Lewis Lawson's Following Percy [Whitston, 1988] reflects more than twenty years of one intelligent reader's study of Percy's faith, fiction, and philosophy -- a preoccupation perhaps to be expected in view of Lawson's previously demonstrated interest in Southern history, religion, and existentialism. Lawson has the ear of the best scholars in the field, and his essays are universally recognized for their learned readings of Percy. Mississippi Quarterly
Once again -- through his intelligent co-editing and his enlightening essay -- Lewis Lawson shows his expertise in the study of Walker Percy. From the very beginning of his six-novel career Walker Percy was criticized by some readers for his treatment of female characters. In this volume Professors Lawson and Oleksy provide a short introduction tracing this criticism, which occurred mostly in book reviews. Then follow essays by various hands treating the feminine character in Percy's novels.
Lewis Lawson, University of Maryland, begins the collection with an essay on The Moviegoer. Treating subsequent novels are other essayists: Elzbieta Oleksy, University of Lodz, Poland; Doreen Fowler, University of Mississippi, and Susan Donaldson, College of William and Mary, both widely published writers in Southern and feminist literary criticism; Anneke Leenhouts, a Dutch scholar frequently published in Europe; Shelley Jackson, Ann Walker, and Timothy Nixon, younger scholars and essay and review to their credit.
Elzbieta Oleksy is Director of Women's Studies at the University of Lodz. Poland. She just recently authored Plight in Common: Hawthorne and Percy.
ISBN 0-87875-456-3