Following the growth of criticism related to Cormac McCarthy, this study examines the author's early works in such a way that treats the different novels as a group, deriving a worldview that functions for McCarthy's works when viewed together, as opposed to treating each novel separately as has been the only previous mode of criticism for this award-winning author. Specifically, the study examines three main themes of the first five novels in McCarthy's oeuvre: The Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark, Child of God, Suttree, and Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West. In order, the themes are ontological equality, survival of "ruder forms," and time as it relates to permanence and transience. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's texts regarding the concepts of rationality, morality, war, and philosophy itself greatly inform parts of this study, especially relating to the fifth novel, Blood Meridian. Nietzsche's notion of rationality and morality (pre-revaluation) as inimical to survival ( and his conception of war, albeit as a metaphor) directly corresponds to how McCarthy's universe functions as constructed by the characters and action of the novels.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-1832 |
| Date | 01 January 2009 |
| Creators | Lang, Robert J. |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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