Walker Percy, the acclaimed Louisiana writer who won the National Book Award for his first novel, "The MovieGoer," will be the subject of the upcoming George Rodrigue Lecture.
Dr. Stephen Utz will speak about Percy at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2 in the Oliver Hall Auditorium.
The endowed lecture established in the name of the acclaimed artist is an annual event. Rodrigue, who attended the University in the 1960s, is widely known for his “Blue Dog” paintings. He died in December 2013 at age 69.
Utz's lecture is titled “The Itch for Omniscience: Walker Percy and the Examined Life.” Utz, who received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, will explore several themes that course through much of Percy’s work.
“Aside from Percy’s reputation as one of the leading Southern writers of the 20th century, he is renowned for his interest in philosophy,” said Charles Richard, a UL Lafayette professor of English.
“Dr. Utz is going to talk primarily about that aspect of his work. Another thing that he’s going to touch on in some depth is that Percy’s philosophical interest also extended into the theological dimension.”
Percy, whose parents died in separate incidents when he was a teenager, was raised agnostic, but later became a devout Roman Catholic.
He was a physician, but a bout of tuberculosis ended his practice of medicine. It also helped launch his literary career. Health faltering, the bedridden Percy read voraciously, and began to write. He went on to publish six novels, and nonfiction, primarily philosophical essays.
“A lot of his work, both his fiction, but also his many essays, his nonfiction, really touch on that intersection of existential questions and philosophy, and theology as well,” Richard explained.
Utz is a professor at University of Connecticut School of Law.
The event is free and open to the public.
For more information, call the UL Lafayette Department of English at (337) 482-6908.