Crises across the board in Cormac McCarthy’s "The Road"

This article explores the types of crises that author Cormac McCarthy has, overtly or indirectly, represented in his latest work of fiction, The Road (2006). This novel, which shows the gruesome picture of a post-apocalyptic world, can be seen to dwell upon at least three different types of crises r...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Ibarrola Armendáriz, Aitor
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/31843
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11441/31843
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Post-apocalyptic fiction
Crises typology
Moral landscapes
Cormac McCarthy
The Road
Novela post-apocalíptica
Tipología de crisis
Paisajes morales
Descripción
Sumario:This article explores the types of crises that author Cormac McCarthy has, overtly or indirectly, represented in his latest work of fiction, The Road (2006). This novel, which shows the gruesome picture of a post-apocalyptic world, can be seen to dwell upon at least three different types of crises ranging from the awe-inspiring effects of global catastrophes to the more personal fears that individuals may feel in quicklydegenerating moral environments. The main body of the article is divided into four sections which try to elucidate the specificities of each of these crises and to see how those specificities are illustrated and dealt with in McCarthy’s novel. The Road can be said to combine some of the newest ingredients of the recent trend of end-of-theworld fiction with features from more classical genres such as Gothic horror or epic narratives. One of the greatest achievements of the work is that it manages to strike a balance between despair and hope by studying in great detail how human beings may react to disasters that they themselves have created.