Cormac McCarthy : an American apocalypse / Markus Wierschem.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wierschem, Markus, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Series:

Studies in violence, mimesis, and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

McCarthy, Cormac, 1933-2023--Criticism and interpretation.

McCarthy, Cormac.

Apocalypse in literature.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

American fiction--21st century--History and criticism.

McCarthy, Cormac, 1933-2023.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xxxii, 493 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"This 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. Drawing on René Girard's mimetic theory, mythography, thermodynamic entropy, and information science, scholar 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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Prolegomena : sanguinary signifiers

Sanguinary signifiers : the dis|orderly language of myth, violence, and entropy

Dissolved in a pale and broken image : Pastoralism, mimesis, and dis|order in The orchard keeper

Order in the woods and in men's souls : gothic psychomythology and scapegoating in Child of God

A sense of judgment: myth, christianity, and cosmic disorder in Outer dark

Degeneration through violence : the apocalyptic logic of Blood meridian

An apocalyptic journey : revelation, conversion and the different ends of The Road.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

9781611864823

1611864828

OCLC:

1384451507