I think the phenomenon of "malicious joy" is probably close to what WP had in
mind, even if he didn't use the term *Schadenfreude*. From reading WP's fiction
and Tolson's biography, a portrait emerges of a man vividly aware of his own
dark side. His self-deprecating remark to Tolson about his "decrepit character"
comes to mind. Percy's hagiographers often overlook the struggle (almost unto
despair) of this "bad Catholic" with his own sinful nature.
Dave Welch
Ken Armstrong wrote:
> --On Monday, September 17, 2001 10:15 AM -0400 Karey Perkins
> <karey@CHARTER.NET> wrote:
>
> > I wanted to ask Nikki a question: you mentioned the term "schaddenfreud
> > paradox" and I've not heard that before. Is this a term Percy coined? Or
> > does it come from somewhere else? Where can I read more about this?
>
> Karey,
>
> Until Nikki appears, this came from an online German-English dictionary:
>
> malicious joy -- die Schadenfreude
> mischievousness -- die Schadenfreude
> schadenfreude -- die Schadenfreude
>
> That last one clears it up : ). Definitely not something WP coined and
> different in connotation than his observation.
>
> Ken Armstrong
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Jun 22 2002 - 20:15:02 EDT