Overview
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, 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. 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.
Full Product Details
Author: David Horace Harwell
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Width: 13.30cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.354kg
ISBN: 9780807830390
ISBN 10: 0807830399
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 04 September 2006
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
[An] illuminating and affectionate memoir. . . . A pleasure to read . . . recommend[ed] to anyone who loves Percy's writings.-- Commonwealth
Easily accessible . . . and certainly revelatory. <br> -- Louisiana History
The thirteen interviews here . . . will endear you to the man and introduce you to his many wonderful books.--<i>Acadiana LifeStyle</i>
The thirteen interviews here . . . will endear you to the man and introduce you to his many wonderful books.--Acadiana LifeStyle <p/>
The thirteen interviews here . . . will endear you to the man and introduce you to his many wonderful books.--Acadiana LifeStyle Harwell's [book] is about as folksy and down-home as it gets when delving into the life of a writer as complex as Percy--Pilot 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.--Publishers Weekly [An] illuminating and affectionate memoir. . . . A pleasure to read . . . recommend[ed] to anyone who loves Percy's writings.--Commonwealth The focus in these thirteen flavoursome conversations is on Percy as a friend and fellow citizen. . . . This is an unpretentiously excellent collection of interviews, valuable for its insights not only into Percy but into recent life in the Deep South.--Times Literary Supplement Easily accessible . . . and certainly revelatory.--Louisiana History
Author Information
DAVID HORACE HARWELL is an independent scholar living in Jackson, Alabama.
