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

by David Horace Harwell

Walker Percy (1916-1990), the reclusive southern author most famous for his 1961 novel The Moviegoer , spent much 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. 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. What emerges is a multidimensional portrait of Percy as a man, a friend, and a family member.

Genres: Biography

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[ANNA fayard · Rating 5 out of 5]

this felt like sitting on the front porch listening to a group of people exchange stories -- oh the power of the collective memory!

"Somebody asked him if he thought there was any hope...He said, 'We had our chance. We old guys, we had our chance.' Then he put his hands out to them and said, 'This is where the hope lies, with you guys. We had our chance and we blew it.' [...] He felt that for people who read, who thought, who understood what's happening to us as human beings, that there was hope" (79)

"I think that the people who are into his work are people who look at life. I would think that they would be people who are insightful and curious yet don't think they have any answers. Not ultraconservative types, but people who are reading just to get in touch with themselves" (87)

LeRoy Percy, Walker Percy's brother: "Well, everything that Walker wrote about--not everything, but most everything--can be summed up in one word: the search. He was always looking for what the hell the story was. [...] Who the hell knows what the deal is? Do you? Well, one thing you'll do is, you'll search and try to find out, right? Hell, I think that was the underlying theme of his books" (112)

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to how Percy was perceived by many people; however, his complexity comes through best when reading his essays first and then his fiction.