[percy-l] Percy-L Digest, Vol 161, Issue 1

Michael Larson larsonovic at gmail.com
Thu Jul 16 17:11:46 EDT 2020


Rhonda,

That is an interesting speculation. Of course, the true priest always
presents the Immaculate Christ, right, specifically in the mass and the
sacraments? But then in this case, we can't really say that Lance's
confession is a sacramental one. In fact, it is clearly not. So the role of
Percival is indeed reduced more to friend than priest, in which case the
emphasis on fellow sinner is more apt. On the other hand, Percy paints the
dramatic situation to suggest a sacramental setting, the confined cell, the
silence of the priest throughout all the long confession, the fact that the
listener IS a priest, etc.. So he is playing with both ideas. The silence
of Percival speaks volumes, though. There is in it both a pregnant judgment
and a way to bear it, I suspect. But that is in the pages we do not see ...

Mike

On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 11:04 AM <percy-l-request at lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Debt Forgiveness and Lancelot (Michael Larson)
>    2. Re: Debt Forgiveness and Lancelot (RHONDA MCDONNELL)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2020 17:37:13 -0500
> From: Michael Larson <larsonovic at gmail.com>
> To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [percy-l] Debt Forgiveness and Lancelot
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAMmLp8iMYv2ks-wmUo9y6RJEDu_RffaEvsYYYfm1sjM5Wp+GWQ at mail.gmail.com>
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>
>  Debt forgiveness is for the ignorant (those who know not what they do) and
> for the repentant, those who are sorry for their wrongs and aim to amend
> their lives. This latter implies a belief in an objective moral order.
>
> In *Lancelot*, three ways are proposed (p. 255-57): 1) Sodom: the way of
> the modern world (i.e. rejection of an objective moral order), 2) Lance's
> way (i.e. a return to an objective moral order, enforced with an iron fist:
> a new version of the Old Law), 3) Percival's way: the way of the Church
> (i.e. acceptance of an objective moral order, but mercy for the penitent: a
> return to the New Law, a.k.a. Christendom).
>
> The world at present is in the final throes of the first way, but Lancelot
> and Percival agree that the future of humanity cannot continue in this way.
> They agree beyond any doubt that it will be either the second or the third
> way, but not both. And we know which of the two Percy, the author, is
> asserting by the final words of the novel, when Lancelot asks Percival, "Is
> there anything you wish to tell me before I leave?" and Percival, who has
> been the silent hearer of Lance's 255-page confession, responds, "Yes."
>
> Probably he will tell Lance that without sorrow for his sins, the new
> beginning he envisions is as doomed as the modern world.
>
> Mike Larson
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> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2020 22:56:25 +0000
> From: RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com>
> To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
>         <percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] Debt Forgiveness and Lancelot
> Message-ID:
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>
> Thanks for the perspective, Michael. Wondering what Father John is going
> to say has taken up some mental energy on my end, as well. I?ve always
> imagined that he would note Lance?s hypocrisy and, as a stand in for God,
> present the ?maculate Christ? as Tom Moore sees in Love in the Ruins. In
> other words, Father John would speak to Lancelot not as a judge or even a
> priest, but as a fellow sinner who is, even so, a believer.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Rhonda McDonnell
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jul 1, 2020, at 6:38 PM, Michael Larson <larsonovic at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ?
> Debt forgiveness is for the ignorant (those who know not what they do) and
> for the repentant, those who are sorry for their wrongs and aim to amend
> their lives. This latter implies a belief in an objective moral order.
>
> In Lancelot, three ways are proposed (p. 255-57): 1) Sodom: the way of the
> modern world (i.e. rejection of an objective moral order), 2) Lance's way
> (i.e. a return to an objective moral order, enforced with an iron fist: a
> new version of the Old Law), 3) Percival's way: the way of the Church (i.e.
> acceptance of an objective moral order, but mercy for the penitent: a
> return to the New Law, a.k.a. Christendom).
>
> The world at present is in the final throes of the first way, but Lancelot
> and Percival agree that the future of humanity cannot continue in this way.
> They agree beyond any doubt that it will be either the second or the third
> way, but not both. And we know which of the two Percy, the author, is
> asserting by the final words of the novel, when Lancelot asks Percival, "Is
> there anything you wish to tell me before I leave?" and Percival, who has
> been the silent hearer of Lance's 255-page confession, responds, "Yes."
>
> Probably he will tell Lance that without sorrow for his sins, the new
> beginning he envisions is as doomed as the modern world.
>
> Mike Larson
>
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