The Message in the Bottle
How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do with the Other
Published on 29. March 2011
335 pages
978-1-4532-1640-8 (ISBN)
Description
From the National Book Award-winning author of
The Moviegoer: "These essays ... have a way of quickening the spirit and cleansing the sight" (
The New Republic).
Before winning the National Book Award for fiction in 1962, Walker Percy was an established scholar of science, philosophy, and language. Presented here are his strongest essays in those subjects, offering what he called a "theory of man for a new age."
Ambitious yet readable, The Message in the Bottle encapsulates the philosophical foundations of his groundbreaking novels, perfect for Percy fans and new readers alike. From discussions on the dislocation of man in the twentieth century to theories on why humans talk while other animals do not, thisis an enlightening collection from one of the South's most celebrated writers.
Before winning the National Book Award for fiction in 1962, Walker Percy was an established scholar of science, philosophy, and language. Presented here are his strongest essays in those subjects, offering what he called a "theory of man for a new age."
Ambitious yet readable, The Message in the Bottle encapsulates the philosophical foundations of his groundbreaking novels, perfect for Percy fans and new readers alike. From discussions on the dislocation of man in the twentieth century to theories on why humans talk while other animals do not, thisis an enlightening collection from one of the South's most celebrated writers.
More details
Person
Walker Percy (1916-1990) was one of the most prominent American writers of the twentieth century. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, he was the oldest of three brothers in an established Southern family that contained both a Civil War hero and a U.S. senator. Acclaimed for his poetic style and moving depictions of the alienation of modern American culture, Percy was the bestselling author of six fiction titles-including the classic novel
The Moviegoer (1961), winner of the National Book Award-and fifteen works of nonfiction. In 2005,
Time magazinenamed
The Moviegoer as one of the best English-language books published since 1923.
Content
- Intro
- COVER PAGE
- TITLE PAGE
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- AUTHOR'S NOTE
- 1 THE DELTA FACTOR
- 2 THE LOSS OF THE CREATURE
- 3 METAPHOR AS MISTAKE
- 4 THE MAN ON THE TRAIN
- 5 NOTES FOR A NOVEL ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD
- 6 THE MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE
- 7 THE MYSTERY OF LANGUAGE
- 8 TOWARD A TRIADIC THEORY OF MEANING
- 9 THE SYMBOLIC STRUCTURE OF INTERPERSONAL PROCESS
- 10 CULTURE THE ANTINOMY OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
- 11 SEMIOTIC AND A THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
- 12 SYMBOL, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND INTERSUBJECTIVITY
- 13 SYMBOL AS HERMENEUTIC IN EXISTENTIALISM
- 14 SYMBOL AS NEED
- 15 A THEORY OF LANGUAGE
- BIOGRAPHY
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
