Self as Other ın Walker Percy’s The Second Comıng
Arsev Ayşen Arslanoğlu Yıldıran
Artvin Çoruh University, Turkey
Abstract
Walker Percy, who describes in his novels the modern malaise of the
twentieth century that causes an undefinable anxiety for the individual,
examines what it means for the individual to exist. The problematization of the
individuals’ sense of self, who question the meaning of life, forms the focal
point in Percy’s novels. The author discusses the individual’s self-alienation
and his/her life in a never-ending, desperate journey on the path towards
meaning. However, the author departs from the tenets of Søren Kierkegaard’s
views here and takes a stance closer to Martin Heidegger’s point of view. Percy
not only problematizes the “existence” and “selfhood” concepts but questions
his relation with language as well. In this respect, the journey of the modern
individual towards meaning is examined at the intersection of language,
selfhood and existence in this study.
Keywords: existence, selfhood, language, alienation
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