The Moviegoer

I'm reading "The Moviegoer" by Walker Percy. I had never heard of the book, nor of Percy. I was at the U of H bookstore looking at the materials for some classes I was considering taking when I saw the book, obviously misplaced under "Chinese Studies". I don't know what drew me to it, but here we are.

I'm not nearly done reading the book, but from what I've read, it is about Binx Bolling, an almost- thirty -year -old stock broker from New Orleans. Binx finds it easiest to relate to the world by drawing analogies between what he experiences in real life, and what he sees in movies.

The protagonist is a veteran, a Catholic, and a fraternity man adrift in life. I think I've exceeded the limit of calling things serendipitous, but it seems insufficient to call my finding this book "fortunate".

Here's my favorite passage, so far:

"I no longer pretend to understand the world." She is shaking her head yet still smiling her sweet menacing smile. "The world I knew has come crashing down around my ears. The things we hold dear are reviled and spat upon." She nods towards Prytania Street. "It's an interesting age you will live in- though I can't say I'm sorry to miss it. But it should be quite a sight, the going under of the evening land. Thats us all right. It is very late."

For her too the fabric is dissolving, but for her even the dissolving makes sense. She understands the chaos to come. It seems so plain when I see it through her eyes. My duty in life is simple. I go to medical school. I live a long useful life serving my fellowman. What's wrong with this? All I have to do is remember it.

"- you have too good a mind to throw away. I don't quite know what we're doing on this significant cinder spinning away in a dark corner of the universe. That is a secret which the high gods have not confided in me. Yet one thing I believe, and I believe it with every fiber of my being; a man must live by his lights and do what little he can and do it as best he can. In this world goodness is destined to be defeated. That is the victory. To do anything less is to be less than a man."