[percy-l] A New Member and a Question

Rachel Humphries mrs.rachel.humphries at gmail.com
Wed Oct 7 21:42:39 EDT 2015


Amazon's algorithms have an opinion on the matter. I just found *The
Moviegoer *in the list of "Well-Loved but Little Known Classics"
<http://www.audible.com/mt/LKClassics?page=2>.

On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 7:44 AM Karl M. Terrell <kterrell at stokeswagner.com>
wrote:

> It was wonderful to read Isaacson's NYT piece on Percy's hurricane
> theory.  Wonderful to see our man discussed in the popular media.  Beyond
> that observation, I have nothing really to add to the interesting question
> posed from the academic perspective, except to say ... more power to you,
> and best wishes.
>
> For what it's worth from a layman reader, the good doctor's observations
> of Wednesday afternoon despair in juxtaposition to Earth-rattling events
> are at the heart of what drew me to Percy in the first place.  I then
> recall someone on this list once responding to a heavily worded question,
> which asked, essentially ... what draws us to WP?  The response: "The charm
> of the man."  Perfect, I thought.  It captured the beauty of his writing,
> those marvelous sentences that flowed and flowed into our thoughts, and the
> grandeur of his ideas expressed with the grace and humor of a certain class
> of Southerner now disappearing from view.
>
> My recommendation to all, come next weekend, is to locate Percy's remarks
> on the virtue of a mint julep.  But don't just read about it; make one and
> pour it into a tumbler,  and then sit on your porch and focus for awhile.
>
> Karl Montague Terrell
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Oct 6, 2015, at 6:41 PM, Rachel Humphries <
> mrs.rachel.humphries at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've actually noticed that Percy has been popping up more frequently
> lately, at least in the NYT. There was the article, linked to on this list,
> on Percy's "Theory of Hurricanes" a month or two ago, and he gets
> name-dropped in the discussion of the "novel of ideas" in the Book Review
> last week.
> I've been out of academia for a long, long time (to continue a theme), but
> I might be able to comment on his prominence in the "culture at large." It
> seems to me that Percy is still quite well-known, and studied, within
> certain spheres of interest: literature & religion, Southern/regional
> literature, literature & philosophy. However, outside of those, it does
> seem that his work does seem to grow more obscure with the passage of time.
> I haven't noticed that it comes with a reassessment of the *quality* of
> his work; it's not like people are saying "Meh, it wasn't as good as we
> thought it was." When it is discussed, it is with respect; it is just
> discussed less.
> This, too, is merely perception.  I have no concrete evidence besides the
> total mystification of that guy at the gym who wanted to know what I was
> reading on the stationary bike (*The Moviegoer). *In pursuit of your
> evidence, it might be interesting to see if Percy is increasingly
> "siloed"--in other words, if he is mentioned most often by people who are
> also discussing another specific topic (Catholicism, e.g.).
> Best,
> Rachel Humphries
>
> On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 3:15 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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>
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>
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>
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>
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