A Thief of Peirce: The Letters of Kenneth Laine Ketner and Walker Percy Hardcover – 30 Oct. 1995

For anyone following up "Lost in the Cosmos", eager to find more on Walker Percy's concept of Triadicity, this is the best book to go to. While the more recently published "Symbol and Existence" is more accessible to lay readers, it was written at the beginning of his writing career. This collection of letters, written in the final years of his career, explores his thoughts on the subject after having explored thoroughly Peirce's work. Dr. Ketner's essays provide an interesting appendix, showing not only continuity with Peirce's thought, but also the limits of continuity, where Percy diverges. If you're interested, it's worth reading!

These letters were my first introduction to the complexities of C.S. Peirce's semeiotic (his spelling) as Walker Percy tested his own understanding and application of those theories in his correspondence with Peirce professor Ken Ketner. Never dry, the letters exhibit warmth, humor and a joyous pursuit of knowledge seen only in the greatest minds. I find myself swept by a certain nostalgia as I read them, for Percy is of the last generation of such thinkers likely leave behind correspondence in this traditional sense. In the instant messaging age, how much of what could endure are we losing? Can you imagine a book someday being published containing the Facebook chats between X and Y?