if that wouldn’t be accentuated while the spiritual element would be lost entirely?
We’ll just have to wait and see I suppose. We’ve yet to see Percy make it to screen.
I agree with Janet that Thanatos might be an easier translation to screen, though I suspect the child abuse would need to be downplayed. I suspect though that the Nazi connection wouldn’t make it at all. As for any other aspects, I see the worst of science
and social machinations combined in Van Dorn and Comeaux—none of which needs be political in my estimation.
However, I have always held the view that literature is conversation between reader and text. There is certainly room for varying interpretations of any text, and the times do influence how we see a text. Percy was pretty liberal in his day, but during
the pandemic I was in a book club that read Love in the Ruins, and the younger folks in the group were offended at Percy’s language. They saw him as something of a racist and couldn’t get past it.
I guess this is all to say that whatever Percy intended, how the reader takes his meaning is partly up to the reader.
My best to all,
Rhonda
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 5, 2022, at 4:45 PM, Michael Larson <larsonovic AT gmail.com> wrote:
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