Subject: Re: Percy 's female characters
From: David Dreith (SrCoyote@AOL.COM)
Date: Tue Aug 03 1999 - 16:57:39 EDT
my two cents on this issue:
in reading LOST IN THE COSMOS, i find it interesting that in the chapter
dealing with re-entry from the transcendent back to the immanent, Percy's two
female examples are Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. If I remember
correctly, he said that Welty's transcendence and immanence were
conincidental i.e., that Welty was fine in going to the post office to post a
letter and chat a while about the weather only minutes after finishing a
novel. He said that O'Connor's re-entry was through transparence (a concept
I don't fully understand) or being Christ-like. What I found interesting is
that he then lists a littany of other modes of re-entry such as alcohol,
travel (distance), and travel (sexual) which most would classify as
dysfunctional (must I spell it with a "y"?). In giving examples here, Percy
uses all men. In doing so, he is almost insinuating that perhaps women are
more comfortable than men in being human.
Further, I think examination of his fictional characters (male and female)
bear this out. While the women are often only developed in sexual (or
perhaps romantic) situations, I don't find many of them going through
displacement or alienation as in the men characters.
Was Percy merely a Southern gentleman (read all possible connotations)? Or
did he shy away from even trying to speak for the female psyche? Or did he
believe that women tend to be more comfortable with being human and therefore
his female characters did not need development in a book about alienation and
displacement?
I know I've probably raised more questions (and more tangents as is my
typical practice), but I would be interested in seeing others' thoughts on
some of this.
Thanks.
David Dreith
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