Conversations with Walker Percy

Walker Percy is the greatest American novelist of the later half of the 20th century. Why? Because he understood the mind of the character and placed him in a an existential conundrum which we all share as part of our own DNA. We become the character because the placement in a particular situation is compelling and real. In effect it is commonplace and ordinary. Now, in 1961 WP beat out Salinger and Heller as a last minute entry by his publisher. Sometimes chance has a way of making the world just a little bit brighter. A great book.

Although Percy's output was prodigious compared to some literary greats, his six novels and two major non-fiction works leave his still-growing network of fans looking for more. "Conversations with Walker Percy" meets that need. While the biographies of Percy are helpful, there's nothing quite like hearing it straight from the author in this series of interviews. I finished the volume feeling ready to tackle his novels again prepared to look for gems I'd missed the last time around.

This volume (and its companion, More Conversations With Walker Percy) offers a fascinating and compelling glimpse into the mind of Walker Percy and a valuable study of the development of his literary and philosophical convictions as his career progressed. Though Percy's funny satirical piece "Questions They Never Asked Me" would seem to indicate that he found interviews dull and repetitive, the best pieces here clearly demonstrate the pleasure he took in discussing his ideas with an interested, engaged interviewer.