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Walker Percy: A Life
An authorized biography of the distinguished American author traces the complex events of his life, from his childhood and education to his marriage, conversion to Catholicism, and medical and literary career.
506 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 22, 2013
Father Samway writes an encyclopedic life of Percy that limits its success as a narrative. While clear, readable, and attractively written, the book is a slog to get through.
Nevertheless, as a study, the book is vital and necessary, and does a superb job of explaining the complex life of one of the 20th century's best novelists, a man that Samway shows us was a deeply complex man, a complexity that was often hidden behind Percy's gregariousness, humor, and charm. The depth this study goes to in order to explain the various influences on Percy's work--his family, the South, semiotics, psychoanalysis, existentialism, etc. is remarkable. Yet, that is also the book's limitation as a narrative. Samway does, indeed, show us Percy's life. This comprehensiveness is both the most remarkable and laudatory thing about this biography, and the greatest impediment to it being truly enjoyable.
Nevertheless, as a study, the book is vital and necessary, and does a superb job of explaining the complex life of one of the 20th century's best novelists, a man that Samway shows us was a deeply complex man, a complexity that was often hidden behind Percy's gregariousness, humor, and charm. The depth this study goes to in order to explain the various influences on Percy's work--his family, the South, semiotics, psychoanalysis, existentialism, etc. is remarkable. Yet, that is also the book's limitation as a narrative. Samway does, indeed, show us Percy's life. This comprehensiveness is both the most remarkable and laudatory thing about this biography, and the greatest impediment to it being truly enjoyable.
June 23, 2024
Maybe only 4 1/2 stars because there are some clunky sentences and the inclusion of some inessential information....but Percy was such an interesting writer and man. In the end I was happy to celebrate his life.
December 15, 2014
Thorough and working with more material than the other Percy biography,
Pilgrim in the Ruins
—and thus worth reading if you want a more up-to-date account of what's available to Percy scholars.
But the narrative never really seems to cohere, and Samway's narrative is (for better or worse) baggier and less aggressively shaped than Tolson's. At times Samway seems to want to leave it to the reader to draw conclusions from the information he presents, but since we don't have the same information he does—about the nature of Percy's relationship with Lyn Hill, for instance—it hardly seems our place to do so, at least without his more explicit direction.
But the narrative never really seems to cohere, and Samway's narrative is (for better or worse) baggier and less aggressively shaped than Tolson's. At times Samway seems to want to leave it to the reader to draw conclusions from the information he presents, but since we don't have the same information he does—about the nature of Percy's relationship with Lyn Hill, for instance—it hardly seems our place to do so, at least without his more explicit direction.
July 8, 2008
Fascinating subject. Not fascinating prose.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews