[percy-l] A New Member and a Question

Leslie Marsh lesliemarsh at gmail.com
Tue Oct 6 07:29:26 EDT 2015


Hi Michael,

I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance. I too had been concerned with
the wane in interest in WP but that happens to most thinkers and I think
things are now on the up. I for one am editing a volume for Louisiana State
University Press on WP's philosophy and a symposium for the journal ZYGON
on WP on religion and science. I will be on the SAMLA WP panel looking at
WP's political philosophy.

I'll drop you a line at QUC.

Cheers,

Leslie Marsh
Medical School
University of British Columbia

On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 10:15 PM, Michael Kobre <kobrem at queens.edu> wrote:

> After a long, long delay, I’m happy to join the Percy-L community.  I’m a
> professor and Chair of the Department of English and Creative Writing at
> Queens University of Charlotte.  More to the point though, I’m the author
> of *Walker Percy’s Voices* which was published a long, long time ago
> (there’s that theme again) by the University of Georgia Press.  In my other
> life as a scholar, before spending the last 15 years as co-director of our
> MFA program in creative writing, I focused primarily on a Bakhtinian
> interpretation of Percy’s work and tried to hear in his prose the sort of
> polyphony of voices that Bakhtin discusses.  Since then, when I’ve had the
> opportunity to write about Percy, I’ve tried to examine the parallels and
> connections between Percy and Bruce Springsteen (who’s a lot louder and
> more famous than Bakhtin).
>
>
>
> I’m working now, however, on an essay that examines the changing fortunes
> of the literary reputations of Percy and Richard Yates respectively.
> Yates’ signature novel *Revolutionary Road* had been nominated for the
> National Book Award alongside *The Moviegoer*, and both books—at least on
> a superficial level—occupy a similar territory, following the lives of
> their protagonists in the new suburban landscapes of America (although to
> very different effects).  Yates felt that his loss of the National Book
> Award dramatically altered the trajectory of his career; the sales of his
> books were at best uneven, and by the end of his life virtually all of his
> work was out of print.  And yet, over the last decade or so, Yates’ work
> has enjoyed a significant revival.  Everything is back in print, and *Revolutionary
> Road* is now seen as a classic work of post-war American fiction and
> is—here’s an important component of my argument—a canonical work within the
> discipline of creative writing in particular.
>
>
>
> By contrast however, it seems as though Percy’s work, which was far more
> celebrated when both Percy and Yates were alive, receives less attention
> these days.  Yes, there remains a loyal audience of Percy fans (I’m
> reaching out to many of you right now), but his work isn’t taught and
> discussed in the same way that Yates’ work is now.
>
>
>
> At least that’s my perception.  And this is one reason why I’m reaching
> out to all of you.  Do you agree that Percy’s work and reputation have
> become a little more obscure to the culture at large?  If so, can you think
> of evidence that supports this perception?  Any thoughts on this or help
> will be much appreciated.
>
>
>
> Michael Kobre, MFA, Ph.D.
>
> Chair, Department of English and Creative Writing
>
> Queens University of Charlotte
>
> 1900 Selwyn Avenue
>
> Charlotte, NC 28226
>
>
>
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>
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>
>
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