[percy-l] Contra Gentiles?

Dave Duty daveduty at austin.rr.com
Tue Aug 26 07:58:17 EDT 2003


I'll way in with my 2 cents.

I too had the wonderful chance to spend half a day with WP and Bunt in 
their little, light cottage.  During our conversation, he mentioned a 
book that he was working on which he referred to as "Thirdness" -- and I 
believe it has been reported in several places that this was an 
alternative working title for Contra Gentiles.

WP had read my research/disseration which employed a number of his 
non-fiction/language based notions and pretty much liked what he saw.  
Feeling I "got" his work, he said he wanted to send me a few chapters to 
review.  Unfortunately, this never came to pass as, I assume, his health 
failed him so thereafter.  We did talk about the content a little, but 
details elude me at this time.  But I do recall that it had to do with 
starting nothing less than a theory of man.  Pretty ambitious stuff -- 
but I thought then and now that WP's science will one day be understood 
to be as great, if not more important, than his art.

I may be repeating myself from posting past, but I must add that Walker 
Percy was absolutely all that I could have hoped for.  All too often 
meeting one's living hero is a let down.  Not so here.  WP was warm, 
funny, elusive, caring, and real.  He really loved to laugh and seemed 
to get a kick out of my quirky sense of humor.

One day I'll post my day with Walker -- which Bunt dubbed the "The Day 
of the Phantom from the River" .....but that's another story for another 
time.

Jonathan Potter wrote:

>I had a brief conversation with Walker Percy in November of 1989.  When I
>asked him what he was working on, he said it was a journal he had kept
>during lent and that he was going to borrow the title from Aquinas' "Summa
>Contra Gentiles."  He added wryly that his publisher was opposed to the
>title because  people wd be confused and think it was about the Nicaraguan
>contras.
>
>I also visited the Chapel Hill archives in 2000 and didn't see it referenced
>in the inventory.  It seems to me the Samway biography mentions it.  Since
>Samway edited Signposts in Strange Land, I wd suspect he also has (or had)
>access to the Contra Gentiles ms as well.
>
>Jonathan Potter
>Spokane, WA
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "RHONDA MCDONNELL" <rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com>
>To: <percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
>Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 5:46 PM
>Subject: Re: [percy-l] Contra Gentiles?
>
>
>  
>
>>Thanks for the vote of confidence, Karey, but I don't have much to add.
>>While I think Dr. Ketner is right--the sum of the parts = contra gentiles,
>>it also seems that he was working on it actively. If I remember correctly,
>>reference to the project appears both in  correspondence to Ketner and in
>>his correspondence with Shelby Foote.   But that doesn't mean that he had
>>anything down on paper.  I'm hoping to get to the Chapel Hill archives and
>>see what may be revealed, if anything.  What little I've picked up from
>>reading the correspondence seems to indicate that he was planning on a
>>Christian apologetic for the post-Christian world.   In other words, a
>>    
>>
>LOST
>  
>
>>IN THE COSMOS type of project (remember his working title for that one was
>>NOVUM ORGANON, if I remember correctly).  Not to beat that dead mule, but
>>that's the primary reason I see him as reaching beyond the post-Modern
>>vision toward some future that has yet to be glimpsed.  But we'll see if
>>    
>>
>my
>  
>
>>research bears that out.
>>
>>Sorry Mike, not too much enlightenment from these quarters.
>>
>>Rhonda
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>>>From: "Karey L. Perkins" <karey at charter.net>
>>>Reply-To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
>>><percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
>>>To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
>>><percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
>>>Subject: Re: [percy-l] Contra Gentiles?
>>>Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 17:25:20 -0400
>>>
>>>I think Rhonda would be a great person to ask about that -- she seems to
>>>have gone far in her research in that area --
>>>
>>>KP
>>>
>>>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: Mike Frentz
>>>To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
>>>Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 10:24 PM
>>>Subject: [percy-l] Contra Gentiles?
>>>
>>>
>>>Does anybody happen to know how far Percy got on his Contra Gentiles,
>>>which, if I remember correctly was a defense of the Church somehow
>>>      
>>>
>aligned
>  
>
>>>with Peirce's principles, based on the model of Aquinas?  Any record of
>>>      
>>>
>it
>  
>
>>>after his death?  Does the manuscript exist in his papers, perhaps?  Just
>>>curious if anyone in this august group knows anything about it.
>>>
>>>(actually, the SUDDEN SILENCE has been killing me on this list..  Hoping
>>>the big one (sobig etc..) didn't do us in.  Figured this was better than
>>>      
>>>
>a
>  
>
>>>"TEST" message  :-)
>>>
>>>Mike
>>>
>>>--
>>>
>>>An archive of all list discussion is available at
>>>http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>>>
>>>Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>>>--
>>>
>>>An archive of all list discussion is available at
>>>http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>>>
>>>Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>>>      
>>>
>>_________________________________________________________________
>>Enter for your chance to IM with Bon Jovi, Seal, Bow Wow, or Mary J Blige
>>using MSN Messenger http://entertainment.msn.com/imastar
>>
>>--
>>
>>An archive of all list discussion is available at
>>    
>>
>http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>  
>
>>Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>>
>>    
>>
>
>--
>
>An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>
>Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>
>  
>
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