Files
Abstract
This thesis investigates the role of Walker Percys theories on language, derived from the writings of Charles Sanders Peirce, in The Thanatos Syndrome. The argument of this thesis is that the language use of individuals affected by heavy sodium poisoning can best be explained in the terms of Percys language theories, even though those theories are not elaborated within the novel itself but in various non-fiction works by the author. One of the central tenets of Percys theory on language is that human language is triadic whereas all other forms of communication (and, in fact, all other phenomena) are dyadic. Percy saw the tendency treat as dyadic the triadic behavior of language to be reductionist and dangerous, which is the commentary inherent in the language use of sodium-affected individuals in The Thanatos Syndrome.