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Chapter 3 - The Southwest

from Part I - Environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2019

Steven Frye
Affiliation:
California State University, Bakersfield
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Summary

Cormac McCarthy’s five Western novels and Western screenplay, operating along the contested border between Mexico and the United States, are among his most masterful and iconic. The “American West” is not just a region of the US. In each of these works, McCarthy aesthetically renders the parched geography of the American Southwest, the complex political history of the contested region, and the more esoteric problems of nationalism, imperialism, and environmental destruction in brutal, vivid prose. This chapter explores, first, the significance of the American Southwest as a politically fraught and geographically distinctive region for McCarthy as a writer. Second, it examines the distinctive stylistics of McCarthy’s Southwestern works and how they shape his legacy as one of the greatest American writers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Southwest
  • Edited by Steven Frye, California State University, Bakersfield
  • Book: Cormac McCarthy in Context
  • Online publication: 12 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108772297.004
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  • The Southwest
  • Edited by Steven Frye, California State University, Bakersfield
  • Book: Cormac McCarthy in Context
  • Online publication: 12 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108772297.004
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Southwest
  • Edited by Steven Frye, California State University, Bakersfield
  • Book: Cormac McCarthy in Context
  • Online publication: 12 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108772297.004
Available formats
×