Initial Impressions: The Second Coming, by Walker Percy - February 2022

[Tom, "Big Daddy"]

Comments on this board should be written with the assumption that not all readers have finished the book. Please avoid revealing any spoilers.

[Diane]

I read some of Walker Percy’s novels back in the 80’s, The Second Coming was my favorite. I’ve been planning to reread him for awhile now and am hoping to get to this novel in February. Some of its great scenes still play in my mind.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I'm going to read this one too. I've only read "The Moviegoer" in the past, so I'm ready for another one now.

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

I’ll try to do audio towards end of month.

[Gary]

One of my favorite novels. It will be fun to read along with you other folks, and learn what you think about it.

[Jeffrey]

I'm a couple chapters in and am really enjoying it. I like Percy's writing style and his easy pace pulling the reader along bit by bit.

There was a sentence in the first chapter that really stood out.

(view spoiler)[

Then it was that it occurred to him that he might shoot himself.

I may be reading too much into it, but the phrasing 'Then it was that...' sounds King James Biblical. Interested to see if it occurs more. (hide spoiler)]

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I just finished chapter 2. This is going to be deep and provocative, I can already tell.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Chapter 3: That was quite a golf game. Who knew you could find yourself on a golf course?

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I'm needing a break. This is some very heavy baggage.

[Sara]

I am through Chapter 2, Diane. Quite the mystical experience for a round of golf.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Will Barrett is a head case Sara. I finished part 1 and need a break before I get deeper. I like Allie though, the escapee from the institution. It's not named, but it must be Highlands Hospital in Asheville.

[Sara]

About half-way through Part One, Diane. I'm still on the golf course. I took an immediate liking to Allie and worried for her situation. I'm not sure what I think of Will, he is interesting. (view spoiler)[The story about his father was chilling to say the least. That would almost explain any quirkiness he might have. (hide spoiler)] I really dislike Jimmy Rogers (even though his name made me start singing old, old songs.

[Jeffrey]

Diane wrote: "Will Barrett is a head case Sara. I finished part 1 and need a break before I get deeper. I like Allie though, the escapee from the institution. It's not named, but it must be Highlands Hospital in..."

Not sure about the hospital, but it is definitely Asheville. The Grove Park Inn is mentioned.

I'm still enjoying the writing and characters.

[Randall]

I first read this way back when I was in graduate school, while doing research in the Mississippi Delta. I think this is my third time through. I've always been a big Walker Percy fan, beginning with his book of essays, The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do with the Other. I've enjoyed all his novels, but, IMHO, they're clearly written to advance the ideas he presents in his essays. So re-reading SC, there's not much new here for me, and, I must confess, my enjoyment has been correspondingly muted.

Allie reminds me of a college course I once took, "The Sociology of Everyday Life," that focused on the study of the cues, patterns, and enviornmental influences on our common, everyday social interactions. (I found that the study of the mundane and banal often yields insights that are ... mundane and banal. I still remember this analysis of the environmental context of behavior that occurs "within man-made constructs, usually square or rectangular, bounded by walls with specific points of egress and access called 'doors' and 'windows'; such constructs are called 'rooms.'" Sociologists of Everyday Life can be dangerous little f**kers. I heard of one professor who gave his students a field assignment over Christmas break: when they went back home they were to treat their parents like landlords. Be polite but formal. Several students reported back that their parents were so pissed off by their behavior, they got kicked out before the break was up.)

Anyway, Allie's problem is that, for some reason, she simply never learned all the cues people pick up to regulate their everyday behavior. Like not knowing how to end a conversation. And for that, she's labeled "crazy" and given electro-shock treatment.

One aspect of Allie's problem is figuring out how she's supposed to respond to language. And this, I think, gets into Percy's wheelhouse. We rarely treat what people say or write very seriously. If a billboard says, "Buy Brillo" we understand that we're not to go out right then to buy Brillo, or even to think seriously about buying Brillo in the near future. We also don't stoutly tell ourselves, "No, I'm not ever going to buy Brillo!" The statement/command, is of no real importance to us either way. It's water off a duck's back.

Allie thinks that's crazy. And I think, at a certain level, that's Percy's point. A society that never treats what's said, written, asked, commanded, as anything serious, as neither having or not having authority, is crazy.

Allie's view of language is, I'd say, biblical. When Jesus walked by a group of fishermen mending their nets, and said "come and follow me," they laid down their nets at that moment and followed him. Because Jesus spoke with authority. Allie thinks that's how you respond to questions, statements, requests and commands. They are to be taken seriously, decided upon, and acted upon, based on our assessment of the authority behind them.

Kierkegaard, a favorite of Percy's, wrote that the difference between a genius and a prophet is that the genius' authority proceeds from his or her's own attributes, but a prophet's authority comes from an outside source. The prophet's own intelligence, or charisma, or facility of speech has nothing to do with the authority behind his or her message. That's why Will Barrett "had learned over the years that if you listen carefully you can hear the truth from the unlikeliest sources ... from an enemy, from a stranger, from children, from nuts ... from stupid preachers (certainly not from eloquent preachers!)."

Will Barrett's problem with people like Jack Curl and Lewis Peckham is that they locate authority within themselves, or in self-actualizing groups "full of great guys." That's why he, quite sincerely, asked Jack Curl if he believed in God, and why he's horrified at the idea of spending an evening with Peckham listening to the Ninth and drinking fine whiskey.

(view spoiler)[ And that, I think, is the basis behind Allie's and Will's attraction and understanding of each other. (hide spoiler)]

One last thing: I'll say this, reading SC for the third time, I'm coming to think that the worst thing that happened to Christianity was Christendom, and that the more Christians there are, the harder it is to be a Christian. The farther I get in the book, the more I'm sure that's a sentiment that Walker Percy would agree with.

[Sara]

Love your last paragraph, Randall. I concur...Percy would agree. A note I wrote to myself while reading: "Is he drawing a distinction between those who believe and those who “join” because being a Christian furthers their contacts or gets them into the golf game. Is he saying there are a lot of church-goers but really very few Christians."

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I agree with Randall and Sara. When I was a Vet Tech many years ago, I was in the break room looking at a Veterinary textbook. The business chapter suggested joining a church whether you were a believer or not because it was a good source of contacts and good for business. I was young enough at that point to be disillusioned .

[Sara]

I think this is at the heart of what Will Barrett is doing (view spoiler)[He is in a search for God, for what to believe in, for what meaning life has without faith, if you establish that God does not exist. I like the way the suicide of his father keeps cropping up with more and more detail added. A man in despair, in crisis, and without any sense that there is meaning...so much so that he is willing to take the stance that his son's life is also meaningless and that it would be a kindness to spare him from living. I cannot really imagine bleaker than that. (hide spoiler)]