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He trained as a medical doctor at Columbia College in New York City, from where he received his medical degree in 1941, but he became a writer after contracting tuberculosis in 1942. He married Mary Bernice Townsend on November 7November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. Events 1665 The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published. 1783 A man convicted of forgery is the last to be publicly h, 1946Events January January 4 Theodore Schurch becomes the last person to be executed for offences committed under the Treachery Act of 1940 January 7 Allied recognize Austrian republic with 1937 borders the country is divided into four occupation zones Januar, and they raised their two daughters in Covington, LouisianaCovington is a city located in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, of which it is the parish seat. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 8,483. History Earliest known set. A prolific essayist, Percy is best known for his " philosophicalPhilosophy literally means 'love of wisdom' from the Greek 'philo' and 'sofia'. It is now widely used to designate the pursuit of knowledge or wisdom about fundamental matters concerning life, death, meaning, reality, being and truth. The term may also re novelA novel is a long or extended work of fiction written in prose, usually in the form of a story. It is longer and more complex than a short story or novella (ie. 40,000+ words), and it is not bound by the restrictions of plays and poetry. The word "novel"s," the first of which, The MoviegoerThe Moviegoer is a 1961 novel by Walker Percy. It won a National Book Award in 1962. The Moviegoer recounts the story of Binx Bolling, an aliented, anxious young stockbroker, who seeks meaning for his existence by embarking upon a "quest. During a firefig, won a National Book AwardNational Book Awards are annual literary awards presented since 1950 for the best American book published in the preceding year, presently in each of four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature. Over the years awards in sev in 1962Events January January 1 Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand January 3 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro January 4 New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board January 8 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is e.

The Moviegoer recounts the story of Binx Bolling, an aliented, anxious young stockbroker, who seeks meaning for his existence by embarking upon a "quest." During a firefight in the Korean War, Binx was wounded. He said that, as he lay upon the battlefield, he saw, as if for the first time, a dung beetle. Because he actually saw this insect, it became "present" to him, he explains, more so than any other aspect of his environment, and he felt truly alive for that instant of his life. The incident marked his search for a meaningful existence in which the world, in all its fullness, is present to him and he is likewise present to it.

Like his other fiction, The Moviegoer is concerned with many of the same themes as those of Percy's fellow Southern Catholic writer, Flannery O'Connor. Percy died of prostate cancer in 1990.