Call for Papers: The Search in the Writings of Walker Percy

2012 SAMLA CONFERENCE CALLS FOR PAPERS November 9-11, 2012 Research Triangle, North Carolina Special Focus: Text as Memoir: Tales of Travel, Immigration, and Exile.

In The Moviegoer Walker Percy famously defines the idea of “the Search”: “What is the nature of the search? you ask. Really it is very simple; at least for a fellow like me; so simple that it is easily overlooked. The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life.” As a way to incorporate this year’s convention themes of travel and exile, papers should address the ways in which the Search manifests itself in Percy’s writings, not only in The Moviegoer but also in his other novels or even his non-fiction works. The Search can be considered in terms of the literal journeys of Percy’s characters in time and space or metaphorically as psychological or spiritual journeys. Considerations can also be given to the sense of exile that Percy’s characters experience because of their own struggles with the Search. By June 1, 2012, please submit abstracts of 300 words to Paul Stapleton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stapleton@unc.edu.