Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

[Robert Eckert <rgeckert AT yahoo.com>]

It is from "Is a Theory of Man Possile" which is in _Signposts in a Strange Land_.

 

J Rivas-Pita <juliorivas AT gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Robert,

In case you could spare a few minutes, could you tell us something
more on the last quote from Percy, "I can even visualize..."? Is the
essay (or interview) it comes from available online?

Many thanks and all best wishes,

Julio

On 6/24/05, Robert Eckert wrote:
>
> Dear List,
>
> Peter Kramer, the author of _Listening to Prozac_, recently published
> _Against Depression_.
>
> The last chapter of _LP_ is "The Message in the Capsule" and deal
> extensively with Percy. Kramer corresponded with Percy at some point.
>
> However, to me he gets Percy quite wrong.
>
> On p.265 of _AG_ Kramer writes:
>
> "...Percy's position blurs distinctions we might want to make. It overstates
> the case only slightly to say that for Percy, there is no difference between
> treating epilepsy and treating
> alienation. Both are best approached via faith and revelation, not
> technology."
>
> It amazes me that Kramer could have read Percy's nonfiction, which he states
> he has (e-mail), and miss Percy's use of the Dyadic/Triadic distinction,
> especially:
>
> "I can even visualize the hospital of the future in which the first signs
> the patient sees in the corridor do not read INTERNAL MEDICINE, SURGERY,
> OB-GYN, DERMATOLOGY, PSYCHIATRY UPSTAIRS, but rather two big signs just
> inside the front door, one pointing left, one right (I won't say which is
> which), but one reading DYADIC DISORDERS; the other, TRIADIC DISORDERS."
>
> To Percy, the distinction is so profound that he feels the very architecture
> of the hospitals of the future could be based upon it!
>
> It is a shame that Kramer has broadly disseminated such a profound and
> fundamental misreading of Percy's work.
>
> Robert Eckert
> Rochester, New York
>
>
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> --
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
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>
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>
>
>


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