Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him [Hardcover]

David Horace Harwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0807830399 | ISBN-13: 978-0807830390 | Edition: NULL

Walker Percy (1916-1990), the reclusive southern author most famous for his 1961 novel The Moviegoer, lived most 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. Their voices—sometimes in agreement, sometimes not—reveal the ways Percy interacted with the people in his very deliberately chosen environment.

In thirteen interviews, we get to know Percy through his lifelong friend Shelby Foote, his brothers LeRoy and Phin Percy, 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. Presenting Percy from a variety of vantage points, David Harwell provides new material to help us better understand Percy's existential questionings and offers a more comprehensive treatment of the writer's character than traditional biographies provide. What emerges is a multidimensional portrait of Percy as a man, a friend, and a family member.

Editorial Reviews

From 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. (Sept. 4)
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Review

"The thirteen interviews here . . . will endear you to the man and introduce you to his many wonderful books."
— Acadiana LifeStyle

"Easily accessible . . . and certainly revelatory."
— Louisiana History

"All admirers of Walker Percy's literary art will appreciate this remarkable, poignant collection.

Bertram Wyatt-Brown, author of The House of Percy: Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family and The Literary Percys: Family History, Gender and Legend"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; NULL edition (August 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807830399
• ISBN-13: 978-0807830390
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,841,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walker Percy Remembered, August 14, 2007

By 

M. J. Shore "classics client" (sioux city, IA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him (Hardcover)

Walker Percy best described by his brothers Phin and Roy, and Shelby Foote. In Walker's books there appears to be no influence by Shelby, and in Shelby's books there is not a hint of Walker, but these friends from childhood were always a part of each other's life. The person who knew Walker Percy the least appears to be the ex-priest, James Boulware and sadly, the person who knew him best, his wife Bunt, is not heard from. A marvelous little book...will make you want to read all of Walker Percy's books!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique windows into Walker Percy through his friends, May 14, 2007

By 

Kathy F. Cannata "Rev. Dr. R. Cannata" (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him (Hardcover)

Nicely packaged little treat for Walker Percy junkies, it can also serve as a fine introduction to the man. Harwell gives us an intelligent and well researched, but utterly unpretentious and accessible, set of interviews with some of Percy's closest associates. The reader is given insights from brothers of Percy, his priest, Shelby Foote, his teachers, housekeeper, New Orleans bookstore owner Rhoda Faust, and, most interesting of all if illusive, Rev. Will Campbell.

The picture that emerges is beautiful and complex. Percy is the committed Catholic convert, yet forever questioning. He is warm and social, yet private. Civil RIghts activist, but Vietnam War supporter to the end.

Takes its place alongside Ralph Wood as my favorite work on Percy.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I had met Walker Percy myself!, January 2, 2008

By 

Thomas Hofer (Morgan City, LA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him (Hardcover)

After reading this book, I regretted (and still regret) that I never had the pleasure of meeting Walker Percy myself. I knew all along that he turned from medicine to writing, and one of the awards he received was the Doctor of Humane Letters from Tulane University in 1977. I have read LANCELOT. And the book mentions several persons he came to know whom I vividly recall, such as Dr. V. Malcolm Byrnes (incorrectly spelled Burns in the book), who was one of the best teachers I ever had, and who opened up several avenues which I heretofore had not even known about. But there were also Dr. Charles W. Hill and Dr. Curtis Thomsen, both of whom were scientists at the Delta Primate Center in Covington, and they also knew Walker Percy. (I am mentioning the Primate Center because my late father, Dr. Helmut Hofer, was on the faculty there.) A lady with whom I attended church in Covington also knew him. And another association I had, and still have, that could have given me the opportunity to meet him was/is the Maple Street Book Shop in New Orleans, LA, whose owner, Rhoda Faust, was yet another one of his friends. Through all these associations, I knew that Walker Percy was not only a great scholar and writer but also an outstanding citizen.