Walker Percy Remembered
A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Walker Percy (1916–1990), the reclusive southern author most famous for his 1961 novel The Moviegoer, spent much of his adult life in Covington, Louisiana. In the spirit of traditional southern storytelling, this biography of Percy takes its shape from candid interviews with his family, close friends, and acquaintances. In thirteen interviews, we get to know Percy through his lifelong friend Shelby Foote, Percy’s brothers LeRoy and Phin, his former priest, his housekeeper, and former teachers, among others — all in their own words. Over the course of the interviews, readers learn intimate details of Percy’s writing process; his interaction with community members of different ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds; and his commitment to civil rights issues. What emerges is a multidimensional portrait of Percy as a man, a friend, and a family member.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Harwell, a professor of English at Thailand's Thammasat University, brings together 13 interviews with intimates of the late Southern novelist Walker Percy. Among them are Percy's brothers; the proprietor of a New Orleans bookstore; and the Percys' housekeeper, Carrie Cyprian. Certain themes run through many of the conversations: Percy's involvement in civil rights and other community issues; his commitment to and questions about Catholicism; and his struggles with depression. Lee Barrios, who worked as Percy's assistant for a few years, describes the writer's comfort with existential mystery. She also offers a unique perspective on Percy's writing process, which included countless revisions. The novelist's lifelong friend, writer and historian Shelby Foote, tells anecdotes from their childhood. The portrait that emerges is of a flawed man he could lose his temper over trivial things, and friend and attorney Nikki Barringer allows that Percy had a "streak of homophobia.... He believed that it was a sickness." As a whole, these conversations not only shed light on a great American author, but also plunge readers into the rhythms of folksy Southern storytelling. Percy fans will relish this small jewel of a book.
