Cormac McCarthy
An American Apocalypse
Published by: Michigan State University Press
Series: Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture
Imprint: Michigan State University Press
Publishing Date: 2024-02-01
524 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in
Other Retailers:
Description
This definitive assessment of Cormac McCarthy’s novels captures the interactions among the literary and mythic elements, the social dynamics of violence, and the natural world in The Orchard Keeper, Child of God, Outer Dark, Blood Meridian, and The Road. Elegantly written and deeply engaged with previous scholarship as well as interviews with the novelist, this study provides a comprehensive introduction to McCarthy’s work while offering an insightful new analysis. Drawing on René Girard’s mimetic theory, mythography, thermodynamics, and information science, Markus Wierschem identifies a literary apocalypse at the center of McCarthy’s work, one that unveils another buried deep within the history, religion, and myths of American and Western culture.