The Moviegoer  

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The Moviegoer is the debut novel by Walker Percy, first published in the United States by Vintage in 1961.

Plot summary

The Moviegoer tells the story of Binx Bolling, a young stock-broker in postwar New Orleans. The decline of southern U.S. tradition, the problems of his family and his traumatic experiences in the Korean War have left him alienated from his own life. He day-dreams constantly, has trouble engaging in lasting relationships and finds more meaning and immediacy in movies and books than in his own routine life.

The loose plot of the novel follows The Moviegoer himself, Binx Bolling, in desperate need of spiritual redemption. At Mardi Gras, he breaks out of his caged everyday life and launches himself on a journey, a quest, in "search" of his inner self. Without any mental compass or sense of direction he wanders the streets of New Orleans' French Quarter, Chicago and travels the Gulf Coast, interacting with his surroundings as he goes. He has philosophical moments, reflecting on the people and things he encounters on the road. He is constantly challenged to define himself in relation to friends, family, sweet-hearts and career despite his urge to remain vague and open to possibility.

"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."

Film version

During the 1980s Terrence Malick worked on a screen adaptation that eventually he dropped.



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "The Moviegoer" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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