The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do with the OtherFrom 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. |
Contents
THE LOSS OF THE CREATURE | |
3 | |
THE MAN ON THE TRAIN | |
6 | |
THE MYSTERY OF LANGUAGE | |
10 | |
11 | |
SYMBOL AS NEED | |
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Common terms and phrases
afferent nerve alienation antinomy assertion assertory balloon behaviorist biological canyon Cassirer castaway causal Charles Peirce child Chomsky communication consciousness coupling culture dogfish dyadic elements empirical empiricism energy exchanges environment example existence existential existentialists explanatory fact feel formal function happens hearer Helen Helen Keller human interaction intersubjectivity island Kierkegaard kind knowledge sub specie Langer Language Acquisition Device linguistic logical man’s Martian meaning metaphor metaphysical mode myth naming sentence National Book Award nature newsbearer novelist NP-VP object observation open-open organism patient Peirce Peirce's Percy perhaps phenomenon philosophical piece possible predicament Psychiatry psychology reality relation response rotation sarcoidosis scientific method scientist semantic semiotic semioticists sense sentence utterance significance social sort sound space-time event speak structure sub specie aeternitatis Susanne Langer symbolic behavior syntactical therapist thing transformation triadic triadic relation true truth understand WALKER PERCY word wrong