| This study examines the novels of Walker Percy in terms of Martin Heidegger's existential and ontological philosophy. A close reading of Percy's novels, his two collections of essays, and many of Heidegger's primary works, including his magnum opus, Being and Time, suggests that Percy drew from aspects of Heidegger's theories of time, language, Dasein, authentic and inauthentic existence, guilt, boredom, thinking, technology, and modernity to address the problem he saw with modern life, and especially the suburban, country-club culture of the South. The novels illustrate, for the most part, a protagonist's move from inauthentic to authentic existence as he goes about his everyday life, moving from situation to situation searching for the way to live in this world that many times does not make sense. Percy's conclusion, based in part on Heidegger's philosophy, is to be an individual and be a friend by living time and using language authentically.; Percy seems to agree with Heidegger that the modern world, perhaps because science and technology have become more authoritative than religion in man's life, leaves people groping for a way to live now that they do not have the security of a religious structure to see them through life's absurdities. Percy's novels illustrate a way to respond to the scientific humanism that has infiltrated modern American life on almost every level. For Percy, intersubjectivity, that is, love in all its forms, is the way to live. But before one can reach out to others, one must first have a strong sense of self. A society made up of individuals reaching out to others ultimately makes for a strong, stable society, making life better for everyone. |
