Absent fathers, ambiguous father: Walker Percy and the scandal of Christendom.
Item
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Title
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Absent fathers, ambiguous father: Walker Percy and the scandal of Christendom.
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Identifier
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AAI9917687
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identifier
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9917687
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Creator
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Prengaman, Leo Peter.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Morris Dickstein
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Date
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1999
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, American | Literature, Modern
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Abstract
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The focus of my dissertation is Walker Percy and his attempt to use fiction as therapy, creating a literary world to replenish an actual world emptied by death. Given what he regarded as his abandonment by the suicides of his father and grandfather, Percy turned to Christianity to provide the authority and direction denied him by absent parents.;However, Christianity proved to be an ambiguous father- figure, given its scandalous failure to influence its adherents. For Percy, Christendom (the current Western culture of practical atheism and syncretism) is what remains after authentic religious belief has departed. Through four novels--- The Moviegoer, The Last Gentleman, Lancelot, and The Second Coming---I trace Percy's attempt to convince himself and a skeptical audience that religious belief is nonetheless the right answer for modern malaise. My argument is that he separates Christendom from Christianity, attacking the former so as to establish his credibility in advocating the latter.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
