LiturgicalCredo.com's Blog (Free subscription) | 10/08/2008
I’m thinking about lecturing on Walker Percy during the last two days of my Major American Writers class. Here’s a short passage from Percy’s The Moviegoer, which won him a National Book Award in 1961: What is the nature of the search? you ask. Really it is very simple, at least for a fellow like me; [...]
ASA Citation (Free subscription) | 09/23/2008
ABOUT WALKER PERCY In this article we will talk about a person who won the National Book Award in 1962 and impressed everyone with his novel (his first novel), The Moviegoer. Well, this writer is… Walker Percy! The childhood of this writer was marked by unpleasant memories (his grandfather’s suicide, then his dad’s suicide and mom’s death [...]
Unconsidered Trifles (Free subscription) | 09/20/2008
A fascinating WSJ article by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway that I think would make Walker Percy knowingly smile and nod. It sounds like a passage from Lost in the Cosmos . Here's a taste: "What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to...
Voices of New Orleans (Free subscription) | 08/04/2008
I really wanted to pan this book. First of all, with the exception of Walker Percy’s “Moviegoer,” I tend to dislike literature about New Orleans (oh the decadence! the quaintness!), and publicity copy for “The House on First Street” boasted about Julia Reed’s “colorful” critique of the city’s “rich flavor.” It’s also a Hurricane Katrina memoir. I’d considered writing my own Katrina memoir, and now...
LiturgicalCredo.com's Blog (Free subscription) | 08/03/2008
LiturgicalCredo.com is calling for essays and literary nonfiction related to Walker Percy and/or books by him. LiturgicalCredo.com is a member of the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses. Keep it under 5,000 words! Submit to submissions@liturgicalcredo.com. The deadline is September 5. : : : : : : : [...]
Common Grounds Online (Free subscription) | 08/01/2008
"Lucky is the man who does not secretly believe that every possibility is open to him. " So wrote Walker Percy in the opening chapter of his novel The Last Gentleman. This quote serves as a fitting beginning to a...
Semicolon (Free subscription) | 07/28/2008
Periodically blogging my determined attempt to finish and appreciate one of Eldest Daughter’s favorite books: p. 58: My most insistent thought is that this book is one of the most boring tomes I’ve ever read. O.K., maybe The Old Man and the Sea ranks higher on the boring scale, unless you’re interested in deep sea fishing, [...]
Semicolon (Free subscription) | 07/27/2008
My reading has been rather grim this week, which befits my mood, unfortunately. I read Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer for Eldest Daughter’s book club. It won the National Book Award in 1961. Then I started reading them by Joyce Carol Oates. It won the National Book Award in 1970. I can tell you that neither [...]
On The Road With Dave (Free subscription) | 07/19/2008
"There it is, a proper enough American city, and yet the tourist is apt to see more nuns and naked women than he ever saw before." --Walker Percy Don't look for me online, Saturday; cuz I'll be spending the night at an Historic hotel in New Orleans. Of course if you see me walking around the French Quarter, feel free to to stop me and and say "Howdy!"
Pros and Cons (Free subscription) | 06/02/2008
Today is local literary giant Walker Percy’s birthday. Crank up the angst and say a Hail Mary or two before doing whatever has to be done.
Southern Appeal (Free subscription) | 05/27/2008
* Walker Percy fans will enjoy this annotation of Love in the Ruins by Baylor’s Ralph Wood. * Forbes's new interactive electoral college map includes info on the results of the 2004 race. * High on my summer reading list is James Piereson's Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism. Interviews of Piereson can be viewed [...]
TruePravda (Free subscription) | 04/24/2008
Civility is important — even necessary — in a society that seeks to be known as civilized. But, there are times when civility can go the wrong way. Walker Percy provides an excellent example in his novel The Thanatos Syndrome, where the protagonist (psychiatrist Tom More) encounters an old janitor with whom he’d had [...]
The American Conservative (Free subscription) | 04/24/2008
Walker Percy's writing from twenty and thirty often seems as current (or more so) as when written. The quote below came from “The State of te Novel: Dying Art or New Science?”, published in The Michigan Quarterly Review in 1977; but the basic theme pervades his novels and essays: Something, it appears, has gone wrong [...]
s o s (Free subscription) | 04/22/2008
In Walker Percy ’s “Love in the Ruins,” the protagonist, a doctor and an inventor, recites what he calls the scientist’s prayer. It goes like this: “Lord, grant that my work increase knowledge and help other men. “Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man’s destruction. “Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in Brain be published before the destruction takes place.” Today we require...
Dad29 (Free subscription) | 04/16/2008
A very interesting quote from Brett, relayed by Wiggy . When Sports Illustrated asked Brett to recount his favorite football memory, he seemed to channel Walker Percy, or Job: "If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I've ever...
