Diamonds in the rough

the Peirce-Percy semiotic in the second coming

Karey Perkins

pp. 89-113

in: Leslie Marsh (ed), Walker Percy, philosopher, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

Karey Perkins makes the case for the view that Percy is more than a novelist with occasional random existential musings or themes. Although Percy begins in existentialism, his exploration of semiotics sparked his interest in language as the uniquely human symbolic activity. Moreover, Percy attempts a systematic philosophy based in Peirce's semiotic, by applying semiotic principles not just in his philosophical essays, but also in his novels—something rarely mentioned, even by Percy himself.

Cited authors

Peirce Charles Sanders

Perkins Karey

Percy Walker