The Moviegoer

About The Moviegoer

A rediscovered American classic from the 1960s

When The Moviegoer was first published in 1961 it won the National Book Award and established Walker Percy as one of the most exciting new voices in American fiction. In his portrait of a boyish New Orleans stockbroker wavering between ennui and the longing for redemption, Percy managed to combine Bourbon Street elegance with the spiritual urgency of a Russian novel.

On the eve of his thirtieth birthday, Binx Bolling is adrift. He occupies himself with dallying with his secretaries and going to movies, which provide him with the "treasurable moments" lacking in his real life. But one fateful Mardi Gras, Binx embarks on a quest - a harebrained search for authenticity that outrages his family, endangers his fragile cousin, Kate, and sends him reeling through the gaudy chaos of the French quarter. Wry and wrenching, rich in irony and romance, The Moviegoer is a genuine American classic.

Winner of the 1962 National Book Award

The Author

Walker Percy

Walker Percy was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1916. He died in 1991. His works include the novels The Last Gentleman, Love in the Ruins, Lancelot, The Second Coming, The Thanatos Syndrome and essay collections The Message in the Bottle and Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book.