[percy-l] hurricane in Lancelot

dabeck at iupui.edu dabeck at iupui.edu
Tue Sep 27 21:21:53 EDT 2005


First, I want to applaud Henry, who has taken some undeserved shots, for 
trying to bring the list back to the literary/philosophical discussion for 
which it is intended. When those who disagree are labeled as Nazis and 
Klansmen, it's time to step in and bring some integrity (and maturity) back to 
the discussion. Maybe the tree needed to be pruned. Regardless, I appreciate 
his input (why can't members correspond with each other instead of the list? I 
carry on off-list conversations with several members of the list).
 But, since some want to discuss the hurricane, I thought I'd throw out this 
experience. In my fiction class, I have a "displaced" student from New 
Orleans, who, with her family, lost everything (she had two changes of clothes 
as of last week). She came to Indianapolis a few weeks ago, several weeks into 
the semester.
 Anyway, today I began my lecture on Percy and, in particular, Lancelot. It 
wasn't until I was into my spiel on Percy's "hurricane syndrome" that I 
realized I had just (possibly) stepped into a mess. I wasn't sure if I could 
convey the anticipation, the rush, the break from everydayness, without 
seeming pretty shallow (in her eyes anyway). She is pretty shy, so I didn't 
want to "push" her to respond, but I was interested in hearing her take on it. 
But last week, when she came to my office to get "caught up," we talked 
briefly about her situation. She said that they couldn't return, and so she 
didn't know the extent of damage to her home; she did say, however, that the 
area in which she lived was hit hard and not much was left standing (based on 
news reports). But she started to get choked up, so I backed off.
 She is way behind in class work, and I don't think she has been able to buy 
the books (I'm meeting with her tomorrow to work something out). Still, I 
wonder how she will see the whole hurricane effect and the hurricane in 
Lancelot.
 Any suggestions?
-David
 




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