Введение
Роман Уолкера Перси "Синдром Танатоса" (1987) стал последним романом писателя. Это продолжение романа "Любовь в руинах". Действие разворачивается в ближайшем будущем в Фелисиане и рассказывает историю психиатра, находящегося в заключении, который освобождается и возвращается в родной город, где его сограждане демонстрируют странное и необъяснимое поведение. Он подозревает, что некая сила или некий человек сводит жителей города с ума, возвращая их к состоянию первобытных обезьян.
The Thanatos Syndrome (1987) was Walker Percy's last novel. It is a sequel to Love in the Ruins. Set in the near future in Feliciana, it tells the story of an imprisoned psychiatrist who is freed and returns to his town with the active members demonstrating new mysterious behaviors. He suspects that something or someone is making everyone in his town crazy and reversing them to be like primitive apes.
Сюжет
После двух лет тюрьмы за продажу лекарств по рецепту, Том Мор, психиатр из Луизианы и отпавший католик, возвращается домой к своей практически несуществующей практике и браку. Он замечает, что люди в его городе отличаются, многие его пациенты говорят с ними странным языком. Многие способности ослаблены, но некоторые усилены, особенно память и сексуальный аппетит. Вместе со своей кузиной Люси, эпидемиологом, у которой тоже есть независимый ум, они обнаруживают, что власти, консорциум ученых, проводили тайные испытания на населении города. Благодаря добавлению ионов натрия в воду, активная популяция постепенно становится больше похожей на шимпанзе, в то время как неактивные, старые и больные, подвергаются эвтаназии. К особому отвращению Тома, руководители испытаний занимаются сексуальным насилием над детьми, за что он мстит, заставляя их пить высокие концентрации натрия и так, что они регрессируют в обезьяны. Параллельно с этим происходит история с католическим священником, отцом Смитом, который, как и Том, достиг дна и почти полностью потерпел неудачу в своем призвании. Вместе, с трудом, эти двое мужчин вновь открывают надежду, скрытую в их шаткой католической вере.
Темы
Недостаточный герой. В отличие от своего тезки Томаса Мора, врач доктор Том Мор – это совсем не святой, он слишком много пьет и смотрит по телевизору повторы M*A*S*H. Отец Смит, священник, которому он помогает, в книге также не лишен недостатков. Экзистенциальная тревога. Западная медицина бессильна исцелить недуги своих граждан: «Первый персонаж, с которым вы сталкиваетесь – женщина, живущая в загородном клубе, уверенная, что у нее есть все, но находящаяся в разгаре панической атаки. Она же последний человек, с которым вы встретитесь в конце, когда она будет бороться со своим беспокойством. Она собирается прислушаться к тому, что она сама себе скажет». Экзистенциальная тревога, также известная как экзистенциальное томление, обычно определяется как тревога, обладающая стандартными характеристиками, но основанная на размышлениях о нашем существовании и смысле жизни.
Ecological degradation linked to human regression. Natural beauty is ruined by human activity: “ the Louisiana of the novel is an ecological mess it shows the peculiar indifference of the strange new breed of Louisianians in the novel. After all, chimp like creatures do not generally form environmental protection societies.”
A world gone mad. Humans in Western countries have lost their grip on reality: “But the world is also deranged The looniness of the 'normal' denizen of the Western world who doesn’t know who he is, what he believes, or what he is doing.”
Breakdown of communication. People consistently fail to understand each other: “ some literary critics, philosophers, and semioticians seem hell bent on denying the very qualities of language and literature that have been held in such high esteem in the past: namely, that it is possible to know something about the world, that the world actually exists, that one person can actually say or write about the world and that other people can understand him. That, in a word, communication is possible.”
Decline of the West. Mentally, Western society is moribund. Percy sees the USA “gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated from within by weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed, and in the end helplessness before its great problems” while the West is “losing by spiritual acedia”. Devaluation of humanity by science. In the book, Percy is angered by “the widespread and ongoing devaluation of human life in the Western world” which he ascribes to two mindsets: “ Thou shalt not find anything unique about the human animal even if the evidence points to such uniqueness” and “Thou shalt not suggest that there is a unique and fatal flaw in 'Homo sapiens sapiens' or indeed any perverse trait that cannot be laid to the influence of Western civilization”. He contends that humans are unique in being both God like and tainted by original sin. Bad faith leads to bad outcomes. Percy portrays fatal errors in both religious fundamentalists and secular humanists, commenting: “It is easy to criticize the absurdities of fundamentalist beliefs like 'scientific creationism' — that the world and its creatures were created six thousand years ago. But it is also necessary to criticize other dogmas parading as science and the bad faith of some scientists who have their own dogmatic agendas to promote under the guise of 'free scientific inquiry'. Scientific inquiry should in fact be free. The warning: If it is not, if it is subject to this or that ideology, then do not be surprised if history is repeated. Weimar leads to Auschwitz. The nihilism of some scientists in the name of ideology or sentimentality and the consequent devaluation of individual human life leads straight to the gas chamber.”
Экологическая деградация, связанная с регрессом человека. Природная красота разрушается человеческой деятельностью: «Луизиана в романе – это экологическая катастрофа, демонстрирующая странное безразличие нового поколения луизианцев. Ведь существа, подобные шимпанзе, обычно не создают общества по защите окружающей среды».
Ecological degradation linked to human regression. Natural beauty is ruined by human activity: “ the Louisiana of the novel is an ecological mess it shows the peculiar indifference of the strange new breed of Louisianians in the novel. After all, chimp like creatures do not generally form environmental protection societies.”
A world gone mad. Humans in Western countries have lost their grip on reality: “But the world is also deranged The looniness of the 'normal' denizen of the Western world who doesn’t know who he is, what he believes, or what he is doing.”
Breakdown of communication. People consistently fail to understand each other: “ some literary critics, philosophers, and semioticians seem hell bent on denying the very qualities of language and literature that have been held in such high esteem in the past: namely, that it is possible to know something about the world, that the world actually exists, that one person can actually say or write about the world and that other people can understand him. That, in a word, communication is possible.”
Decline of the West. Mentally, Western society is moribund. Percy sees the USA “gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated from within by weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed, and in the end helplessness before its great problems” while the West is “losing by spiritual acedia”. Devaluation of humanity by science. In the book, Percy is angered by “the widespread and ongoing devaluation of human life in the Western world” which he ascribes to two mindsets: “ Thou shalt not find anything unique about the human animal even if the evidence points to such uniqueness” and “Thou shalt not suggest that there is a unique and fatal flaw in 'Homo sapiens sapiens' or indeed any perverse trait that cannot be laid to the influence of Western civilization”. He contends that humans are unique in being both God like and tainted by original sin. Bad faith leads to bad outcomes. Percy portrays fatal errors in both religious fundamentalists and secular humanists, commenting: “It is easy to criticize the absurdities of fundamentalist beliefs like 'scientific creationism' — that the world and its creatures were created six thousand years ago. But it is also necessary to criticize other dogmas parading as science and the bad faith of some scientists who have their own dogmatic agendas to promote under the guise of 'free scientific inquiry'. Scientific inquiry should in fact be free. The warning: If it is not, if it is subject to this or that ideology, then do not be surprised if history is repeated. Weimar leads to Auschwitz. The nihilism of some scientists in the name of ideology or sentimentality and the consequent devaluation of individual human life leads straight to the gas chamber.”
Мир сошел с ума. Жители западных стран утратили связь с реальностью: «Но мир также безумен – нелепость «нормального» обитателя западного мира, который не знает, кто он, во что верит и что делает».
Ecological degradation linked to human regression. Natural beauty is ruined by human activity: “ the Louisiana of the novel is an ecological mess it shows the peculiar indifference of the strange new breed of Louisianians in the novel. After all, chimp like creatures do not generally form environmental protection societies.”
A world gone mad. Humans in Western countries have lost their grip on reality: “But the world is also deranged The looniness of the 'normal' denizen of the Western world who doesn’t know who he is, what he believes, or what he is doing.”
Breakdown of communication. People consistently fail to understand each other: “ some literary critics, philosophers, and semioticians seem hell bent on denying the very qualities of language and literature that have been held in such high esteem in the past: namely, that it is possible to know something about the world, that the world actually exists, that one person can actually say or write about the world and that other people can understand him. That, in a word, communication is possible.”
Decline of the West. Mentally, Western society is moribund. Percy sees the USA “gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated from within by weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed, and in the end helplessness before its great problems” while the West is “losing by spiritual acedia”. Devaluation of humanity by science. In the book, Percy is angered by “the widespread and ongoing devaluation of human life in the Western world” which he ascribes to two mindsets: “ Thou shalt not find anything unique about the human animal even if the evidence points to such uniqueness” and “Thou shalt not suggest that there is a unique and fatal flaw in 'Homo sapiens sapiens' or indeed any perverse trait that cannot be laid to the influence of Western civilization”. He contends that humans are unique in being both God like and tainted by original sin. Bad faith leads to bad outcomes. Percy portrays fatal errors in both religious fundamentalists and secular humanists, commenting: “It is easy to criticize the absurdities of fundamentalist beliefs like 'scientific creationism' — that the world and its creatures were created six thousand years ago. But it is also necessary to criticize other dogmas parading as science and the bad faith of some scientists who have their own dogmatic agendas to promote under the guise of 'free scientific inquiry'. Scientific inquiry should in fact be free. The warning: If it is not, if it is subject to this or that ideology, then do not be surprised if history is repeated. Weimar leads to Auschwitz. The nihilism of some scientists in the name of ideology or sentimentality and the consequent devaluation of individual human life leads straight to the gas chamber.”
Разрыв коммуникации. Люди постоянно не могут понять друг друга: «Некоторые литературные критики, философы и семиотики, кажется, упорно стремятся отрицать те качества языка и литературы, которые всегда высоко ценились: а именно, возможность познания мира, само существование мира, способность одного человека говорить или писать о мире, и способность других людей его понимать. Иными словами, коммуникация возможна».
Ecological degradation linked to human regression. Natural beauty is ruined by human activity: “ the Louisiana of the novel is an ecological mess it shows the peculiar indifference of the strange new breed of Louisianians in the novel. After all, chimp like creatures do not generally form environmental protection societies.”
A world gone mad. Humans in Western countries have lost their grip on reality: “But the world is also deranged The looniness of the 'normal' denizen of the Western world who doesn’t know who he is, what he believes, or what he is doing.”
Breakdown of communication. People consistently fail to understand each other: “ some literary critics, philosophers, and semioticians seem hell bent on denying the very qualities of language and literature that have been held in such high esteem in the past: namely, that it is possible to know something about the world, that the world actually exists, that one person can actually say or write about the world and that other people can understand him. That, in a word, communication is possible.”
Decline of the West. Mentally, Western society is moribund. Percy sees the USA “gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated from within by weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed, and in the end helplessness before its great problems” while the West is “losing by spiritual acedia”. Devaluation of humanity by science. In the book, Percy is angered by “the widespread and ongoing devaluation of human life in the Western world” which he ascribes to two mindsets: “ Thou shalt not find anything unique about the human animal even if the evidence points to such uniqueness” and “Thou shalt not suggest that there is a unique and fatal flaw in 'Homo sapiens sapiens' or indeed any perverse trait that cannot be laid to the influence of Western civilization”. He contends that humans are unique in being both God like and tainted by original sin. Bad faith leads to bad outcomes. Percy portrays fatal errors in both religious fundamentalists and secular humanists, commenting: “It is easy to criticize the absurdities of fundamentalist beliefs like 'scientific creationism' — that the world and its creatures were created six thousand years ago. But it is also necessary to criticize other dogmas parading as science and the bad faith of some scientists who have their own dogmatic agendas to promote under the guise of 'free scientific inquiry'. Scientific inquiry should in fact be free. The warning: If it is not, if it is subject to this or that ideology, then do not be surprised if history is repeated. Weimar leads to Auschwitz. The nihilism of some scientists in the name of ideology or sentimentality and the consequent devaluation of individual human life leads straight to the gas chamber.”
Упадок Запада. Западное общество находится в состоянии духовного упадка. Перси видит, как США «постепенно приходят в упадок из-за бездействия и будут побеждены изнутри усталостью, скукой, цинизмом, жадностью и, в конечном итоге, беспомощностью перед своими великими проблемами», а Запад «проигрывает из-за духовной лености». Девальвация человечества наукой. В книге Перси возмущен «широко распространенной и продолжающейся девальвацией человеческой жизни в западном мире», которую он связывает с двумя установками: «Не следует искать ничего уникального в человеческом животном, даже если доказательства указывают на такую уникальность» и «Не следует предполагать, что у 'Homo sapiens sapiens' есть уникальный и фатальный недостаток или какая-либо извращенная черта, которую нельзя объяснить влиянием западной цивилизации». Он утверждает, что человек уникален тем, что сочетает в себе божественное начало и греховную природу.
Ecological degradation linked to human regression. Natural beauty is ruined by human activity: “ the Louisiana of the novel is an ecological mess it shows the peculiar indifference of the strange new breed of Louisianians in the novel. After all, chimp like creatures do not generally form environmental protection societies.”
A world gone mad. Humans in Western countries have lost their grip on reality: “But the world is also deranged The looniness of the 'normal' denizen of the Western world who doesn’t know who he is, what he believes, or what he is doing.”
Breakdown of communication. People consistently fail to understand each other: “ some literary critics, philosophers, and semioticians seem hell bent on denying the very qualities of language and literature that have been held in such high esteem in the past: namely, that it is possible to know something about the world, that the world actually exists, that one person can actually say or write about the world and that other people can understand him. That, in a word, communication is possible.”
Decline of the West. Mentally, Western society is moribund. Percy sees the USA “gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated from within by weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed, and in the end helplessness before its great problems” while the West is “losing by spiritual acedia”. Devaluation of humanity by science. In the book, Percy is angered by “the widespread and ongoing devaluation of human life in the Western world” which he ascribes to two mindsets: “ Thou shalt not find anything unique about the human animal even if the evidence points to such uniqueness” and “Thou shalt not suggest that there is a unique and fatal flaw in 'Homo sapiens sapiens' or indeed any perverse trait that cannot be laid to the influence of Western civilization”. He contends that humans are unique in being both God like and tainted by original sin. Bad faith leads to bad outcomes. Percy portrays fatal errors in both religious fundamentalists and secular humanists, commenting: “It is easy to criticize the absurdities of fundamentalist beliefs like 'scientific creationism' — that the world and its creatures were created six thousand years ago. But it is also necessary to criticize other dogmas parading as science and the bad faith of some scientists who have their own dogmatic agendas to promote under the guise of 'free scientific inquiry'. Scientific inquiry should in fact be free. The warning: If it is not, if it is subject to this or that ideology, then do not be surprised if history is repeated. Weimar leads to Auschwitz. The nihilism of some scientists in the name of ideology or sentimentality and the consequent devaluation of individual human life leads straight to the gas chamber.”
Плохая вера приводит к плохим последствиям. Перси показывает фатальные ошибки как в религиозных фундаменталистах, так и в светских гуманистах, комментируя: «Легко критиковать абсурдность фундаменталистских убеждений, таких как «научный креационизм» – идея о том, что мир и его существа были созданы шесть тысяч лет назад. Но необходимо критиковать и другие догмы, выдаваемые за науку, и недобросовестность некоторых ученых, которые продвигают свои собственные догматические взгляды под видом «свободных научных исследований». Научные исследования должны быть действительно свободными. Предупреждение: если это не так, если они подчинены той или иной идеологии, не удивляйтесь, если история повторится. Веймарская республика привела к Освенциму. Нигилизм некоторых ученых во имя идеологии или сентиментальности и последовавшая за этим девальвация человеческой жизни ведут прямо в газовую камеру».
Ecological degradation linked to human regression. Natural beauty is ruined by human activity: “ the Louisiana of the novel is an ecological mess it shows the peculiar indifference of the strange new breed of Louisianians in the novel. After all, chimp like creatures do not generally form environmental protection societies.”
A world gone mad. Humans in Western countries have lost their grip on reality: “But the world is also deranged The looniness of the 'normal' denizen of the Western world who doesn’t know who he is, what he believes, or what he is doing.”
Breakdown of communication. People consistently fail to understand each other: “ some literary critics, philosophers, and semioticians seem hell bent on denying the very qualities of language and literature that have been held in such high esteem in the past: namely, that it is possible to know something about the world, that the world actually exists, that one person can actually say or write about the world and that other people can understand him. That, in a word, communication is possible.”
Decline of the West. Mentally, Western society is moribund. Percy sees the USA “gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated from within by weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed, and in the end helplessness before its great problems” while the West is “losing by spiritual acedia”. Devaluation of humanity by science. In the book, Percy is angered by “the widespread and ongoing devaluation of human life in the Western world” which he ascribes to two mindsets: “ Thou shalt not find anything unique about the human animal even if the evidence points to such uniqueness” and “Thou shalt not suggest that there is a unique and fatal flaw in 'Homo sapiens sapiens' or indeed any perverse trait that cannot be laid to the influence of Western civilization”. He contends that humans are unique in being both God like and tainted by original sin. Bad faith leads to bad outcomes. Percy portrays fatal errors in both religious fundamentalists and secular humanists, commenting: “It is easy to criticize the absurdities of fundamentalist beliefs like 'scientific creationism' — that the world and its creatures were created six thousand years ago. But it is also necessary to criticize other dogmas parading as science and the bad faith of some scientists who have their own dogmatic agendas to promote under the guise of 'free scientific inquiry'. Scientific inquiry should in fact be free. The warning: If it is not, if it is subject to this or that ideology, then do not be surprised if history is repeated. Weimar leads to Auschwitz. The nihilism of some scientists in the name of ideology or sentimentality and the consequent devaluation of individual human life leads straight to the gas chamber.”
Список персонажей
Томас Мор: Главный герой романа. Он был заключен в тюрьму на два года за распространение фармацевтических препаратов. После освобождения по условно-досрочному освобождению он возвращается в город и обнаруживает, что многое изменилось, особенно поведение людей. Он психиатр и бывший католик. Его пациентки начали проявлять к нему сексуальный интерес, что он находил странным и необычным. Он замечает, как его жена преображается из скучной консерваторши в превосходного игрока в контрактный бридж. Эллен Оглторп Мор: Она – давняя жена и сиделка Томаса Мора, и её личность кардинально меняется на протяжении романа из-за ионов натрия в водоснабжении, влияющих на жителей города. Она претерпевает изменения, вплоть до приобретения обезьяноподобных черт. Она играет ключевую роль в осознании Томасом Мором происходящего в их городе. Именно Эллен и его пациентки помогли ему прийти к этому пониманию. Люси Липскомб: Она – двоюродная сестра Томаса Мора, и поэтому он обращается к ней за помощью в решении проблем, которые он наблюдает. Она эпидемиолог и считает, что может быть полезна в расследовании странных событий, происходящих в городе. Её доступ к засекреченной правительственной информации был крайне важен для раскрытия того, кто стоит за этой схемой. Она также считала морально неприемлемым принудительное снижение уровня преступности и другие подобные действия, осуществляемые путем добавления ионов натрия в воду.