Date: 24 February 2013
Location: Jay & Gina
Jennifer Garlen attended our January discussions of Vanity Fair, and during the meeting we learned that she was doing a review of The Moviegoer at LearningQUEST in early March. Since we had not yet picked a book for February, we decided on The Moviegoer so that we would be familiar with it for Jennifer’s review. Club policy states that whoever recommends a book is responsible for its write-up, but this was sort of a special case – no one actually claimed responsibility for it. Thus, I agreed to write this up – under the assumption that I could wait until after Jennifer’s comments before actually posting it.
The Moviegoer, published in 1961, was Walker Percy’s first novel and in 1962 was the surprise winner of the National Book Award, beating out some major books including Catch-22. It is also ranked high on several lists of important English works of the 20th century.
The book has almost no plot; rather it delves deeply into the charactor of its narrator the thirty-something Jack (Binx) Bolling. Its setting is New Orleans in the late 50’s. Binx is the product of a father from an old prominent family and a lower class mother. After Binx’s father was killed in Europe early in WW II, his mother left him to be raised by his great aunt, the matriarch of the family. His mother is re-married and had several more children.
Binx’s one true passion in life is going to the movies, and the movies often have a tremendous impact on him. He remembers the minutest details about the experience, such as scratches on the armrests and the smell of flowers outside the theater. His heroes are movie stars such as William Holden, Rory Calhoun, and John Wayne; however, he does realize that his association with these stars is mainly due to the roles they play and not directed at the individuals themselves.
Besides his near obsession with movies, the only other thing that Binx seems to care about is seducing his secretaries. His newest secretary and object of attention is more difficult than his earlier conquests. She has her own plans and avoids Binx’s advances, eventually marrying her boy friend. The sexism is blatant in the book, and some of it such as Binx’s fixation on “women’s bottoms” seemed to annoy Jennifer Garlen a little. Of course there are also uncomfortable undertones of racism in the book which reflect both the time and place of the novel.
In his constant ruminations Binx often refers to his “search”. What he is searching for is never explicitly revealed but apparently it is for God or some sort of meaning in his life. As part of his search, Binx listens religiously to the radio program “This I Believe” where leading highest-minded people state their personal credos. But he does not find his answers there, as he declares, “Eveyone on the program believes in the uniqueness and the dignity of the individual. I have noticed, however, that the believers are far from unique themselves, are in fact alike as peas in a pod.”
Binx is drifting through life, maintaining a reasonably good relationship with his aunt, who expects Binx to carry on with the family name and traditions. Then things get more complicated because of his stepcousin Kate. The two have been close friends since childhood, but clearly Kate has serious mental problems. Her wild mood swings appear to be symptoms of manic depression (bipolar disorder), and in fact she is seeing a psychiatrist to whom she is engaged. Eventually she breaks off the engagement, and then makes a half-heatrted attempt at suicide – to everyone’s great alarm. Shortly after her abortive suicide attempt, Kate then insists on accompaying Binx on a business trip to Chicago. They never think to tell anyone else about this, and everyone is frantic for Kate’s wellfare until she and Binx are finally located. His aunt is furious over the thoughtlessness of Binx’s actions, and she finally comes to the realization that Binx is not and never will be the man she wants him to be. In a way, their relationship seems to improve somewhat after that since she no longer has unrealistic expectations of him.
The novel ends with Binx marrying Kate and attending medical school, at his aunt’s suggestion. Whether there is real love in their relationship is unclear, but Binx seems to find satisfaction in helping Kate make it through the day and in telling her that everything is going to be alright.
While reading The Moviegoer I was reminded of another book which we read some time back, Camus’s The Stranger. Of course these are very different books set in very different worlds, but Binx’s lack of passion and sense of alienation from the life around him seemed very similar to that of Camus’s doomed protagonist. Only after finishing the book and reading more about Percy did I learn of his interest in existentialism and in Kierkegaard’s works. Both of these books are products of the existentialist movement and reflect the angst of the search for meaning in a world that has no meaning.
The Moviegoer did not produce a great deal of discussion in our group. Usually our best meetings occur when people either really like or really hate a particular book, and it gets especially interesting when we have both opinions for the same book. However, The Moviegoer left most of us rather unsatisfied — perhaps imbued with the malaise or ambivalence of Binx Bolling. Nan summed it up fairly well with the observation, “He didn’t seem to care about anything in his life, why should I care anything about him.”
— Bob