Customer Reviews

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

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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!

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.

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.