Percy, Walker
There is a great deal of difference between an alienated commuter riding a train and this same commuter reading a book about an alienated commuter riding a train… the nonreading commuter exists in true alienation, which is unspeakable; the reading commuter rejoices in the speakability of his alienation and in the new triple alliance of himself, the alienated character, and the author. His mood is affirmatory and glad: Yes! That is how it is!
– Walker Percy, “Man on Train”
Read this interview with Walker Percy from the Paris Review:
The Paris Review
This interview was conducted by mail, from May to October, 1986, at an enormous geographical distance; but the interviewer does cherish the memory of a personal meeting. It was on May 4, 1973, a warm Louisiana evening, at Percy’s home in Covington, a small town at the northern end of the causeway running above Lake Pontchartrain (New Orleans is at the southern end).
Watch Walker Percy give his Notre Dame commencement speech in 1989:
Walker Percy begins speaking at 4:00 minutes.
