Remembering Walker Percy’s Psychoanalyst

Abstract

 

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The White Institute and its members recently joined the American Psychoanalytic Association, which makes this reprinting of Rioch’s article especially timely.

2 Rioch’s brother’s wife, Margaret Rioch, was a leader in the field of group dynamics.

3 Quotations are from the transcript of this staff meeting. Searles refers favorably to Rioch in his writings.

4 Lawson (1996) observes that “collectively, mothers and fathers in Percy’s novels are dead, missing, peripheral, or at best, vague or ineffectual” (p. x). Lawson speculates that Percy’s writing career “amounts to a self-analysis” (p. 239).

5 This brother volunteered to serve on a submarine in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. He enjoyed it, explaining that “to me, danger was just fun … I just loved it” (Harwell, 2006, pp. 156–157).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard M. Waugaman

Richard M. Waugaman, MD, is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University School of Medicine; Training & Supervising Analyst, Emeritus, Washington Baltimore Psychoanalytic Institute.