[percy-l] Percy-L Trivia

Henry P. Mills wpercy2 at ibiblio.org
Sun Jul 31 00:34:26 EDT 2005


Answer: what became Percy-L started as a hypermail archive launched in early
August, 1995. Discussion was formalized into Percy-L one year later in
August, 1996. http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/mail-archives.html holds all the
archived messages if you¹re interested in a bit of semiotic archeology.

If you were a member back then, I hope you will write me and let me know.
Happy 10th, Percy-L!

Henry Mills





> From: "Henry P. Mills" <wpercy2 at ibiblio.org>
> Reply-To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
> <percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 23:12:09 -0500
> To: percy-l <percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] dead
> 
> 
> Thanks for the more than enjoyable edification, Chuck.  We could use more of
> it.  I will take this as a good moment to say Percy-L the communication
> channel is decidedly not dead, nor will it be anytime soon.  It runs very
> stably and soundly through the digital machineries of UNC and will remain
> active as long as I have the presence and ability to sit at the keyboard.  So
> whether or not there is actually any Percy ³chatter² at any given point, the
> potential for intersubjective connection still remains as a constant for the,
> at present, 117 members subscribed. One may also always return to past
> discussions when on a search for Percy by visiting the list¹s archives at
> <http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/>, if not find and re-invigorate
> subjects there to new life by returning them to new discussion.  All things
> held constant, therefore, Percy-L is not dead, nor will it be as long as 2
> remain members, and we are a far piece from there.
> 
> Regards,
> Henry Mills
> 
> PS-Just as a little trivia, can anyone say when Percy-L was launched?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> From: chaslow53 at aol.com
>> Reply-To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
>> <percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 22:29:15 -0400
>> To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org
>> Subject: Re: [percy-l] dead
>> 
>> 
>> Well, it is obviously true that the list is not as active as it once was.  I
>> think there are many of us (we exchange private e-mails from time to time,
>> where you smarter folk can't catch us) who are fans of the novels and don't
>> really have a great interest in the philosophy.  I'm not sure what WP would
>> have thought of us, but there it is.
>>  
>> And even of those of us interested in the novels, there appear to be two
>> groups.  The academics are ever eager to trace sources and influences, but
>> the "layfolk" are more interested in using the novels to help answer WP's
>> "ordinary Thursday afternoon at 4:00" conundrum: how is it that we can spend
>> the morning reading philosophy and history and theology and fiction and walk
>> away from it with no idea at all of how we are to lead our lives after lunch?
>>  
>> Two historical/literary thoughts present themselves here.
>>  
>> * William Buckley is reported to have said that he read Moby Dick at 55 and
>> it changed his life.  I cannot vouch for that, either that he said it or that
>> it changed his life.  I speak here as one who edifies, not with authority.
>> What I can say is that I read The Moviegoer at 52 and it changed my life.  I
>> am interested in an exchange of ideas, not necessarily restricted to that
>> sort of reaction, of what the Percy novels mean in the individual lives of
>> those who read and contemplate them.  To the extent that the novels broaden
>> our understanding of the "dark journey," they are valuable; they become even
>> more valuable when we understand how they affect others as well.
>>  
>> * John Henry Newman was the author of A Grammar of Assent, The Idea of a
>> University and a thousand papers on points of Church history and doctrine so
>> austere and obscure that we are staggered to this day to contemplate his
>> output.  Yet when he was made a Cardinal, he chose as his motto something
>> that showed a side of him that none of us today would associate with him: Cor
>> ad cor loquitur, the heart speaks to the heart.  So, too, Walker Percy wrote
>> novels whose message, whether in Binx's relationship with his mother or in
>> Tom Moore's relationship with his second (Presbyterian!) wife or in
>> Lancelot's pipe-clanking with is fellow inmate, could not be clearer: cor ad
>> cor loquitur.  
>>  
>> I'm not saying that this should move us to sentimental essays based not on
>> WP's novels but on sociological flights with only the remotest connection.  I
>> am just saying that there are a lot of us who read and treasure the novels
>> because of their expression of what Binx experienced as "God's importunate
>> grace" and discussions which are too philosophical or too technical are not
>> going to grab us, because we are neither philosophers nor academics.  That's
>> why you don't hear from that group too very often.
>>  
>> Damn, I guess I am intent on retaining my amateur status!
>>  
>> Chuck Lowry
>> Brooklyn, New York
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> An archive of all list discussion is available at
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/
>> 
>> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> --
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/
> 
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> 
> 

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