From jhforest at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 11:30:10 2020 From: jhforest at gmail.com (Jim Forest) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2020 17:30:10 +0200 Subject: [percy-l] Re-reading "Love in the Ruins" Message-ID: Hemmed in by the corona quarantine, I?ve just finished re-reading Walker Percy?s apocalyptic comedy, *Love in the Ruins*. It?s one of the books I return to every few years and find even better each time. The story, set in the near future, is more timely, and more prophetic, than it was when the book was first published half-a-century ago. The novel?s narrator is Dr. Tom More, descendant of St. Thomas More, who is both a physician and a patient at a mental hospital. The reader finds him in a state of ruin following the death from cancer of his daughter Samantha and the collapse of his marriage, his wife having run off with an English new-age guru. As we quickly discover, More has become an alcoholic who has fallen in love with three beautiful women half his age, his assistant Ellen, a no-nonsense Presbyterian, Moira, a cellist, and Lola, on the staff of the Masters-and-Johnson-style Love Clinic. More describes himself as a ?bad Catholic? who still believes in God, Jesus and the Catholic Church, but whose chief devotions are to alcohol and sex, with God in last place. The story is set in the imaginary town of Paradise, Louisiana, whose divisions mirror the splintered state of the ?good old USA? ? liberals (Leftpapas) fighting it out with conservatives (Knotheads) while black guerrillas (Bantus) wage war with whites of both camps. Meanwhile hippie drop-outs seek refuge in the swamps. Burned-out cars rust in parking lots. Suburban developments lie abandoned while the affluent seek refuge in gated communities. Conservatives suffer from chronic rage and constipation. Liberals suffer from chronic rage and sexual impotence. Each side is convinced of the irredeemability of the other side. Psychologists and proctologists are working full-time. The Catholic Church has also disintegrated. The Roman Catholic Church has been hijacked by the Knothead right and renamed the American Catholic Church, now headquartered in Cicero, Illinois. Its logo is an image of a suburban house surrounded by a white picket fence. Its calendar includes Property Rights Sunday. The American flag is raised at the consecration of the Host. There is also the Dutch Catholic Church, which believes is social relevance but not in God. The actual Catholic Church is a battered remnant of itself, reduced to holding masses in abandoned service stations. Walker Percy, a physician turned philosopher turned novelist, has a theme that in various ways reverberates in all his books but most notably in *Love in the Ruins* ? the ?mind-body? problem, the soul divorced from the body resulting in what More/Percy calls the angelism/bestialism of the divided self. More/Percy is at war with a purely materialist understanding of who we are. Physician/philosopher Percy is convinced that human beings are more than chemistry. Percy blames the philosopher Descartes for converting our self perception of ourselves into a ghost inhabiting a machine. Before Descartes, human reason was seen as an indication that we are made in the image of God. Mind, soul, and body were linked. We humans lived and moved and had our being in a reality that had God at its all-connecting center. After Descartes the world and the cosmos became sourceless, purposeless and meaningless with humanity a temporary accident on an accidental planet. We became adrift of ourselves. To heal the divided self, Dr. Tom More has come up a handy little device, an Ontological Lapsometer, which he believes can cure humanity?s core problem. With the Lapsometer, he can measure the electro-chemical activity of key areas of the brain to reveal the mental health of the person being tested and, by the application of heavy sodium ions, can correct, at least temporarily, the mental-spiritual imbalances of his patients and even himself. When More bombards areas of his own brain with the proper ions, his indigestion clears up, his feelings of terror vanish and he goes merrily about his work of saving humanity. The devil himself takes an active interest in More?s Lapsometer and plays a key role in the novel. He appears suddenly at More?s office, announcing, ?Art Immelman is the name. Funding is my game.? There is a smell of brimstone in the air. Immelman assures More that he can get government grants and even arrange a Nobel prize for More. All More needs to do is sign over the invention?s control and rights to Immelman. Unrepented racism is one of the novel?s major topics. Percy/More sees slavery as having doomed the American experiment to failure: *The poor U.S.A.! Even now, late as it is, nobody can really believe that it didn?t work after all. The U.S.A. didn?t work! Is it even possible that from the beginning it never did work? that the thing always had a flaw in it, a place where it would shear, and that all this time we were not really different from Ecuador and Bosnia-Herzegovina, just richer. ?. What a bad joke: God saying, here it is, the new Eden, and it is yours because you?re the apple of my eye, because you the lordly Westerners, the fierce Caucasian-Gentile-Visigoths, believed in me and in the outlandish Jewish Event, even though you were nowhere near it and had to hear the news of it from strangers. But you believed it and so I gave it all to you, gave you Israel and Greece and science and art and the lordship of the earth, and finally even gave you the new world that I blessed for you. And all you had to do was pass one little test, which was surely child?s play because you had already passed the big one. One little test: here?s a helpless man in Africa, and all you have to do is not violate him. That?s all. One little test: you flunk! ?* * * * 1 April 2020 * * * Hemmed in *Writing Straight With Crooked Lines: A Memoir * is now in print http://jimandnancyforest.com/2020/03/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines-a-memoir/ Order page on the Orbis Books site: https://www.orbisbooks.com/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines.html Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Forest/dp/1626983577/ Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Memoir/dp/1626983577/ *books in print: *www.jimandnancyforest.com/books/ *web site: *www.jimandnancyforest.com *Facebook page:* https://www.facebook.com/jim.forest1 *photos: *www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/albums/ *Amazon author page*: www.amazon.com/author/jimforest -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From honeyjbc at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 12:04:19 2020 From: honeyjbc at gmail.com (honeyjbc1 .) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2020 12:04:19 -0400 Subject: [percy-l] Re-reading "Love in the Ruins" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Here I am again, the non scholar, America loving, non pessimist. I love this novel, too. And we all wonder what Percy would have to say now. But if you do a crossword puzzle and the clue is "to be human" and the answer is a three letter word, the answer is "err". And I always liked what William Buckley said after listening to a liberal on Firing Line go on and on about all that is wrong with America. Buckley leaned back in his chair and said quietly, "I like to ask the question, how are we doing, compared to everyone else?" May I suggest a reading of the new history book of America, Wilfred McClay's Land of Hope? Janet Cantor On Wed, Apr 1, 2020, 11:31 AM Jim Forest wrote: > Hemmed in by the corona quarantine, I?ve just finished re-reading Walker > Percy?s apocalyptic comedy, *Love in the Ruins*. It?s one of the books I > return to every few years and find even better each time. The story, set in > the near future, is more timely, and more prophetic, than it was when the > book was first published half-a-century ago. > > > > The novel?s narrator is Dr. Tom More, descendant of St. Thomas More, who > is both a physician and a patient at a mental hospital. The reader finds > him in a state of ruin following the death from cancer of his daughter > Samantha and the collapse of his marriage, his wife having run off with an > English new-age guru. As we quickly discover, More has become an alcoholic > who has fallen in love with three beautiful women half his age, his > assistant Ellen, a no-nonsense Presbyterian, Moira, a cellist, and Lola, on > the staff of the Masters-and-Johnson-style Love Clinic. More describes > himself as a ?bad Catholic? who still believes in God, Jesus and the > Catholic Church, but whose chief devotions are to alcohol and sex, with God > in last place. > > > > The story is set in the imaginary town of Paradise, Louisiana, whose > divisions mirror the splintered state of the ?good old USA? ? liberals > (Leftpapas) fighting it out with conservatives (Knotheads) while black > guerrillas (Bantus) wage war with whites of both camps. Meanwhile hippie > drop-outs seek refuge in the swamps. Burned-out cars rust in parking lots. > Suburban developments lie abandoned while the affluent seek refuge in gated > communities. Conservatives suffer from chronic rage and constipation. > Liberals suffer from chronic rage and sexual impotence. Each side is > convinced of the irredeemability of the other side. Psychologists and > proctologists are working full-time. > > > > The Catholic Church has also disintegrated. The Roman Catholic Church has > been hijacked by the Knothead right and renamed the American Catholic > Church, now headquartered in Cicero, Illinois. Its logo is an image of a > suburban house surrounded by a white picket fence. Its calendar includes > Property Rights Sunday. The American flag is raised at the consecration of > the Host. There is also the Dutch Catholic Church, which believes is social > relevance but not in God. The actual Catholic Church is a battered remnant > of itself, reduced to holding masses in abandoned service stations. > > > > Walker Percy, a physician turned philosopher turned novelist, has a theme > that in various ways reverberates in all his books but most notably in *Love > in the Ruins* ? the ?mind-body? problem, the soul divorced from the body > resulting in what More/Percy calls the angelism/bestialism of the divided > self. More/Percy is at war with a purely materialist understanding of who > we are. Physician/philosopher Percy is convinced that human beings are more > than chemistry. > > > > Percy blames the philosopher Descartes for converting our self perception > of ourselves into a ghost inhabiting a machine. Before Descartes, human > reason was seen as an indication that we are made in the image of God. > Mind, soul, and body were linked. We humans lived and moved and had our > being in a reality that had God at its all-connecting center. After > Descartes the world and the cosmos became sourceless, purposeless and > meaningless with humanity a temporary accident on an accidental planet. We > became adrift of ourselves. > > > > To heal the divided self, Dr. Tom More has come up a handy little device, > an Ontological Lapsometer, which he believes can cure humanity?s core > problem. With the Lapsometer, he can measure the electro-chemical activity > of key areas of the brain to reveal the mental health of the person being > tested and, by the application of heavy sodium ions, can correct, at least > temporarily, the mental-spiritual imbalances of his patients and even > himself. When More bombards areas of his own brain with the proper ions, > his indigestion clears up, his feelings of terror vanish and he goes > merrily about his work of saving humanity. > > > > The devil himself takes an active interest in More?s Lapsometer and plays > a key role in the novel. He appears suddenly at More?s office, announcing, > ?Art Immelman is the name. Funding is my game.? There is a smell of > brimstone in the air. Immelman assures More that he can get government > grants and even arrange a Nobel prize for More. All More needs to do is > sign over the invention?s control and rights to Immelman. > > > > Unrepented racism is one of the novel?s major topics. Percy/More sees > slavery as having doomed the American experiment to failure: > > > > *The poor U.S.A.! Even now, late as it is, nobody can really believe that > it didn?t work after all. The U.S.A. didn?t work! Is it even possible that > from the beginning it never did work? that the thing always had a flaw in > it, a place where it would shear, and that all this time we were not really > different from Ecuador and Bosnia-Herzegovina, just richer. ?. What a bad > joke: God saying, here it is, the new Eden, and it is yours because you?re > the apple of my eye, because you the lordly Westerners, the fierce > Caucasian-Gentile-Visigoths, believed in me and in the outlandish Jewish > Event, even though you were nowhere near it and had to hear the news of it > from strangers. But you believed it and so I gave it all to you, gave you > Israel and Greece and science and art and the lordship of the earth, and > finally even gave you the new world that I blessed for you. And all you had > to do was pass one little test, which was surely child?s play because you > had already passed the big one. One little test: here?s a helpless man in > Africa, and all you have to do is not violate him. That?s all. One little > test: you flunk! ?* > > > > * * * > > 1 April 2020 > > * * * > > > Hemmed in > *Writing Straight With Crooked Lines: A Memoir * > is now in print > > http://jimandnancyforest.com/2020/03/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines-a-memoir/ > > Order page on the Orbis Books site: > https://www.orbisbooks.com/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines.html > Amazon US: > https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Forest/dp/1626983577/ > Amazon UK: > > > https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Memoir/dp/1626983577/ > > *books in print: *www.jimandnancyforest.com/books/ > *web site: *www.jimandnancyforest.com > *Facebook page:* https://www.facebook.com/jim.forest1 > *photos: *www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/albums/ > *Amazon author page*: www.amazon.com/author/jimforest > > ---------------------------------- > * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ > > * Manage Your Membership: > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org > > * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lesliemarsh at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 18:12:56 2020 From: lesliemarsh at gmail.com (Burma Jones) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2020 18:12:56 -0400 Subject: [percy-l] Re-reading "Love in the Ruins" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On this note, for what it's worth: https://twitter.com/M_W_Q/status/1240360599692947456 On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 12:04 PM honeyjbc1 . wrote: > Here I am again, the non scholar, America loving, non pessimist. > I love this novel, too. And we all wonder what Percy would have to say now. > But if you do a crossword puzzle and the clue is "to be human" and the > answer is a three letter word, the answer is "err". > And I always liked what William Buckley said after listening to a liberal > on Firing Line go on and on about all that is wrong with America. > Buckley leaned back in his chair and said quietly, "I like to ask the > question, how are we doing, compared to everyone else?" > > May I suggest a reading of the new history book of America, Wilfred > McClay's Land of Hope? > Janet Cantor > > On Wed, Apr 1, 2020, 11:31 AM Jim Forest wrote: > >> Hemmed in by the corona quarantine, I?ve just finished re-reading Walker >> Percy?s apocalyptic comedy, *Love in the Ruins*. It?s one of the books I >> return to every few years and find even better each time. The story, set in >> the near future, is more timely, and more prophetic, than it was when the >> book was first published half-a-century ago. >> >> >> >> The novel?s narrator is Dr. Tom More, descendant of St. Thomas More, who >> is both a physician and a patient at a mental hospital. The reader finds >> him in a state of ruin following the death from cancer of his daughter >> Samantha and the collapse of his marriage, his wife having run off with an >> English new-age guru. As we quickly discover, More has become an alcoholic >> who has fallen in love with three beautiful women half his age, his >> assistant Ellen, a no-nonsense Presbyterian, Moira, a cellist, and Lola, on >> the staff of the Masters-and-Johnson-style Love Clinic. More describes >> himself as a ?bad Catholic? who still believes in God, Jesus and the >> Catholic Church, but whose chief devotions are to alcohol and sex, with God >> in last place. >> >> >> >> The story is set in the imaginary town of Paradise, Louisiana, whose >> divisions mirror the splintered state of the ?good old USA? ? liberals >> (Leftpapas) fighting it out with conservatives (Knotheads) while black >> guerrillas (Bantus) wage war with whites of both camps. Meanwhile hippie >> drop-outs seek refuge in the swamps. Burned-out cars rust in parking lots. >> Suburban developments lie abandoned while the affluent seek refuge in gated >> communities. Conservatives suffer from chronic rage and constipation. >> Liberals suffer from chronic rage and sexual impotence. Each side is >> convinced of the irredeemability of the other side. Psychologists and >> proctologists are working full-time. >> >> >> >> The Catholic Church has also disintegrated. The Roman Catholic Church >> has been hijacked by the Knothead right and renamed the American Catholic >> Church, now headquartered in Cicero, Illinois. Its logo is an image of a >> suburban house surrounded by a white picket fence. Its calendar includes >> Property Rights Sunday. The American flag is raised at the consecration of >> the Host. There is also the Dutch Catholic Church, which believes is social >> relevance but not in God. The actual Catholic Church is a battered remnant >> of itself, reduced to holding masses in abandoned service stations. >> >> >> >> Walker Percy, a physician turned philosopher turned novelist, has a theme >> that in various ways reverberates in all his books but most notably in *Love >> in the Ruins* ? the ?mind-body? problem, the soul divorced from the body >> resulting in what More/Percy calls the angelism/bestialism of the divided >> self. More/Percy is at war with a purely materialist understanding of who >> we are. Physician/philosopher Percy is convinced that human beings are more >> than chemistry. >> >> >> >> Percy blames the philosopher Descartes for converting our self perception >> of ourselves into a ghost inhabiting a machine. Before Descartes, human >> reason was seen as an indication that we are made in the image of God. >> Mind, soul, and body were linked. We humans lived and moved and had our >> being in a reality that had God at its all-connecting center. After >> Descartes the world and the cosmos became sourceless, purposeless and >> meaningless with humanity a temporary accident on an accidental planet. We >> became adrift of ourselves. >> >> >> >> To heal the divided self, Dr. Tom More has come up a handy little device, >> an Ontological Lapsometer, which he believes can cure humanity?s core >> problem. With the Lapsometer, he can measure the electro-chemical activity >> of key areas of the brain to reveal the mental health of the person being >> tested and, by the application of heavy sodium ions, can correct, at least >> temporarily, the mental-spiritual imbalances of his patients and even >> himself. When More bombards areas of his own brain with the proper ions, >> his indigestion clears up, his feelings of terror vanish and he goes >> merrily about his work of saving humanity. >> >> >> >> The devil himself takes an active interest in More?s Lapsometer and plays >> a key role in the novel. He appears suddenly at More?s office, announcing, >> ?Art Immelman is the name. Funding is my game.? There is a smell of >> brimstone in the air. Immelman assures More that he can get government >> grants and even arrange a Nobel prize for More. All More needs to do is >> sign over the invention?s control and rights to Immelman. >> >> >> >> Unrepented racism is one of the novel?s major topics. Percy/More sees >> slavery as having doomed the American experiment to failure: >> >> >> >> *The poor U.S.A.! Even now, late as it is, nobody can really believe that >> it didn?t work after all. The U.S.A. didn?t work! Is it even possible that >> from the beginning it never did work? that the thing always had a flaw in >> it, a place where it would shear, and that all this time we were not really >> different from Ecuador and Bosnia-Herzegovina, just richer. ?. What a bad >> joke: God saying, here it is, the new Eden, and it is yours because you?re >> the apple of my eye, because you the lordly Westerners, the fierce >> Caucasian-Gentile-Visigoths, believed in me and in the outlandish Jewish >> Event, even though you were nowhere near it and had to hear the news of it >> from strangers. But you believed it and so I gave it all to you, gave you >> Israel and Greece and science and art and the lordship of the earth, and >> finally even gave you the new world that I blessed for you. And all you had >> to do was pass one little test, which was surely child?s play because you >> had already passed the big one. One little test: here?s a helpless man in >> Africa, and all you have to do is not violate him. That?s all. One little >> test: you flunk! ?* >> >> >> >> * * * >> >> 1 April 2020 >> >> * * * >> >> >> Hemmed in >> *Writing Straight With Crooked Lines: A Memoir * >> is now in print >> >> http://jimandnancyforest.com/2020/03/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines-a-memoir/ >> >> Order page on the Orbis Books site: >> https://www.orbisbooks.com/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines.html >> Amazon US: >> >> https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Forest/dp/1626983577/ >> Amazon UK: >> >> >> https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Memoir/dp/1626983577/ >> >> *books in print: *www.jimandnancyforest.com/books/ >> *web site: *www.jimandnancyforest.com >> *Facebook page:* https://www.facebook.com/jim.forest1 >> *photos: *www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/albums/ >> *Amazon author page*: www.amazon.com/author/jimforest >> >> ---------------------------------- >> * Percy-L Discussion Archives: >> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ >> >> * Manage Your Membership: >> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l >> >> * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org >> >> * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy >> > > ---------------------------------- > * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ > > * Manage Your Membership: > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org > > * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tgollier at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 22:37:21 2020 From: tgollier at gmail.com (Thomas Gollier) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2020 19:37:21 -0700 Subject: [percy-l] Re-reading "Love in the Ruins" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Jim, When I read Descartes the first time I felt he was making a mistake, a misstep, when he went from "I think, therefore I am" to "I am a thinking being." It just doesn't follow. I now think he should have inferred something more like "I am a body that thinks a world." I can infer a doubtable body and a doubtable world from what brought him in that meditation to the certainty of thinking that mediates the two. Maybe Percy would have gone along with more like that? Tom On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 8:31 AM Jim Forest wrote: > Hemmed in by the corona quarantine, I?ve just finished re-reading Walker > Percy?s apocalyptic comedy, *Love in the Ruins*. It?s one of the books I > return to every few years and find even better each time. The story, set in > the near future, is more timely, and more prophetic, than it was when the > book was first published half-a-century ago. > > > > The novel?s narrator is Dr. Tom More, descendant of St. Thomas More, who > is both a physician and a patient at a mental hospital. The reader finds > him in a state of ruin following the death from cancer of his daughter > Samantha and the collapse of his marriage, his wife having run off with an > English new-age guru. As we quickly discover, More has become an alcoholic > who has fallen in love with three beautiful women half his age, his > assistant Ellen, a no-nonsense Presbyterian, Moira, a cellist, and Lola, on > the staff of the Masters-and-Johnson-style Love Clinic. More describes > himself as a ?bad Catholic? who still believes in God, Jesus and the > Catholic Church, but whose chief devotions are to alcohol and sex, with God > in last place. > > > > The story is set in the imaginary town of Paradise, Louisiana, whose > divisions mirror the splintered state of the ?good old USA? ? liberals > (Leftpapas) fighting it out with conservatives (Knotheads) while black > guerrillas (Bantus) wage war with whites of both camps. Meanwhile hippie > drop-outs seek refuge in the swamps. Burned-out cars rust in parking lots. > Suburban developments lie abandoned while the affluent seek refuge in gated > communities. Conservatives suffer from chronic rage and constipation. > Liberals suffer from chronic rage and sexual impotence. Each side is > convinced of the irredeemability of the other side. Psychologists and > proctologists are working full-time. > > > > The Catholic Church has also disintegrated. The Roman Catholic Church has > been hijacked by the Knothead right and renamed the American Catholic > Church, now headquartered in Cicero, Illinois. Its logo is an image of a > suburban house surrounded by a white picket fence. Its calendar includes > Property Rights Sunday. The American flag is raised at the consecration of > the Host. There is also the Dutch Catholic Church, which believes is social > relevance but not in God. The actual Catholic Church is a battered remnant > of itself, reduced to holding masses in abandoned service stations. > > > > Walker Percy, a physician turned philosopher turned novelist, has a theme > that in various ways reverberates in all his books but most notably in *Love > in the Ruins* ? the ?mind-body? problem, the soul divorced from the body > resulting in what More/Percy calls the angelism/bestialism of the divided > self. More/Percy is at war with a purely materialist understanding of who > we are. Physician/philosopher Percy is convinced that human beings are more > than chemistry. > > > > Percy blames the philosopher Descartes for converting our self perception > of ourselves into a ghost inhabiting a machine. Before Descartes, human > reason was seen as an indication that we are made in the image of God. > Mind, soul, and body were linked. We humans lived and moved and had our > being in a reality that had God at its all-connecting center. After > Descartes the world and the cosmos became sourceless, purposeless and > meaningless with humanity a temporary accident on an accidental planet. We > became adrift of ourselves. > > > > To heal the divided self, Dr. Tom More has come up a handy little device, > an Ontological Lapsometer, which he believes can cure humanity?s core > problem. With the Lapsometer, he can measure the electro-chemical activity > of key areas of the brain to reveal the mental health of the person being > tested and, by the application of heavy sodium ions, can correct, at least > temporarily, the mental-spiritual imbalances of his patients and even > himself. When More bombards areas of his own brain with the proper ions, > his indigestion clears up, his feelings of terror vanish and he goes > merrily about his work of saving humanity. > > > > The devil himself takes an active interest in More?s Lapsometer and plays > a key role in the novel. He appears suddenly at More?s office, announcing, > ?Art Immelman is the name. Funding is my game.? There is a smell of > brimstone in the air. Immelman assures More that he can get government > grants and even arrange a Nobel prize for More. All More needs to do is > sign over the invention?s control and rights to Immelman. > > > > Unrepented racism is one of the novel?s major topics. Percy/More sees > slavery as having doomed the American experiment to failure: > > > > *The poor U.S.A.! Even now, late as it is, nobody can really believe that > it didn?t work after all. The U.S.A. didn?t work! Is it even possible that > from the beginning it never did work? that the thing always had a flaw in > it, a place where it would shear, and that all this time we were not really > different from Ecuador and Bosnia-Herzegovina, just richer. ?. What a bad > joke: God saying, here it is, the new Eden, and it is yours because you?re > the apple of my eye, because you the lordly Westerners, the fierce > Caucasian-Gentile-Visigoths, believed in me and in the outlandish Jewish > Event, even though you were nowhere near it and had to hear the news of it > from strangers. But you believed it and so I gave it all to you, gave you > Israel and Greece and science and art and the lordship of the earth, and > finally even gave you the new world that I blessed for you. And all you had > to do was pass one little test, which was surely child?s play because you > had already passed the big one. One little test: here?s a helpless man in > Africa, and all you have to do is not violate him. That?s all. One little > test: you flunk! ?* > > > > * * * > > 1 April 2020 > > * * * > > > Hemmed in > *Writing Straight With Crooked Lines: A Memoir * > is now in print > > http://jimandnancyforest.com/2020/03/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines-a-memoir/ > > Order page on the Orbis Books site: > https://www.orbisbooks.com/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines.html > Amazon US: > https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Forest/dp/1626983577/ > Amazon UK: > > > https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Memoir/dp/1626983577/ > > *books in print: *www.jimandnancyforest.com/books/ > *web site: *www.jimandnancyforest.com > *Facebook page:* https://www.facebook.com/jim.forest1 > *photos: *www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/albums/ > *Amazon author page*: www.amazon.com/author/jimforest > > ---------------------------------- > * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ > > * Manage Your Membership: > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org > > * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lauren.stacy.berdy at gmail.com Thu Apr 2 12:45:06 2020 From: lauren.stacy.berdy at gmail.com (Lauren Berdy) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 12:45:06 -0400 Subject: [percy-l] Re-reading "Love in the Ruins" Message-ID: ?I enter this with a very different seeing The texture of reality is not Separate from how you see it. The whole thing is reproduced by The layer of thought that is looking. And There are two kinds of looking. Function time to get a train And Psychology I hate him he can?t do this to me The closet Dr Percy got to communion tween humans Was Second Coming The protagonists forget themselves Into the I thou they go All there is is the I-thou (We are only alive in relationships) this turning globe is only earth bound The measureless space time we All find ourselves in Let us be Magnanimous and enjoy the suchness Of the everyday. Everything else is in your mind. We humans need a touch of Human kindness more than ever. Sent from my iPhone >> On Apr 1, 2020, at 10:37 PM, Thomas Gollier wrote: > ? > Jim, > > When I read Descartes the first time I felt he was making a mistake, a misstep, when he went from "I think, > therefore I am" to "I am a thinking being." It just doesn't follow. I now think he should have inferred something > more like "I am a body that thinks a world." I can infer a doubtable body and a doubtable world from what brought > him in that meditation to the certainty of thinking that mediates the two. > > Maybe Percy would have gone along with more like that? > > Tom > >> On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 8:31 AM Jim Forest wrote: >> Hemmed in by the corona quarantine, I?ve just finished re-reading Walker Percy?s apocalyptic comedy, Love in the Ruins. It?s one of the books I return to every few years and find even better each time. The story, set in the near future, is more timely, and more prophetic, than it was when the book was first published half-a-century ago. >> >> The novel?s narrator is Dr. Tom More, descendant of St. Thomas More, who is both a physician and a patient at a mental hospital. The reader finds him in a state of ruin following the death from cancer of his daughter Samantha and the collapse of his marriage, his wife having run off with an English new-age guru. As we quickly discover, More has become an alcoholic who has fallen in love with three beautiful women half his age, his assistant Ellen, a no-nonsense Presbyterian, Moira, a cellist, and Lola, on the staff of the Masters-and-Johnson-style Love Clinic. More describes himself as a ?bad Catholic? who still believes in God, Jesus and the Catholic Church, but whose chief devotions are to alcohol and sex, with God in last place. >> >> The story is set in the imaginary town of Paradise, Louisiana, whose divisions mirror the splintered state of the ?good old USA? ? liberals (Leftpapas) fighting it out with conservatives (Knotheads) while black guerrillas (Bantus) wage war with whites of both camps. Meanwhile hippie drop-outs seek refuge in the swamps. Burned-out cars rust in parking lots. Suburban developments lie abandoned while the affluent seek refuge in gated communities. Conservatives suffer from chronic rage and constipation. Liberals suffer from chronic rage and sexual impotence. Each side is convinced of the irredeemability of the other side. Psychologists and proctologists are working full-time. >> >> The Catholic Church has also disintegrated. The Roman Catholic Church has been hijacked by the Knothead right and renamed the American Catholic Church, now headquartered in Cicero, Illinois. Its logo is an image of a suburban house surrounded by a white picket fence. Its calendar includes Property Rights Sunday. The American flag is raised at the consecration of the Host. There is also the Dutch Catholic Church, which believes is social relevance but not in God. The actual Catholic Church is a battered remnant of itself, reduced to holding masses in abandoned service stations. >> >> Walker Percy, a physician turned philosopher turned novelist, has a theme that in various ways reverberates in all his books but most notably in Love in the Ruins ? the ?mind-body? problem, the soul divorced from the body resulting in what More/Percy calls the angelism/bestialism of the divided self. More/Percy is at war with a purely materialist understanding of who we are. Physician/philosopher Percy is convinced that human beings are more than chemistry. >> >> Percy blames the philosopher Descartes for converting our self perception of ourselves into a ghost inhabiting a machine. Before Descartes, human reason was seen as an indication that we are made in the image of God. Mind, soul, and body were linked. We humans lived and moved and had our being in a reality that had God at its all-connecting center. After Descartes the world and the cosmos became sourceless, purposeless and meaningless with humanity a temporary accident on an accidental planet. We became adrift of ourselves. >> >> To heal the divided self, Dr. Tom More has come up a handy little device, an Ontological Lapsometer, which he believes can cure humanity?s core problem. With the Lapsometer, he can measure the electro-chemical activity of key areas of the brain to reveal the mental health of the person being tested and, by the application of heavy sodium ions, can correct, at least temporarily, the mental-spiritual imbalances of his patients and even himself. When More bombards areas of his own brain with the proper ions, his indigestion clears up, his feelings of terror vanish and he goes merrily about his work of saving humanity. >> >> The devil himself takes an active interest in More?s Lapsometer and plays a key role in the novel. He appears suddenly at More?s office, announcing, ?Art Immelman is the name. Funding is my game.? There is a smell of brimstone in the air. Immelman assures More that he can get government grants and even arrange a Nobel prize for More. All More needs to do is sign over the invention?s control and rights to Immelman. >> >> Unrepented racism is one of the novel?s major topics. Percy/More sees slavery as having doomed the American experiment to failure: >> >> The poor U.S.A.! Even now, late as it is, nobody can really believe that it didn?t work after all. The U.S.A. didn?t work! Is it even possible that from the beginning it never did work? that the thing always had a flaw in it, a place where it would shear, and that all this time we were not really different from Ecuador and Bosnia-Herzegovina, just richer. ?. What a bad joke: God saying, here it is, the new Eden, and it is yours because you?re the apple of my eye, because you the lordly Westerners, the fierce Caucasian-Gentile-Visigoths, believed in me and in the outlandish Jewish Event, even though you were nowhere near it and had to hear the news of it from strangers. But you believed it and so I gave it all to you, gave you Israel and Greece and science and art and the lordship of the earth, and finally even gave you the new world that I blessed for you. And all you had to do was pass one little test, which was surely child?s play because you had already passed the big one. One little test: here?s a helpless man in Africa, and all you have to do is not violate him. That?s all. One little test: you flunk! ? >> >> * * * >> 1 April 2020 >> * * * >> >> Hemmed in >> Writing Straight With Crooked Lines: A Memoir >> is now in print >> http://jimandnancyforest.com/2020/03/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines-a-memoir/ >> >> Order page on the Orbis Books site: >> https://www.orbisbooks.com/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines.html >> Amazon US: >> https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Forest/dp/1626983577/ >> Amazon UK: >> https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Memoir/dp/1626983577/ >> >> books in print: www.jimandnancyforest.com/books/ >> web site: www.jimandnancyforest.com >> Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jim.forest1 >> photos: www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/albums/ >> Amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/jimforest >> >> ---------------------------------- >> * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ >> >> * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l >> >> * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org >> >> * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > ---------------------------------- > * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ > > * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org > > * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From marcus at loyno.edu Thu Apr 2 16:00:27 2020 From: marcus at loyno.edu (Marcus Smith) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 15:00:27 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] Percy-L Digest, Vol 158, Issue 3 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Two things. 1. In the 1970s I interviewed Percy for the New Orleans Review after he had published Message in a Bottle. I recall we discussed Descartes. I believe that Percy (not surprisingly) turned away from Descartes? Cogito argument towards an ontology based on a homo loquens premise. I think this interview had been reprinted in the Conversations volumes printed by U. Miss. 2. Yes, Love in the Ruins keeps up with our world in many ways, particular and general. One great difference, though, is our current Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards. I am watching him on c-span as I type this. He is a model in nearly every respect of the good, competent leader. Percy would, I believe, strongly supported Edwards, as do I. Thank God for John Bel Edwards! On Thu, Apr 2, 2020 at 11:00 AM wrote: > Send Percy-L mailing list submissions to > percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > percy-l-request at lists.ibiblio.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > percy-l-owner at lists.ibiblio.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Percy-L digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Re-reading "Love in the Ruins" (Thomas Gollier) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2020 19:37:21 -0700 > From: Thomas Gollier > To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" > > Subject: Re: [percy-l] Re-reading "Love in the Ruins" > Message-ID: > < > CAMVPF1HR50Gf1x9JjUVY5sd74ZbwEJAjVTi4jyyMHxwY-JFbUA at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Jim, > > When I read Descartes the first time I felt he was making a mistake, a > misstep, when he went from "I think, > therefore I am" to "I am a thinking being." It just doesn't follow. I now > think he should have inferred something > more like "I am a body that thinks a world." I can infer a doubtable body > and a doubtable world from what brought > him in that meditation to the certainty of thinking that mediates the two. > > Maybe Percy would have gone along with more like that? > > Tom > > On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 8:31 AM Jim Forest wrote: > > > Hemmed in by the corona quarantine, I?ve just finished re-reading Walker > > Percy?s apocalyptic comedy, *Love in the Ruins*. It?s one of the books I > > return to every few years and find even better each time. The story, set > in > > the near future, is more timely, and more prophetic, than it was when the > > book was first published half-a-century ago. > > > > > > > > The novel?s narrator is Dr. Tom More, descendant of St. Thomas More, who > > is both a physician and a patient at a mental hospital. The reader finds > > him in a state of ruin following the death from cancer of his daughter > > Samantha and the collapse of his marriage, his wife having run off with > an > > English new-age guru. As we quickly discover, More has become an > alcoholic > > who has fallen in love with three beautiful women half his age, his > > assistant Ellen, a no-nonsense Presbyterian, Moira, a cellist, and Lola, > on > > the staff of the Masters-and-Johnson-style Love Clinic. More describes > > himself as a ?bad Catholic? who still believes in God, Jesus and the > > Catholic Church, but whose chief devotions are to alcohol and sex, with > God > > in last place. > > > > > > > > The story is set in the imaginary town of Paradise, Louisiana, whose > > divisions mirror the splintered state of the ?good old USA? ? liberals > > (Leftpapas) fighting it out with conservatives (Knotheads) while black > > guerrillas (Bantus) wage war with whites of both camps. Meanwhile hippie > > drop-outs seek refuge in the swamps. Burned-out cars rust in parking > lots. > > Suburban developments lie abandoned while the affluent seek refuge in > gated > > communities. Conservatives suffer from chronic rage and constipation. > > Liberals suffer from chronic rage and sexual impotence. Each side is > > convinced of the irredeemability of the other side. Psychologists and > > proctologists are working full-time. > > > > > > > > The Catholic Church has also disintegrated. The Roman Catholic Church has > > been hijacked by the Knothead right and renamed the American Catholic > > Church, now headquartered in Cicero, Illinois. Its logo is an image of a > > suburban house surrounded by a white picket fence. Its calendar includes > > Property Rights Sunday. The American flag is raised at the consecration > of > > the Host. There is also the Dutch Catholic Church, which believes is > social > > relevance but not in God. The actual Catholic Church is a battered > remnant > > of itself, reduced to holding masses in abandoned service stations. > > > > > > > > Walker Percy, a physician turned philosopher turned novelist, has a theme > > that in various ways reverberates in all his books but most notably in > *Love > > in the Ruins* ? the ?mind-body? problem, the soul divorced from the body > > resulting in what More/Percy calls the angelism/bestialism of the divided > > self. More/Percy is at war with a purely materialist understanding of who > > we are. Physician/philosopher Percy is convinced that human beings are > more > > than chemistry. > > > > > > > > Percy blames the philosopher Descartes for converting our self perception > > of ourselves into a ghost inhabiting a machine. Before Descartes, human > > reason was seen as an indication that we are made in the image of God. > > Mind, soul, and body were linked. We humans lived and moved and had our > > being in a reality that had God at its all-connecting center. After > > Descartes the world and the cosmos became sourceless, purposeless and > > meaningless with humanity a temporary accident on an accidental planet. > We > > became adrift of ourselves. > > > > > > > > To heal the divided self, Dr. Tom More has come up a handy little device, > > an Ontological Lapsometer, which he believes can cure humanity?s core > > problem. With the Lapsometer, he can measure the electro-chemical > activity > > of key areas of the brain to reveal the mental health of the person being > > tested and, by the application of heavy sodium ions, can correct, at > least > > temporarily, the mental-spiritual imbalances of his patients and even > > himself. When More bombards areas of his own brain with the proper ions, > > his indigestion clears up, his feelings of terror vanish and he goes > > merrily about his work of saving humanity. > > > > > > > > The devil himself takes an active interest in More?s Lapsometer and plays > > a key role in the novel. He appears suddenly at More?s office, > announcing, > > ?Art Immelman is the name. Funding is my game.? There is a smell of > > brimstone in the air. Immelman assures More that he can get government > > grants and even arrange a Nobel prize for More. All More needs to do is > > sign over the invention?s control and rights to Immelman. > > > > > > > > Unrepented racism is one of the novel?s major topics. Percy/More sees > > slavery as having doomed the American experiment to failure: > > > > > > > > *The poor U.S.A.! Even now, late as it is, nobody can really believe that > > it didn?t work after all. The U.S.A. didn?t work! Is it even possible > that > > from the beginning it never did work? that the thing always had a flaw in > > it, a place where it would shear, and that all this time we were not > really > > different from Ecuador and Bosnia-Herzegovina, just richer. ?. What a bad > > joke: God saying, here it is, the new Eden, and it is yours because > you?re > > the apple of my eye, because you the lordly Westerners, the fierce > > Caucasian-Gentile-Visigoths, believed in me and in the outlandish Jewish > > Event, even though you were nowhere near it and had to hear the news of > it > > from strangers. But you believed it and so I gave it all to you, gave you > > Israel and Greece and science and art and the lordship of the earth, and > > finally even gave you the new world that I blessed for you. And all you > had > > to do was pass one little test, which was surely child?s play because you > > had already passed the big one. One little test: here?s a helpless man in > > Africa, and all you have to do is not violate him. That?s all. One little > > test: you flunk! ?* > > > > > > > > * * * > > > > 1 April 2020 > > > > * * * > > > > > > Hemmed in > > *Writing Straight With Crooked Lines: A Memoir * > > is now in print > > > > > http://jimandnancyforest.com/2020/03/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines-a-memoir/ > > > > Order page on the Orbis Books site: > > https://www.orbisbooks.com/writing-straight-with-crooked-lines.html > > Amazon US: > > > https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Forest/dp/1626983577/ > > Amazon UK: > > > > > > > https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Straight-Crooked-Lines-Memoir/dp/1626983577/ > > > > *books in print: *www.jimandnancyforest.com/books/ > > *web site: *www.jimandnancyforest.com > > *Facebook page:* https://www.facebook.com/jim.forest1 > > *photos: *www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/albums/ > > *Amazon author page*: www.amazon.com/author/jimforest > > > > ---------------------------------- > > * Percy-L Discussion Archives: > http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ > > > > * Manage Your Membership: > > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > > > * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org > > > > * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/attachments/20200401/31d24a00/attachment-0001.html > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Percy-L mailing list > Percy-L at lists.ibiblio.org > https://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Percy-L Digest, Vol 158, Issue 3 > *************************************** > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From welewis at wisc.edu Sat Apr 25 15:29:30 2020 From: welewis at wisc.edu (WILLIAM E LEWIS) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2020 19:29:30 +0000 Subject: [percy-l] Greetings Message-ID: Hi Folks, I recently joined the Percy-L list, and Henry (Mills) suggested that I introduce myself to everyone. I'm originally from the South Carolina Lowcountry but have lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the better part of 20 years now -- first as student, then as researcher at the University (where I study and develop numerical models of hurricanes). I also write fiction and was drawn to Percy's work from my first encounter with it decades ago. Thanks for having me as part of this group, and I look forward to talking with (and learning from) you all. Will -------------------------------------- William E. Lewis, Ph.D. Space Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin-Madison 1225 West Dayton St Madison WI 53706 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From JOLLEY_MA at mercer.edu Sat Apr 25 18:12:23 2020 From: JOLLEY_MA at mercer.edu (Marc Jolley) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2020 22:12:23 +0000 Subject: [percy-l] Greetings In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <2EE088B2-F17E-4186-B086-934A2E9D6A1A@mercer.edu> Welcome!! Marc Jolley Director, Mercer University Press On Apr 25, 2020, at 4:34 PM, WILLIAM E LEWIS via Percy-L wrote: ? Hi Folks, I recently joined the Percy-L list, and Henry (Mills) suggested that I introduce myself to everyone. I'm originally from the South Carolina Lowcountry but have lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the better part of 20 years now -- first as student, then as researcher at the University (where I study and develop numerical models of hurricanes). I also write fiction and was drawn to Percy's work from my first encounter with it decades ago. Thanks for having me as part of this group, and I look forward to talking with (and learning from) you all. Will -------------------------------------- William E. Lewis, Ph.D. Space Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin-Madison 1225 West Dayton St Madison WI 53706 ---------------------------------- * Percy-L Discussion Archives: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.ibiblio.org%2Fpipermail%2Fpercy-l%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cjolley_ma%40mercer.edu%7C6e8fda5c69a04a2ba0c608d7e957ff91%7C4fb34d2889b247109bcc30824d17fc30%7C0%7C0%7C637234436490663266&sdata=w6dxW%2BL87ntRXeALthU8KDKwA4cdo5p9sWgl6evvyM0%3D&reserved=0 * Manage Your Membership: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.ibiblio.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fpercy-l&data=02%7C01%7Cjolley_ma%40mercer.edu%7C6e8fda5c69a04a2ba0c608d7e957ff91%7C4fb34d2889b247109bcc30824d17fc30%7C0%7C0%7C637234436490663266&sdata=48zKY1aGztDYy4OhYOh%2BhUX9MdfqF2xMedgnWQ3L8%2Bo%3D&reserved=0 * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org * Visit The Walker Percy Project: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibiblio.org%2Fwpercy&data=02%7C01%7Cjolley_ma%40mercer.edu%7C6e8fda5c69a04a2ba0c608d7e957ff91%7C4fb34d2889b247109bcc30824d17fc30%7C0%7C0%7C637234436490663266&sdata=4q9tWWndjgebGV%2BWNwfQk44MMDPnHKC%2BuOK%2FREYCVew%3D&reserved=0 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowry.charles at gmail.com Sun Apr 26 00:14:45 2020 From: lowry.charles at gmail.com (Charles Lowry) Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2020 00:14:45 -0400 Subject: [percy-l] Greetings In-Reply-To: <2EE088B2-F17E-4186-B086-934A2E9D6A1A@mercer.edu> References: <2EE088B2-F17E-4186-B086-934A2E9D6A1A@mercer.edu> Message-ID: <80436011-89B0-446D-AA28-270400838218@gmail.com> Nice of you to join, Will. Your paragraph was a salutary reminder that Percy himself was a scientist before he was a writer. It will be good to have another math and science contributor. An old, broken down literature guy like me needs reining in from time to time! Don?t be put off by long periods of inactivity on the list. Just assume that we are all reading Percy over and over again. After all, as St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, Repetitio est mater studiorum. Chuck Lowry Brooklyn, NY Sent from my iPhone > On Apr 25, 2020, at 11:45 PM, Marc Jolley wrote: > > ? Welcome!! > > > Marc Jolley > Director, Mercer University Press > >>> On Apr 25, 2020, at 4:34 PM, WILLIAM E LEWIS via Percy-L wrote: >>> >> ? >> Hi Folks, >> >> I recently joined the Percy-L list, and Henry (Mills) suggested that I introduce myself to everyone. I'm originally from the South Carolina Lowcountry but have lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the better part of 20 years now -- first as student, then as researcher at the University (where I study and develop numerical models of hurricanes). I also write fiction and was drawn to Percy's work from my first encounter with it decades ago. >> >> Thanks for having me as part of this group, and I look forward to talking with (and learning from) you all. >> >> >> Will >> >> -------------------------------------- >> William E. Lewis, Ph.D. >> Space Science and Engineering Center >> University of Wisconsin-Madison >> 1225 West Dayton St >> Madison WI 53706 >> >> ---------------------------------- >> * Percy-L Discussion Archives: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.ibiblio.org%2Fpipermail%2Fpercy-l%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cjolley_ma%40mercer.edu%7C6e8fda5c69a04a2ba0c608d7e957ff91%7C4fb34d2889b247109bcc30824d17fc30%7C0%7C0%7C637234436490663266&sdata=w6dxW%2BL87ntRXeALthU8KDKwA4cdo5p9sWgl6evvyM0%3D&reserved=0 >> >> * Manage Your Membership: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.ibiblio.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fpercy-l&data=02%7C01%7Cjolley_ma%40mercer.edu%7C6e8fda5c69a04a2ba0c608d7e957ff91%7C4fb34d2889b247109bcc30824d17fc30%7C0%7C0%7C637234436490663266&sdata=48zKY1aGztDYy4OhYOh%2BhUX9MdfqF2xMedgnWQ3L8%2Bo%3D&reserved=0 >> >> * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org >> >> * Visit The Walker Percy Project: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibiblio.org%2Fwpercy&data=02%7C01%7Cjolley_ma%40mercer.edu%7C6e8fda5c69a04a2ba0c608d7e957ff91%7C4fb34d2889b247109bcc30824d17fc30%7C0%7C0%7C637234436490663266&sdata=4q9tWWndjgebGV%2BWNwfQk44MMDPnHKC%2BuOK%2FREYCVew%3D&reserved=0 > > ---------------------------------- > * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ > > * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org > > * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com Sat Apr 25 18:36:34 2020 From: rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com (RHONDA MCDONNELL) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2020 22:36:34 +0000 Subject: [percy-l] Greetings In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Will, and welcome!! We?re often quiet, so don?t be alarmed, but then folks will suddenly break into chatter about something or other. Although coronavirus has everyone stuck at home this year, the Walker Percy weekend is a good time, I hear. I?d hoped to go this year, but now it?s delayed for a year. So we?ll see what next year brings. The South Atlantic MLA conference typically has at least one Percy session, but often two or three, so that?s another fun gathering for Percy folks. I was originally from Arizona but now live in Virginia. I teach community college English, although I did do Percy research for my PhD. In fact, I helped edit his posthumous Symbol and Existence which was released earlier this year. It?d be great if you could join us at SAMLA some year and perhaps offer your reading of Percy?s hurricanes and the time the play in his fiction. As a final note, I also write fiction and I have found a very nurturing community at the Novel-in-Process bookcamp. It?s typically held in May right in your Wisconsin, and offers both classes and a writers retreat, depending on needs. You might want to check it out! http://novelbookcamp.org/ Best to you, Rhonda McDonnell Sent from my iPhone On Apr 25, 2020, at 4:34 PM, WILLIAM E LEWIS via Percy-L wrote: ? Hi Folks, I recently joined the Percy-L list, and Henry (Mills) suggested that I introduce myself to everyone. I'm originally from the South Carolina Lowcountry but have lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the better part of 20 years now -- first as student, then as researcher at the University (where I study and develop numerical models of hurricanes). I also write fiction and was drawn to Percy's work from my first encounter with it decades ago. Thanks for having me as part of this group, and I look forward to talking with (and learning from) you all. Will -------------------------------------- William E. Lewis, Ph.D. Space Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin-Madison 1225 West Dayton St Madison WI 53706 ---------------------------------- * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kareyperkins at gmail.com Sun Apr 26 09:44:33 2020 From: kareyperkins at gmail.com (Karey Perkins) Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2020 09:44:33 -0400 Subject: [percy-l] Greetings In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4479B70D-09FB-4881-BEAF-16ED3FFF4ABC@gmail.com> Hi Will, from a fellow Lowcountry resident! Yay, there is more than one Percy lover here in the Lowcountry! I?m presently in Bluffton, though I teach at SCSU. Where are you and what brought you here? Rhonda?s email below kinda says it all ? not sure I could add much to it information-wise. The SAMLA conference is in Atlanta this year (November), driving distance, and there WILL be a Percy session again this year? if the virus is gone by then of course... Welcome to the list! Karey Karey Perkins, M.A., M.A.T., Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of English 296A Turner Hall, South Carolina State University Orangeburg, SC 29117 kperkin1 at scsu.edu | 803-536-7016 www.scsu.edu Member, Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-0002 kareperk at ttu.edu | http://www.pragmaticism.net kareyperkins at gmail.com | 404-513-1460 > On Apr 25, 2020, at 6:36 PM, RHONDA MCDONNELL wrote: > > Hi Will, and welcome!! We?re often quiet, so don?t be alarmed, but then folks will suddenly break into chatter about something or other. > > Although coronavirus has everyone stuck at home this year, the Walker Percy weekend is a good time, I hear. I?d hoped to go this year, but now it?s delayed for a year. So we?ll see what next year brings. > > The South Atlantic MLA conference typically has at least one Percy session, but often two or three, so that?s another fun gathering for Percy folks. > > I was originally from Arizona but now live in Virginia. I teach community college English, although I did do Percy research for my PhD. In fact, I helped edit his posthumous Symbol and Existence which was released earlier this year. > > It?d be great if you could join us at SAMLA some year and perhaps offer your reading of Percy?s hurricanes and the time the play in his fiction. > > As a final note, I also write fiction and I have found a very nurturing community at the Novel-in-Process bookcamp. It?s typically held in May right in your Wisconsin, and offers both classes and a writers retreat, depending on needs. You might want to check it out! http://novelbookcamp.org/ > > Best to you, > > Rhonda McDonnell > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Apr 25, 2020, at 4:34 PM, WILLIAM E LEWIS via Percy-L wrote: >> >> ? >> Hi Folks, >> >> I recently joined the Percy-L list, and Henry (Mills) suggested that I introduce myself to everyone. I'm originally from the South Carolina Lowcountry but have lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the better part of 20 years now -- first as student, then as researcher at the University (where I study and develop numerical models of hurricanes). I also write fiction and was drawn to Percy's work from my first encounter with it decades ago. >> >> Thanks for having me as part of this group, and I look forward to talking with (and learning from) you all. >> >> >> Will >> >> -------------------------------------- >> William E. Lewis, Ph.D. >> Space Science and Engineering Center >> University of Wisconsin-Madison >> 1225 West Dayton St >> Madison WI 53706 >> >> ---------------------------------- >> * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ >> >> * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l >> >> * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org >> >> * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > ---------------------------------- > * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ > > * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l > > * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org > > * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gregory.plemmons at vumc.org Sun Apr 26 14:46:15 2020 From: gregory.plemmons at vumc.org (Plemmons, Gregory) Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2020 18:46:15 +0000 Subject: [percy-l] Greetings In-Reply-To: <4479B70D-09FB-4881-BEAF-16ED3FFF4ABC@gmail.com> References: <4479B70D-09FB-4881-BEAF-16ED3FFF4ABC@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi, Will, Welcome to the list. I lived in the Lowcountry for 4 years during medical school, but was introduced to Percy in college and have long been a fan. I also write fiction, and attempt to practice and teach humanistic medicine in an era of profoundly disconcerting technology. I read The Moviegoer again the last month, which provided great comfort. It certainly makes me wonder what the good doctor would say about our current predicament. All best, Greg Plemmons From: Percy-L On Behalf Of Karey Perkins Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2020 8:45 AM To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion Subject: Re: [percy-l] Greetings Hi Will, from a fellow Lowcountry resident! Yay, there is more than one Percy lover here in the Lowcountry! I?m presently in Bluffton, though I teach at SCSU. Where are you and what brought you here? Rhonda?s email below kinda says it all ? not sure I could add much to it information-wise. The SAMLA conference is in Atlanta this year (November), driving distance, and there WILL be a Percy session again this year? if the virus is gone by then of course... Welcome to the list! Karey Karey Perkins, M.A., M.A.T., Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of English 296A Turner Hall, South Carolina State University Orangeburg, SC 29117 kperkin1 at scsu.edu | 803-536-7016 www.scsu.edu Member, Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-0002 kareperk at ttu.edu | http://www.pragmaticism.net kareyperkins at gmail.com | 404-513-1460 On Apr 25, 2020, at 6:36 PM, RHONDA MCDONNELL > wrote: Hi Will, and welcome!! We?re often quiet, so don?t be alarmed, but then folks will suddenly break into chatter about something or other. Although coronavirus has everyone stuck at home this year, the Walker Percy weekend is a good time, I hear. I?d hoped to go this year, but now it?s delayed for a year. So we?ll see what next year brings. The South Atlantic MLA conference typically has at least one Percy session, but often two or three, so that?s another fun gathering for Percy folks. I was originally from Arizona but now live in Virginia. I teach community college English, although I did do Percy research for my PhD. In fact, I helped edit his posthumous Symbol and Existence which was released earlier this year. It?d be great if you could join us at SAMLA some year and perhaps offer your reading of Percy?s hurricanes and the time the play in his fiction. As a final note, I also write fiction and I have found a very nurturing community at the Novel-in-Process bookcamp. It?s typically held in May right in your Wisconsin, and offers both classes and a writers retreat, depending on needs. You might want to check it out! http://novelbookcamp.org/ Best to you, Rhonda McDonnell Sent from my iPhone On Apr 25, 2020, at 4:34 PM, WILLIAM E LEWIS via Percy-L > wrote: ? Hi Folks, I recently joined the Percy-L list, and Henry (Mills) suggested that I introduce myself to everyone. I'm originally from the South Carolina Lowcountry but have lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the better part of 20 years now -- first as student, then as researcher at the University (where I study and develop numerical models of hurricanes). I also write fiction and was drawn to Percy's work from my first encounter with it decades ago. Thanks for having me as part of this group, and I look forward to talking with (and learning from) you all. Will -------------------------------------- William E. Lewis, Ph.D. Space Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin-Madison 1225 West Dayton St Madison WI 53706 ---------------------------------- * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy ---------------------------------- * Percy-L Discussion Archives: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/ * Manage Your Membership: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l * Contact the Moderator: percy-l-owner (at) lists.ibiblio.org * Visit The Walker Percy Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy [ WARNING : This email came from an external source. Please treat this message with additional caution.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: