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The preface explains the Seabury reading program’s aim: guide readers through inward spiritual and moral dilemmas by analyzing characters and ideas in a religious perspective, while keeping discussion open to acceptance or rejection. The work also outlines an approach that uses Percy’s own contextual wording to clarify meaning, structure, and major themes.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":45,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/religion-spirituality/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/walker-percys-the-last-gentleman-introduction-and-commentary/441186/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/walker-percys-the-last-gentleman-introduction-and-commentary/441186.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Chumphorn","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-16","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the purpose of the Seabury reading program described in the preface?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It is designed to help readers discover themselves as they face inward spiritual and moral dilemmas. Each commentary analyzes characters and ideas in a religious perspective and focuses on dilemmas of ultimate religious significance.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the introduction characterize the hero of The Last Gentleman?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It portrays the hero as a wayfarer-like pilgrim on a serious quest, drawing on Walker Percy’s statements about the novel’s religious and philosophical concerns.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What method does Ellen Douglas say she uses to explain the novel’s meaning?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"She states that she uses Dr. Percy’s own words, using the book’s context to elucidate its meaning. The text is treated as clear and requiring careful reading.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},441186,1791729629,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":44,"category_name":45,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},2336475401981,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/22000c94efd8d5204d?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786935347598174694","PS3566US DIMENSIONS IN LITERATURE.E6912L36TABOR cOLLEGE LIBRARY1969Douglas,Elen/Walker Percy's The lasg32002000470748  \nWalker Percy'sTHELASTGENTLEMANIntroduction and CommentarybyELLEN DOUGLASTHE SEABURY READING PROGRAM  \nLee A.Belford,General Editor  \nPS  \n3566  \n.E6912  \nL36  \n1969  \nBook  \n3OR COLLEGE LIBRARY  \nsboro,Kansas 67063  \n818.009  \n D733i         \n\n| DATE DUE   |  |\n| --- | --- |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n|  |  |\n\n818.009  \nD 733L  \nReligious Dimensions in LiteratureLee A.Belford,General Editor  \nWALKER PERCY’SThe Last Gentleman  \nIntroduction and Commentary byELLEN DOUGLAS  \n41387  \nTHE SEABURY PRESS ·NEW YORK  \nTABOR COLLEGE LIBRARYHIllsboro,Kansas 67063  \nEllen Douglas is a well-known novelist and poet.She is author ofthe recent book Where the Dreams Cross.  \nACKNOWLEDGMENT  \nGrateful acknowledgment is made to the following publisher and authorfor permission to use,under the fair-use provision,copyrighted materialfrom the title listed:  \nFarrar,Straus &Giroux-Walker Percy,The Last Gentleman  \nCopyright 1969 by The Seabury Press,Incorporated578(11)-1168-Hm-5Printed in the United States of America  \n# Preface\n\nTHE Seabury reading program and commentary series are designedto help the reader discover himself as he faces inwardly the spiritualand moral dilemmas that confront all human beings.  \nEach commentary deals with a book which has wide popularappeal and is of lasting interest.The characters and ideas are ana-lyzed and placed in a religious perspective.The commentaries arenot didactic in the sense of teaching what ought to be believedabout God and man,but they do focus on dilemmas of ultimatereligious significance.The reading program has been planned toinclude fiction,drama,poetry,and some nonfiction,of both classicaland contemporary authors.  \nThe writers of the commentaries have been chosen because theyare sensitive to the questions asked and problems posed in the givenbook.In some instances a long personal friendship with the authorof the book has given the commentator deeper insights into the con-cerns expressed.  \nEach commentary presents data about the author,summarizesthe book briefly,shows its place in literature,citing critical appraisalsof it,and then discusses the themes and issues embodied in it.  \nPerhaps those using a commentary should read it before readingthe book to sensitize themselves for what is to come.Then the bookshould be read-there is no substitute for that.The commentary canthen be read again in a critical fashion,with perfect freedom toaccept or reject what the commentator has said.It is assumed,especially where there is group discussion,that some of the ideaswill be a point of departure for the consideration in depth of sig-nificant issues.  \nLEE A.BELFORDGeneral Editor  \n# The Last Gentleman\n\nAn Introduction and Commentary  \nWALKER PERCY has said of the hero of his second novel,The LastGentleman:\"He is what Gabriel Marcel calls a wayfarer-like anold-fashioned pilgrim on a serious quest.\"1 And again,with refer-ence to the same book:\"The lostness of the American in Americais a paradigm of the existentialist or even the Christian view.\"2 Withthese statements he establishes his religious and philosophical pre-occupations,not only in The Last Gentleman but also in his equallyinteresting,if less accomplished,first novel,The Moviegoer.  \nOne may easily be dazzled by the surface brilliance,the splendidlanguage,and the successful comic and ironic effects in these books(and it is true that Dr.Percy deliberately maintains a certain toneand pace-a surface-in order to mask his deepest concerns,notbecause he is afraid to state them,but because he is convinced thatit is impossible to state them except tangentially and comically);but in order to read these books intelligently,one must set asidefor the moment one's delight in the writer’s mastery of craft andkeep before him instead the idea","cbCaicqXV1FjSkBg","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicqXV1FjSkBg","pdf",2802603,32,"English","# Preface\n# The Last Gentleman\n## Introduction and Commentary\n# About the Author\n## Walker Percy’s background","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of the Seabury reading program described in the preface?\",\"answer\":\"It is designed to help readers discover themselves as they face inward spiritual and moral dilemmas. Each commentary analyzes characters and ideas in a religious perspective and focuses on dilemmas of ultimate religious significance.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the introduction characterize the hero of The Last Gentleman?\",\"answer\":\"It portrays the hero as a wayfarer-like pilgrim on a serious quest, drawing on Walker Percy’s statements about the novel’s religious and philosophical concerns.\"},{\"question\":\"What method does Ellen Douglas say she uses to explain the novel’s meaning?\",\"answer\":\"She states that she uses Dr. Percy’s own words, using the book’s context to elucidate its meaning. The text is treated as clear and requiring careful reading.\"}]","Walker Percy’s The Last Gentleman - Introduction and Commentary | PDF",1790695052,81]