Customer Reviews

The Correspondence of Shelby Foote & Walker Percy

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I don't know when I have enjoyed a book of letters so much. Usually such things represent only a given writer's letters to a variety of people. This volume is a correspondence between two friends that covers five decades and in it one is able to see them grow, change and take delight in a constant verbal duel that must have been going on from the time they first met as teenagers. For two decades this 'conversation' is mostly a monologue because Foote didn't start saving Percy's letters until the 70's, but it is often easy to imagine Percy's letters from Foote's responses - his answering specific questions and arguing against certain statements.

It is so much fun to see Foote trying for 50 years to get Percy to read Proust, and Percy simply ignoring the injunctions. This is just one of the ongoing literary 'wars' that are fought between these two significant writers who, while being diametrically different in style and theme, were the closest of friends from the age of 14.

I found that once started, I couldn't stop reading. From the first chatty letter from Foote in which he proposes his desire to be a great novelist to the last 'letter' - a message read at Percy's memorial service - the book has the forward momentum of a good novel, the intellectual give and take of a Platonic dialogue and the warmth and humor that only good friends can bring to lifelong disagreements. I think this is a great book and, for all who think that literature is important, a wonderful window into the thinking of two fine minds.

Pity Shelby Foote. Most people know his as a writer of books on the Civil War. But when you read this book of letters you see that what thrilled him most was reading great literature.

The reader of this book of letters between two friends will be thrilled by talk of literature. Foote is like Herr Settembrini of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain". He is so overwhelmed by humantistic learning that he finds he must educate his friend and mentor Hans Castrop, in this case Walker Percy.

It is ironic that the prodigy in this case, Walker Percy, soon eclipses the mentor. Walker Percy agonizes in his early letters about his inability to have his novels published while Foote publishes his books in rapid succession. But today Percy's "Moviegoer" and other books are still read while only Foote's "Shiloh" is really still popular. It seems Foote is stuck with Civil War fame have written his long classic on the war.

Reading Foote's letters is where I discovered Flanney O'Connor. Walker Percy and Shelby Foote spoke highly of her here. They also talk about the important of reading Marcel Proust, Faulkner, and a dozen others. Toward the end Foote begins to spew forth on the merits of reading the Greek classics. It is his description of these books and their authors that adds to one's own literary education.

The first part of the book is a little annoying because Shelby Foote threw away the letters that Walker Percy sent to him for the first many years of their correspondence. So you keep reading Shelby Foote but are not privvy to what Walker Percy as to say.

Foote and Percy are masters of the English language. This book provides an enjoyable and witty look at a dying lit form, letter writing.( The phone, e-mail and fax are killing it) The two southern writers were friends from boyhood in the thirties to Percy's death in1990. The letters give us two insights to that slice of American history.

Hellaciously great read. Answers the query 'what happens if two great writers correspond in total honesty'?

It is a rare treasure to find a book like this. "Correspondence" gives insight to the artistry, friendship, and psychology of two gifted writers/curmudgeons.

A little advice to the prospective reader. Forgive Shelby Foote his apparent crankiness, which may be the most notable feature of this book. As other reviews note, Percy is absent through much of the volume. Foote's tone, already tinged with youthful didacticism, is transformed into a soliloquy which is boastful and (at times) rude.

Appearances may be misleading, however. While on the surface egotistical, Foote's often incisive letters betray far more complex motives. He searches for true conversation, for a way to gauge his art (his central pursuit). Percy may come across as aloof, or even vague, but this may be due to the hidden lifelong friendship behind these letters.

A wonderful read

I bought this book because of an enduring love affair with the literary works of Walker Percy. As an addition to the literary biographies of Percy written by Samway and Tolson, the letters serve their purpose well. As a letters volume on its own merits, The Correspondence of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy is unbalanced. Apparently, Foote didn't start saving Percy's letters until the exchange had been occurring for some time. Nevertheless, it is thoroughly interesting to observe Foote's massive ego as he lectures Percy, having the knowledge that Percy ultimately became the far greater literary star. If you've already delved deeply into the work and history of Walker Percy, you'll need this book. If not, find a different starting place, this is not a good place to begin.

This was a great read, but each of the correspondents disappointed in their own ways. Percy's letters are written in an intelligent but notably vague style; Foote's have more bite and literary polish, but at the same time display a nasty streak in his personality that remained invisible in his brilliant _Civil War_.

It's a bit sickening to watch on as Foote seduces the wife of a local doctor, and later recommends to Percy (oh so wittily) that he use pillows to prop up the crotches of female UNC undergrads so that they might better serve his wishes.

On the bright side, it is hilarious to watch Foote react to a letter from a clueless librarian accusing him of failing to mention Gettysburg in his history (she seems not to have realized that it was a multi-volume work). Even more importantly, the entire collection is thought-provoking.

For anyone interested in southern literature, the minds of southern intellectuals (yes, they DO exist!), friendship, and the men behind the works of these two writers, this book is indispensable. The correspondence begins in the fourties and ends just before the death of Percy in the late eighties. It is captivating and more than worth the time and expense. Read it.