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GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1963 Creative Artist Walker BY CHARLES ENGLISH Walker Percy’s THE MOVIE GOER has had a curious history. When it was first published in a Knopf hardcover the critics almost by agreement ignored it. Certainly there were few en thusiastic reviews. Last year it was awarded the National Book Award and reprinted in paper back by the Popular Library. The publications who had been caught short the previous year hastened to call the prizewin ner to their readers attention. And to a man they all read the book as a novel of despair. Three readings of TTie Movie goer have convinced me of a number of things. Percy's books deals with despair (the Kier kegaard quotation on the fly leaf: "...the specific charac ter of despair is precisely this; it is unaware of being despair" cannot be ignored in any critical look at the book) but no novel can be charged with humor as this one is and be claimed as the product of despair. Humor is one of Per cy's long suits and this is a happy, a joyful book. THE FACT is that Mr. Percy is a genuine creative artist and the role of such men in society is to help us look into the times, to interpet them, to es tablish living relationships for us. The man who is creating a work of art does not follow the style of the times, he creates that style. Such a writer care fully works within a tradition (and The Moviegoer finds it self within a two-fold tradi tion, one that is Southern and Catholic), but somehow breath ing into it freshness and life. "Freshness" is a word which most easily applies to this book. Because of a certain casualness in attitude and because of the device of the symbolism of everydayness Percy has hit up on to convey reality to us (Binx Bolling is an incessant movie goer and thinks in terms of movie personalities) we are apt to discount the depth of his in sight into our society. Percy's novel, very slight in plot but tightly - almost too tightly - constructed centers on a young New Orleans busi nessman’s efforts to breach through the ordinaryness of his life. Percy has a sense of won der absolutely necessary for the topdrawer writer and which few of our present day writers possess. There is a puzzlement in the outlook of his hero which is in great measure the puzzle ment of our times. Percy’s style is sparse, pointed and clean, exactly suited to the characters he creates. He values the English sen tence and so his are always bear a thought, smoothly and clearly. The whole tone of the book is one of assurance. Per cy is writing about people and a locale he knows and loves, and yet does not identify him self with it or them complete ly. His dialogue is not dialect. There is a detachment in the telling of this book which places the reader in the position of an onlooker, which allows for a certain cool enjoyment even on a re-reading. WHY IS the Percy novel im portant? Aside from his pro fessional competance, and as a storyteller he has enormous competance, Percy is caught up by one of the fundamental urges of man, and as an artist he tries to relate this urge to the reader. Binx Bolling (the book is written in the first person) tells us that he has been en gaged on The Search for over ten years. The Search is never clearly stated, but we do come to the understanding that what Binx is looking for is the gen- uiness which must be behind the facade covering modern life. Carefully, gently, Percy strips away the facade, pokes fun at the most widely practiced (and so revered) of our manners. It is no surprise when the hero falls in love with his emotionally disturbed cousin and finally in the strangest of love affairs marries her. There are no magnolias or azaleas in this noveL Certainly it is not a sacristy plot. Yet the book could only be written by a Southerner with the even, purposeful viewpoint of a Ca tholic. Here is a book about the South which doesn’t root itself back a hundred years and which nevertheless does manage to "convey a certain quality of spirit, a gaiety, a sense of duty, a nobility worn lightly, a sweetness, a gentleness with women - the only good things the South ever had and the only things, that really matter in this life.” Here is a book which is essentially religious and which deserves a wider au dience than it has had to date. Walker Percy is the best of our new novelists and The Mo viegoer a superb first novel. Books WASHINGTON (NC) —This list of Catholic books released within the past week was pre pared by the Library of the Ca tholic University of America. ADAMS, HENRY. Mont-Saint Michel And Chartres. (Collier Books. 95 cents. Paper). Re print with a new introduction by Lewis Mumford. BOASE, LEONARD. The Prayer of Faith. (B. Herder. $3.25). An introductory manual. BOETHIUS. The Consolation Of Philosophy. (Bobbs-Merrill. $1.25. Paper). A new transla tion with introduction and notes by Richard Green. CASTELOT, JOHN J. Meet The Bible: New Testament. (He licon. $4.95). Third and final volume of his Introduction To The Bible. CATHOLIC STUDENTS MIS SION CRUSADE. Christians Of The East. (SCMC. 90 cents). A volume in the Five Hour series dealing with the Eas tern Rite Catholics. ^04 qou/i tieciAi+Ut YOUR HOUR By M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. Father Raymond’s latest and fastest selling — reveals the mystery of suffering — “sound spirituality ... expressed with grace and erudition ... a very consoling book.”—Ave Maria $4.50 THE ART OF BEING HUMAN By Fathor William McNamara, O.C.D. An important book on dy namic Christian living in con temporary America... “dem onstrates that it is loving knowledge of God . . . that makes a saint... highly rec ommended." — The Sign $3.50 THE MISSION OF MARY By Sfotof Mary Annlco, C.S.C. Preface by Sistor M. Madoltva, C.S.C. A well reasoned portrait of the Mother of God which ex plains with power and con viction the role Mary is to play in men’s lives today. It will be welcomed by all those who have longed for a clear, unemotional approach to understanding Mary. $3.25 MY OTHER SELF By Clarence J. Enzler This modern spiritual classic is “written with a discerning simplicity that cuts through the esoteric ideas which often clothe the simplest of truths ... peculiarly adapted to our modern world.” — St. Louis Review $2.50 THE NEW TESTAMENT By James A. Kleist, S.J., and Joseph L. Lilly, C.M. “Something very special... it is couched in language that is not only American but mod ern American.” — The Sign $6.00 At your bookstore. Send for your free copy of BETWEEN THE LINES. THE BRUCE PUBLISHING CO. 1603 Bruce Building Milwaukee 1, Wis. rr ... to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. A Sister says, "Use the Maryknoll Missal” Available at your book store in bindings from $3.50 to $22.50. THE MARYKNOLL DAILY MISSAL P. J. KENEDY & SONS Publishers to the Holy Apostolic See Extract From The Moviegoer "Life in Gentilly is very peaceful. I manage a small branch office of my uncle’s brokerage firm. My home is the basement apartment of a raised bungalow belonging to Mrs. Schexnaydre, the widow of a fireman. I am a model tenant and a model citizen and take pleasure in doing all that it expected of me. My wallet is full of identity cards, library cards, credit cards. LAST YEAR I purchased a flat olive-drab strongbox, very smooth and heavily built with double walls for fire protection, in which I placed my birth certificate, college diploma, honor able discharge, G.L insurance, a few stock certificates, and my inheritance: a deed to ten acres of a defunct duck club down in St. Bernard Parish, the only relic of my father’s many enthusiasms. It is a pleasure to carry out the duties of a citizen and to receive in return a receipt or neat styrene card with one's name on it certifying, so to speak, ones's right to exist. What satisfaction I take in appearing the first day to get my auto tag brake sticker! I subscribe to Consumer Reports and as a consequence I own a first-class television set, an all but silent air conditioner and a very long lasting deodorant. My armpits never stink. I pay attention to all spot announcement on the radio about mental health, the seven signs of cancer, and safe driving - though, as I say I prefer to ride the bus. Yesterday a favorite of mine, William Holden, delivered a radio announcement on litter- bugs. "Let’s face it," said Holden. "Nobodycando anything about it - but you and me." This is true. I have been careful ever since.’’ PATRONIZE YOUR CATHOLIC BOOK SHOP and LENDING LIBRARY Now available.... In the Eyes of Others s 3.95 Robert W. Gleason, S.J. Life and Holiness s 3.50 Thomas Merton The National Catholic Almanac s 2.95 Phone and Mail Orders Promptly Filled NOTRE DAME BOOK SHOP, INC JA 5-1388 115 Peachtree St., NE Atlanta, Ga. (Parking lot in rear on Pryor St.)