Graduate Student-Level Annotations Assignment on Walker Percy

Annotating Critical Works for The Walker Percy Project

Overview of this Educational Exercise

Professors can use the information sheet below as an assignment for a graduate-level seminar. Completed annotations can be submitted to join the collected resources made permanently available on the Project's website. This exercise represents one way formal educational activities can contribute to The Walker Percy Project and its online resources.

View the Annotations Directory of past annotations that have already been contributed to the Project by graduate students.

Purpose of This Assignment

As a part of this seminar's requirements, this class will gain first-hand critical studies exposure by completing a brief analysis and written overview of the major scholastic works on Walker Percy. This assignment will give students not only an opportunity to look closely at key topics in Percy criticism, but also a chance to reflect on the current structure of formal literary activity insofar as it has been manifest in book-length works. Upon completion, your review/annotation will have the chance, by special arrangement, to be featured as a lasting contribution to The Walker Percy Project's online bibliographic resources.

Assignment Instructions

To complete this assignment, choose one of the books listed below to read and analyze. Then write a short review/overview of it (500 words maximum), addressing the following questions/topics:

1. When was the book published?
2. What Percy materials does it cover (i.e., which novels or essays does it focus on)?
3. How is book organized and what is its length? Provide the number of chapters, parts, etc.
4. What is the book's major approach/critical thread?
5. What key evidence does it argue from/against?
6. Describe its bibliography and index.

The structure of the paper should follow the order of the questions above. Compose the annotation as if another member in the course might be using your paper as a resource. Turn in your final version on paper and via email as an Microsoft Word or a PDF file.

Professor Instructions

List the critical books at the bottom of your assignment sheet. Contact the Project to confirm which annotations are still needed before choosing the books for your seminar. Please proofread the completed annotations to scholarly standards before submitting to The Project as a Microsoft Word file. Review a Sample Annotation that has already been contributed to the Project by a graduate student.