|
Books > History > History of specific subjects > Genealogy, heraldry, names and honours
|
Buy Now
The House of Percy - Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,693
Discovery Miles 16 930
|
|
|
The House of Percy - Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family (Paperback)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
The novels of Walker Percy--The Moviegoer, Lancelot, The Second
Coming, and The Thanatos Syndrome to name a few--have left a
permanent mark on twentieth-century Southern fiction; yet the
history of the Percy family in America matches anything, perhaps,
that he could have created. Two centuries of wealth, literary
accomplishment, political leadership, depression, and sometimes
suicide established a fascinating legacy that lies behind Walker
Percy's acclaimed prose and profound insight into the human
condition.
In The House of Percy, Bertram Wyatt-Brown masterfully interprets
the life of this gifted family, drawing out the twin themes of an
inherited inclination to despondency and an abiding sense of honor.
The Percy family roots in Mississippi and Louisiana go back to "Don
Carlos" Percy, an eighteenth-century soldier of fortune who amassed
a large estate but fell victim to mental disorder and suicide.
Wyatt-Brown traces the Percys through the slaveholding heyday of
antebellum Natchez, the ravages of the Civil War (which produced
the heroic Colonel William Alexander Percy, the "Gray Eagle"), and
a return to prominence in the Mississippi Delta after
Reconstruction. In addition, the author recovers the tragic lives
and literary achievements of several Percy-related women, including
Sarah Dorsey, a popular post-Civil War novelist who horrified her
relatives by befriending Jefferson Davis--a married man--and
bequeathing to him her plantation home, Beauvoir, along with her
entire fortune. Wyatt-Brown then chronicles the life of Senator
LeRoy Percy, whose climactic re-election loss in 1911 to a racist
demagogue deply stung the family pride, but inspired his bold
defiance to the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. The author goes on to
tell the poignant story of poet and war hero Will Percy, the
Senator's son. The weight of this family narrative found expression
in Will Percy's memoirs, Lanterns on the Levee--and in the works of
Walker Percy, who was reared in his cousin Will's Greenville home
after the suicidal death of Walker's father and his mother's
drowning.
As the biography of a powerful dynasty, steeped in Sou8thern
traditions and claims to kinship with English nobility, The House
of Percy shows the interrelationship of legend, depression, and
grand achievement. Written by a leading scholar of the South, it
weaves together intensive research and thoughtful insights into a
riveting, unforgettable story.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
