Walker Percy

American writer

Died when: 73 years 347 days (887 months)
Star Sign: Gemini

 

Walker Percy, Obl.S.B. (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics.Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first novel, The Moviegoer, won the U.S.

National Book Award for Fiction.Trained as a physician at Columbia University, Percy decided to become a writer instead after a bout of tuberculosis.

He devoted his literary life to the exploration of "the dislocation of man in the modern age." His work displays a combination of existential questioning, Southern sensibility, and deep Catholic faith.

He had a lifelong friendship with author and historian Shelby Foote and spent much of his life in Covington, Louisiana, where he died of prostate cancer in 1990.

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