In the late 1940s, Walker Percy and Shelby Foote, friends since their teenage years in Greenville, Mississippi, began a correspondence that would last until Percy's death in 1990.
In the late 1940s, Walker Percy and Shelby Foote, friends since their teenage years in Greenville, Mississippi, began a correspondence that would last until Percy's death in 1990.
Lauded comic moralist Walker Percy wrote six novels, two volumes of philosophical writings, and numerous essays on topics ranging from the aesthetics of bourbon drinking to race and integration in the South. Shelby Foote met with early success as a novelist, but his reputation today rests more on his massive three-volume narrative history of the Civil War and his role as commentator in Ken Burns's documentary The Civil War.
The correspondence between Percy and Foote traces their lives from the beginning of their respective careers, when they were grappling fiercely and openly with their ambitions, artistic doubts, and assorted personal problems. Although they discuss such serious matters as the death of Foote's mother and Percy's battle with cancer, their letters are full of sly humor, good-natured ribbing, and a large dose of self-mockery. Jay Tolson has selected, edited, and annotated the letters of these two remarkable writers to shed light on their relationship as close friends and confidants and to reveal the paths of their literary careers as the two gained stature and importance.
ISBN 0-393-04031-3 / Photographs / 272 pages / literature