Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Read Any Walker Percy?

The Moviegoer (1961)
The Last Gentleman (1966)
Love in the Ruins (1971)
Lancelot (1977)
The Second Coming (1980)
The Thanatos Syndrome (1987)
"I think the day of regional Southern writing is all gone. I think that people who try to write in that style are usually repeating a phased out genre or doing Faulkner badly." ~Walker Percy

5 comments:

Isabel said...

I read the Moviegoer before the Katrina. Very good and a bit sad. The protagonist was a typical guy who really didn't want to change too much.

I don't think that I would be able to read it today. It describes the Gentilly neighborhood, that got 90% wiped out during the leevee breaches. And many of the people who are dropping like flies are people like him, who didn't like change.

The Katrina forced a lot of people to examine their lives and make a lot of decisions that they thought that they would never have to make.

Maybe I will read it in another ten years.

maggie moran said...

I've not read it and I'm so glad you told me a little about the setting. What happens to "sense of place" when the place is no longer. Could be a great book discussion. Thanks for sharing!

sage said...

I've read "The Last Gentleman," "Lancelot" and "The Second Coming." "The Moviegoer is on my reading list.

Sharon said...

I've read "The Moviegoer" and just purchased four more of his novels. I may try to work him into the Southern Reading Challenge.

maggie moran said...

Sage and Ex Libris, I haven't read him. So, he is number one on my list. I plan to watch the movie, too. :)