{"product_id":"walker-percy-the-moviegoer-other-novels-1961-1971-loa-380-the-moviegoer-the-last-gentleman-love-in-the-ruins-9781598537758","title":"Walker Percy: The Moviegoer \u0026 Other Novels 1961-1971 (Loa #380): The Moviegoer \/ The Last Gentleman \/ Love in the Ruins","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn 1 volume, 3 classic early works by the Southern physician-turned-novelist who galvanized American literature with stories of spiritual searching amid modern angst \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIncludes the landmark, National Book Award-winning \u003ci\u003eThe Moviegoer\u003c\/i\u003e, in a fully annotation edition \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA physician-turned-writer and self-described diagnostician of \"the malaise,\" Percy plumbed the depths of modern American angst and alienation as few other writers have. Now he joins the Library of America series with a volume collecting his first 3 books. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Moviegoer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e (1961), winner of the 1962 National Book Award for Fiction, is the story of John Bickerson \"Binx\" Bolling, a New Orleans stockbroker who finds in movies a resplendent reality that lifts him, for a time, out of the mire of everydayness. Binx is a modern-day pilgrim whose progress unfolds in what editor Paul Elie calls \"the first work of what we call contemporary American fiction, the earliest novel to render a set of circumstances and an outlook that still feel recognizably ours.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Last Gentleman \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e(1966), Percy portrays another troubled, searching young man, this time a southerner living in New York whose intermitent amnesia and odd moments of déjà vu lead him to imagine that the world catastrophe everyone fears has already occurred. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA satirical work of speculative fiction, \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e Love in the Ruins\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e (1971) introduces lapsed-Catholic psychiatrist Dr. Thomas More, inventor of the lapsometer, a devise that measures the spiritual sickness of a near-apocalyptic America torn apart by the forces of the far right and left. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRounding out the volume are three short nonfiction pieces by Percy: his speech upon accepting the National Book Award, his special message to readers of the Franklin edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Moviegoer\u003c\/i\u003e, and his address to the Publicists' Association of the National Book Awards concerning \u003ci\u003eLove in the Ruins\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn in Birmingham, Alabama in 1916, \u003cb\u003eWalker Percy\u003c\/b\u003e was trained as a physician at Columbia University. After a year's internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York, he contracted tuberculosis and abandoned medicine for a literary career. His first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Moviegoer\u003c\/i\u003e, was awarded the 1962 National Book Award for Fiction. His other books include the novels\u003ci\u003e The Last Gentleman\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLove in the Ruins\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Thanatos Syndrome\u003c\/i\u003e as well as the collection of essays \u003ci\u003eThe Message in the Bottle\u003c\/i\u003e. Percy died in Covington, Louisiana, in 1990. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Elie\u003c\/b\u003e is a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. His first book, \u003ci\u003eThe Life You Save May Be Your Own\u003c\/i\u003e, received the PEN\/Martha Albrand Prize and was a National Book Critics Circle award finalist in 2003. He is also the author of \u003ci\u003eReinventing Bach\u003c\/i\u003e, a finalist for National Book Critics Circle award in 2012. He lives in New York City.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Library of America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613529805074,"sku":"9781598537758","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_11423d71-10f6-44d3-97ce-04d8db98de18.jpg?v=1732406157","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/walker-percy-the-moviegoer-other-novels-1961-1971-loa-380-the-moviegoer-the-last-gentleman-love-in-the-ruins-9781598537758","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}