New article in The Linacre. Percy was concerned with spiritual suicide at heart—despair, made explicit to him by Kierkegaard—resembling Victor Frankl’s concern with meaning and the current “existential vacuum” (Desmond 2005). However, the novelist’s theological mooring gave him a stronger platform to map postmodern man’s search for meaning, making him a prime example for physicians…
Newman’s canonisation ceremony is set for 13 October 2019. See this article. One of my favorite books is his Grammar of Assent freely available here. Another is his philosophical novel Loss and Gain also freely available. Catholicismgrammar of assentidea of a universityJohn Henry NewmanLiberal educationloss and gainMichael OakeshottPhilosophy of Educationt. s. eliot
Review of Randy Boyagoda’s latest novel Original Prin in The American Interest. CatholicismFlannery O’Connorgraham greeneJohn Kennedy TooleOriginal PrinPaul Eliephilosophical literatureRandy BoyagodaWalker Percy
Born on this date. If you appreciate the anarchic A Confederacy of Dunces you may well enjoy Rolfe’s super funny and outrageous novel Hadrian the Seventh. A classic in its own right is A. J. A. Symons’ biography of Rolfe, The Quest For Corvo. Below: Alec McCowen as Hadrian the Seventh, Mermaid Theatre, April 1968 winning his…
and for anyone claiming to be of a cultivated mind. Catholicismjoseph pearcephilosophical literatureWalker Percy
This is big news for Percy scholars. In preparation over the past few years, edited by three contributors to Walker Percy, Philosopher, this book will be published in October by Mercer University Press. Kenneth Laine Ketner, the lead editor, tells me that the group thinks this work really does show off Percy’s systematic thought, and that it…
Here is my review in the Southern Literary Review of Jessica Hooten Wilson’s excellent two books (the original and my preferred version is here): Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Search for Influence. The Ohio State University Press, 2017 Reading Walker Percy’s Novels. Louisiana State University Press, 2018 aestheticsCatholicismDostoyevskyjessica hooten wilsonphilosophical literatureWalker Percy
Born on this day: here are his SEP and IEP entries. Oddly enough neither lists Noël O’Sullivan’s nice little book, an overview by Max Teichmann here. “Catholic freethinker” was the playful label Bertrand Russell affixed to George Santayana, and a back-handed tribute to the readiness of the Spanish-American to examine, respectfully, many other systems of thought…
I’ve been exploring a terrific repository of “Rolfeana” curated by blogger/translator James Conway on his very interesting Strange Flowers blog, its tagline — “A cabinet of human curiosities”. If like me you have a soft spot for radical individualists (i.e. transgressive “characters”), then James’ blog is just the ticket: [i]s a product of the blogger’s obsession with history’s…
Emily Temple for Literary Hub. The image below (not included on Emily’s list) happens to be one of a series of shots of a bronze sculpture by Valentina Mazzei. ArtCatholicismemily templeFlannery O’Connorpaintingphilosophical literatureValentina Mazzei
