Re: Novelists now, in the spirit of Percy

From: Brian Holofchak (BHolo@AOL.COM)
Date: Fri Jul 13 2001 - 12:08:41 EDT


Mark -

Rick Moody seems to fit the bill. Cf. _The Ice Storm_, _Purple America_, especially. Russell Banks as well. A theme that seems to pervade all the novels mentioned, esp. Yates, Ford, (did we mention?) Raymond Carver, is suburban malaise--a theme in which _Moviegoer_ is pioneering.

Interesting (probably well-known on this list) tidbit: Yates's _Revolutionary Road_ finished second to _The Moviegoer_ in the Nat'l Book Award voting for that year.

bholo

In a message dated Fri, 13 Jul 2001 11:45:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Al Pearson <charles_almond_pearson@MSN.COM> writes:

> In response to your inquiry, Thomas Maguane? Try The Bushwhacked
> Piano and The Sporting Club.
>
> You are the only other person I've heard of who's read Fan's
> Notes. I read it about 30 years ago and rank it one of my
> favorites.
>
> Now I'll try some Ford. Had not heard of him. Nor Yates.
>
> Meanwhile, you've got a treat ahead of you. I read all WP's
> novels in the last year. I picked Moviegoer at random after a
> friend casually suggested I might try Percy. Wow. He's my #1
> novelist. I'm reading the Samway biography, and also want to
> read the Robert Coles book Walker Percy, An American [...] (Can't
> remember the exact title.).
>
> Good luck on your novel.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tarallo, Mark" <Mark.Tarallo@BRIDGE.COM>
> To: <PERCY-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2001 11:13 AM
> Subject: Novelists now, in the spirit of Percy
>
>
> > Greetings from a new listee,
> >
> > By way of introduction: I am a journalist based in Washington
> DC, and am
> > currently working on my first novel. I am very interested in
> Percy's work,
> > especially The Moviegoer, and I consider it the preeminent work
> of a
> > novelistic tradition I think of as
> > "American existentialism" (I realise this term is in many ways
> inadequate,
> > but I believe you understand what I'm getting at).
> >
> > I also include some of Saul Bellow's work in this category,
> especially his
> > first novel, Dangling Man. Others in this vein: A Fan's Notes,
> by Frederick
> > Exley; Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates; and The
> Sportswriter and
> > Independence Day, by Richard Ford. (I once heard Ford say at a
> reading that
> > he could have never written the Sportswriter if had hadn't read
> Moviegoer).
> >
> > My question to those of you to whom this classification makes
> at least a
> > little sense:
> > Can you think of any other novels written in the last 20 years
> that could be
> > considered at least partially in kinship with these books? With
> Percy and
> > Yates gone and Bellow at the end of his career, I can only
> think of Ford as
> > someone in his prime who is working in this loose "tradition."
> As an
> > aspiring novelist, I tend to look to past generations for
> inspiration, but I
> > am very interested in finding out who is mining this vein at
> the moment.
> >
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Mark Tarallo
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I am working on my first novel, and am
> >



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