Walker Percy (1916–1990)

"The Second Coming" is a fine read, which isn't at all surprising, as it was written by Walker Percy. But I'm not quite convinced that it's a wholly successful novel. It's less focused than either "The Moviegoer" and "Love in the Ruins" -- the other of Percy novels that I've read -- and while it has many strengths, I'm not sure that it states its thesis all that clearly or sets out to do what it intends to do.

It concerns Will Barrett -- a former lawyer, newly minted widower, extremely rich show more man, and unlikely spiritual seeker. Will finds himself suddenly haunted by half-forgotten memories, afflicted with mysterious fainting spells, and enamored of an eccentric young lady. While "The Second Coming" successfully extends the existentialist themes that are present in Percy's other novels, it's sure to frustrate those people who don't like to think of literature as something that comfortable people do when they find themselves unhappy. The book, though beautifully written, is a bit of a slog in places, and shares that disorienting quality that most books that have mentally ill protagonist at their center tend to have. As in all of the Percy I've read, religion plays a large role, but while the author's observations are sharp, Will's spiritual quest seems a bit more like the ravings of a madman than any sort of productive soul-searching.

But it's these observations, in the end, that make "The Second Coming" interesting. Percy seemed to have an almost preternatural ability to see societal change in America as it unfolded and to sense where Americans, as a society, were headed. Even though this was published in 1979, it's a sharp portrait of the New South, even as Will himself attempts to flee from the nostalgia, hatred, and pride that defined the literary Old South. It also senses the rise of a new, more self-centered kind of Christianity in America and the country's coming fascination with big money and success, which would more or less define the cultural climate of the next decade. Percy's perceptiveness also extends to his characters. He's never so obvious as to describe his characters straight on, but the details he does provide seem well-chosen and telling, and tell us more about his characters than any photograph or interview would. Percy might have been one of American literature's great observers. While "The Second Coming" seems confused and bogged-down in places, it's still a successful novel in many other respects. Recommended to Walker Percy's many fans. show less

at first i was really liking this, the way that we see binx being lost in his life but finding his way through cinema but then it turned into something else and i myself was the one lost. i disliked the depiction of just about everyone (women, people of color) that he encountered and don't know if this is just another of the older books written by white men that i don't find any connection with, or if there was really just nothing to connect to. this won the national book award in 1960 (and show more was percy's first book), and i'm disappointed not to like it more.

this description is so spot on though: "...I have only to hear the word God and a curtain comes down in my head." show less

The Moviegoer is a book that I read when I was about fourteen years old, and for some reason, out of all of the books that I read in my early teenage years, it´s always stood out in my mind. I believe that this is because the story of Binx Bolling came to represent to me what it was going to be like to be an adult. He works in an unremarkable suburb of New Orleans selling stocks, content with going to the movies at night and having a series of affairs with his secretaries. He has devised a show more vague “search” for meaning in his day-to-day life, identifying noteworthy occurrences in his world that elevate existence above the mundanity of the everyday. He sees a movie star walking down the street and watches a young couple notice him, and thinks about the effect that the foreign and famous presence has on the otherwise unremarkable scene. He seeks repetitions in movies and life that elevate normal moments in nondescript theaters to a special status, and he drives a red MG convertible because it is a car that is immune to malaise, a car that one can drive in with a woman without being overwhelmed by how plain and meaningless their life is. He uses this invented search to find, if not pleasure, then at least low-level motivation to keep going in a job and a life that to most of his family seems uninspired and disappointing. Looking back, I think that at 14 I was aware that life would at some point become more repetitive, with less options sprawling out ahead of me and more routine and boredom from day to day. I related to his creation of a language with terms that defined situations by his own individual, aesthetic and arbitrary standards, but that nonetheless made the mundane less unbearable. At 26, I worried that this book would depress me, but it didn´t. As an adult I relate to Binx and his life, and I think that it is an accurate representation of adulthood.

Binx Bolling reminds me a lot of Camus´ Meursault in The Stranger, in the way that he is detached from a lot of the desires and motivations of the people in his world. He lives in Gentilly and doesn´t associate with the New Orleans society that he is a part of. His lack of faith contrasts with the religion of some members of his family, and his search for meaning circumvents the normal places that people look to for meaning (he doesn´t want God, and he doesn´t want to become a research scientist and make important discoveries). He appears content in a life that is hard for most of his family to understand, dating unremarkable secretaries and selling mutual funds to unremarkable people, without showing desire or ambition for more. I imagine that The Moviegoer is considered an existential novel, and a quick read of Walker Percy´s biography told me that he was a doctor, and that his own search for meaning drew him to Kierkegaard and Dostoyevsky and eventually to the Catholic religion due to a growing apprehension of science´s ability to explain the basic mysteries of human existence. I imagine that Binx is at least somewhat autobiographical and that his search at least partly parallels Percy´s own search for meaning in his life. With that in mind, I wonder if this search undertaken in his twenties would lead him, as in the author´s case, to religion later in life.

Besides providing me a possible blueprint for adulthood, The Moviegoer also gave me a mental image of New Orleans that I carried in my mind during the few times that I visited the city. It presents Southern aristocracy in a straightforward manner, it shows the racism still present in 1950´s Louisiana (black people are negroes in this book, they sit in the back of the bus, and so on), and it illustrates the customs and social conventions associated with Mardi Gras and the different parade krewes. My teenage conception of New Orleans, I realize, was pretty much half-Moviegoer, half-Confederacy of Dunces, and when I visited the city for the first time, I saw it through my recollection of these two novels, satisfied with the way that what I saw reflected what I remembered and expected to see based on these books. show less

I've wanted to read THE MOVIEGOER for many years, and now I finally have. My take on it may be slightly different than some. I see it as a kind of anti-war book. Its protagonist, Binx Bolling, is several years removed from his service in the Korean war, but he seems to be suffering from a kind of PTSD, which he refers to as the "malaise," or the "everydayness." Whatever he calls it, it has left him with a feeling of hopelessness, of "why bother." A moderately successful stockbroker with his show more uncle's New Orleans firm, Binx has no particular ambitions beyond his present circumstances. He lives his bachelor life in a bare, unadorned apartment. He engages in meaningless serial dalliances with his secretaries. He has no close friends. The last time he can remember life being important was when he "lay bleeding in a ditch" in Korea. He takes refuge in movies.

Walker Percy's novel also gives us a glimpse into New Orleans life in the late fifties. He shows us the inbred families of the crescent city, their attitudes toward the black servants they employ, as well as the strange, stratified carnival atmosphere of Mardi Gras. Indeed, everyone seems to expect Binx to marry his cousin, Kate, who is a story in herself, with her wildly fluctuating bipolar behavior. Binx does feel a surprisingly tender affinity toward his colorful cousin, and also shows immense tolerance and even affection for his several half-siblings, especially one who is crippled and sickly. In these particular relationships, he comes alive as a real and sympathetic character, in sharp contrast to his shallow affairs with his Marcia, Linda and Sharon secretaries.

The book starts off rather slowly, I thought, but the second half grabbed me and kept me turning pages - the parts about Kate and her family, as well as his crippled half-brother, Lonnie. I understand now why THE MOVIEGOER, first published in 1962, has long been considered a minor classic of Southern Literature. Percy is a unique sort of writer, and a damn good one. Binx Bolling is a character I will not soon forget. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less