“In the wonderful world of Walker Percy, old fashioned Southern gentility saunters in seersucker into sub human behavior and sips bourbon while planning a congenial genocide.
Their shabby chic sophistication makes the nefarious activities of the characters in The Thanatos Syndrome even more chilling.”
Truth triumphs over sentimentality in this story. Dwight Longenecker explores it for us.
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The most accessible of Percy’s novels. Beside its ideas, it works very well as a thriller.
Concur. This was the first of his books that I read, and I found it excellent.
I will also strongly recommend his book of essays, Signposts in a Strange Land, particularly for thoughts on writing, Southern culture, and what makes humans unique.
In my very recent reading of Michael O’Brien’s Voyage to Alpha Centauri, the approach and style of Mr. O’Brien’s first person narrator almost immediately– and quite emphatically– brought to mind Walker Percy’s (first person) narrative approach and style in Thanatos Syndrome, even though it’s been a couple decades since my last reading of Thanatos. I’m not sure I can put my finger on exactly the reasons why this happened. But it made Voyage that much more enjoyable an experience.