Cormac McCarthy

This definitive assessment of Cormac McCarthys 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 McCarthys work while offering an insightful new analysis. Drawing on Ren Girards mimetic theory, mythography, thermodynamics, and information science, Markus Wierschem identifies a literary apocalypse at the center of McCarthys work, one that unveils another buried deep within the history, religion, and myths of American and Western culture.