[percy-l] Shelby Foote and Walker Percy
Jonathan Potter
jopomojo at gmail.com
Mon Nov 1 23:21:51 EDT 2021
Marvelous. Makes me want to sit down and reread all six books again. And
maybe even your book too!
Thanks,
Jonathan Potter
On Sun, Oct 31, 2021 at 6:28 PM RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com>
wrote:
> You’ve outlined an interested essay, Doug. One of these years you ought to
> write it up and submit to one of the SAMLA sessions on Percy (there’s
> usually one or two sessions). I’d love to hear more extended thoughts on
> it.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Oct 31, 2021, at 5:15 PM, Doug Brown <wply1223 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Rhonda and other Percyites,
>
> First, I'm sorry for being so absurdly slow responding. I'm not sure how
> much I can add to the idea of the Foote/Percy Iliad & Odyssey, since my
> thought was little more than that - a thought. Here goes.
>
> My one big insight into Percy's writing is that all six novels form a
> single progression of a state of mind. What I mean is, the novels trace out
> a "quality of consciousness" (a Flannery O'Connor phrase) from book to book
> that shows a sort of trajectory of mental breakdown and return to health.
>
> - Binx Bolling - free floating anxiety
> - Will Barrett - dislocation and fugue states
> - Tom More - deepening mental health issues
> - Lance Lamar - homicidal breakdown and imprisonment
> - Will and Allie - split personality (using the terms of the time, or
> dissociative identity disorder, if you prefer) eventually reintegrated and
> reconciled. Think of the alternating perspectives in alternating chapters
> with the two characters ultimately coming together.
> - Tom More again - a relatively healthy-minded character, for a Percy
> novel at least.
>
> What does this have to do with Foote's Civil War or an American Odyssey?
> Maybe not much, to be honest. But just as Homer's Iliad was epic in scope
> and his Odyssey was the mythic journey home of one person, so too, I think,
> an American Odyssey is likely to be rooted in the individual's efforts to
> come to terms with the insanity of our time, emerge from the violence and
> violations of our past, and find some kind of substantial healing. (I'm not
> discounting the hard work of moving our entire country and culture forward,
> I'm just locating the American Odyssey in the individual.)
>
> Does this make any sense at all? I'm totally fine with anyone here telling
> me that I've missed the point or gone off the deep end.
>
> I just know that Percy's writing has helped me find substantial healing
> through the sacraments of the ordinary that I receive in my own life here
> in my beloved Asheville with my beloved dog and beloved friends. That seems
> like an American Odyssey to me.
>
> Thank you for your indulgence for this long post.
>
> Doug Brown
> Walker Percy Loves You and Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life
> <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096LS1B7M>
>
> On Sun, Oct 10, 2021 at 7:59 PM RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Nice observation, Doug. Foote even uses the Iliad (I think) as a
>> structuring model. I remember him writing to Percy about that. I’d love for
>> you to expand on your thoughts if you have time!!
>>
>> Rhonda
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Oct 10, 2021, at 7:25 PM, Doug Brown <wply1223 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi Rhonda and all y'all,
>>
>> I've often thought (not uniquely, I'm sure) that Foote's writings and
>> Percy's writings form a sort of American Iliad and Odyssey, especially if
>> by odyssey we mean a spiritual journey in response to the long tail of the
>> war. Sounds a bit cliched when I write it out plainly like that, but the
>> idea has emotional resonance for me.
>>
>> Doug
>> Walker Percy Loves You <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096LS1B7M>
>>
>> On Sat, Oct 9, 2021 at 2:24 PM RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Wow Greg, that must have been something to hear them reminisce. Can you
>>> image Foote’s voice raised in that sort of parental frustration that Huger
>>> described!? The Walker Percy Weekend is a Percy event I haven’t attended.
>>> Maybe someday … after the current apocalypse. I can’t help but wonder what
>>> the two of them (Percy and Foote) would make of our current social and
>>> cultural woes? It’s both the future Percy imagined and the past Foote
>>> illuminated.
>>>
>>> There’s an interesting thought — if I ever get a minute it’d be
>>> interesting to read Foote’s Civil War and Love in the Ruins as being in
>>> conversation. How might each inform the other? Hmmmm—anyone looking for a
>>> dissertation topic?
>>>
>>> Happy Saturday all!
>>>
>>> Rhonda
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Oct 8, 2021, at 5:18 PM, Plemmons, Gregory <gregory.plemmons at vumc.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed reading the collection a years ago.
>>> Not only did I gain a richer chronological understanding of Percy’s
>>> evolution as a writer and what life events were occurring with each of his
>>> novels, the esteem, humor, and friendship between these two was enviable.
>>> Lifelong male friendships particularly seem uncommon—rarer, still, it
>>> seems to be documented in such a wonderful collection of letters.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> p.s. a few years ago, at the Walker Percy Festival in St. Francisville,
>>> both Percy’s daughter Mary Pratt and Foote’s son Huger spoke on a panel
>>> about growing up with their fathers. I don’t remember much now, but do
>>> recall that Huger said that Shelby got annoyed with Huger’s constant
>>> practice on the drums in their house in Memphis, when he was growing up. At
>>> one point, Shelby reached his breaking point and stormed into the room,
>>> enraged, declaring “Goddammit, stop that noise! I’m trying to finish the
>>> Battle of Vicksburg up here!”—or something to that effect.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Greg Plemmons
>>>
>>> Nashville, TN
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* Percy-L <percy-l-bounces+gregory.plemmons=
>>> vumc.org at lists.ibiblio.org> *On Behalf Of *RHONDA MCDONNELL
>>> *Sent:* Friday, October 8, 2021 2:49 PM
>>> *To:* Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion <
>>> percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
>>> *Subject:* [percy-l] Shelby Foote and Walker Percy
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hello fellow Percy folks,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> There is a fascinating hour-long CSPAN interview of Shelby Foote on
>>> YouTube that was conducted not long after the publication of *The
>>> Correspondence of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy*, edited by Jay Tolson,
>>> in 1997. Below is a brief description of the book.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5ToRmgT-R4
>>> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DM5ToRmgT-R4&data=04%7C01%7Cgregory.plemmons%40vumc.org%7C976957c5ecdb4a9dd2cb08d98a94b7dc%7Cef57503014244ed8b83c12c533d879ab%7C0%7C0%7C637693194477747097%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=K0Z2vERKOfD8wb%2FR6T4jNQ2Kc3xxioDKiZhoGXPs7nc%3D&reserved=0>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> How I love that lovely Southern accent Shelby Foote has! The documentary
>>> reminds me of the first experience of reading their letters. Reading their
>>> responses to each other through the years, the mix of topics they engaged
>>> in, the love and respect they had for each other, was such a privilege.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I think of how Will Barrett wandered to Civil War battlegrounds while in
>>> his fugues, and later how he used a cave previously used by the Confederate
>>> army for his grand experiment in The Second Coming. Certainly all
>>> Southerners of their time were haunted by that war, but I wonder to
>>> what degree Percy’s references to the Civil War in his novels and essays
>>> reflect discussions they had together.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Now that I live in Virginia, I’m surrounded by the vestiges of that war,
>>> though of course many statues have come down. I’ve traveled often to
>>> Gettysburg, and after my first trip there, I read Foote’s section on
>>> Gettysburg aloud to my family. Of all the Civil War history I’ve read,
>>> Foote is my go to, perhaps a bit out of affection but more out of respect
>>> for the stellar scholarship he did.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I wonder if anyone else has any comments about their letters in the
>>> collection or about Foote’s Civil War masterpiece or even about the Ken
>>> Burns series on the Civil War, which features Foote.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>>
>>> Rhonda
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> —
>>>
>>> *The Correspondence of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy* (W.W. Norton,
>>> 1997)
>>>
>>> In the late 1940s, Walker Percy and Shelby Foote, friends since their
>>> teenage years in Greenville, Mississippi, began a correspondence that would
>>> last until Percy’s death in 1990. Their letters provide a rich record of an
>>> enduring literary and personal friendship. Walker Percy, winner of the
>>> National Book Award, wrote six novels and two volumes of philosophical
>>> writing. Shelby Foote’s reputation rests less on his five works of fiction
>>> than his massive three-volume narrative history of the Civil War that he
>>> started in the early 1950s and completed in 1974. In their letters Percy
>>> and Foote openly discuss their ambitions, artistic doubts, and personal
>>> problems with intelligence, good-natured ribbing, and a large dose of
>>> self-mockery.
>>> https://documentarystudies.duke.edu/books/correspondence-shelby-foote-and-walker-percy
>>> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocumentarystudies.duke.edu%2Fbooks%2Fcorrespondence-shelby-foote-and-walker-percy&data=04%7C01%7Cgregory.plemmons%40vumc.org%7C976957c5ecdb4a9dd2cb08d98a94b7dc%7Cef57503014244ed8b83c12c533d879ab%7C0%7C0%7C637693194477757093%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=PoKpEsiHkZ%2BQw5Z3FFp%2Fsxs5krMMPYOWuM5rtBenYl4%3D&reserved=0>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> [ WARNING : This email came from an external source. Please treat this
>>> message with additional caution.]
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>
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