Shreds of Matter

Shreds of Matter: Cormac McCarthy and the Concept of Nature offers a nuanced and innovative take on the writers ostensible localism and, along with it, the ecocentric perspective on the world that is assumed by most critics. In opposing the standard interpretations of McCarthys novels as critical either of persisting American ideologiessuch as Manifest Destiny and imperialismor of the ways in which humanity has laid waste to Earth, Greve instead emphasizes the authors interest both in the history of science and in the mythographical developments of religious discourse. Greve aims to counter traditional interpretations of McCarthys work and at the same time to acknowledge their partial truth, taking into account the work of Friedrich W. J. Schelling and Lorenz Oken, contemporary speculative realism, and Bertrand Westphals geocriticism. Further, newly discovered archival material sheds light on McCarthys immersion in the metaphysical question par excellence: What is nature?