Reading the World: Cormac Mccarthy's Tennessee Period

by Dianne C. Luce

In Reading the World Dianne C. Luce explores the historical and philosophical contexts of Cormac McCarthy's early works crafted during his Tennessee period from 1959 to 1979 to demonstrate how McCarthy integrates literary realism with the imagery and myths of Platonic, gnostic, and existentialist philosophies to create his unique vision of the world. Luce begins with a substantial treatment of the east Tennessee context from which McCarthy's fiction emerges, sketching an Appalachian culture and environment in flux. Against this backdrop Luce examines, novel by novel, McCarthy's distinctive rendering of character through mixed narrative techniques of flashbacks, shifts in vantage point, and dream sequences. Luce shows how McCarthy's fragmented narration and lyrical style combine to create a rich portrayal of the philosophical and religious elements at play in human consciousness as it confronts a world rife with isolation and violence.

Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction

314 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Preston Scott Blakeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll be reading Luce as long as I’ll be reading McCarthy!

[Scott Bielinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Reading the World" is a superb book and Dianne Luce is a phenomenal scholar. Over the course of her book, she develops a very sophisticated reading of McCarthy's first four books (and first screenplay) by attending to the recurring religious and philosophical imagery throughout each of them. For her, McCarthy gives us a window into his view of the cosmos through these tightly bound gnostic/existentialist images (an essential feature of this argument is Hans Jonas' interpretation of existentialism as a resurgent modern-day Gnosticism). At the core of both of these "systems" is the experience of alienation in a universe that is generally unyielding and unconcerned with our existence (In her similarly excellent work, "A Bloody and Barbarous God," Petra Mundik refers to this as Gnosticism's anticosmicism). This is an evident concern of McCarthy's, and something Luce explains via careful, close, and rich readings of McCarthy's dense lyrical work. The question of whether or not McCarthy is, in fact, a Gnostic is appropriately left to the side. A slightly nitpicky criticism would be that Luce does not sufficiently spell out McCarthy's relationship with Romanticism as a literary movement (important for his first few works, climaxing in "Blood Meridian"). This very minor criticism aside, this is a truly tremendous work. Luce is an exceptional and exemplary reader of McCarthy. I loved this book.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luce offers sturdy examination of McCarthy’s first four novels and first screenplay, although at many points she seems to be pushing her arguments well past the finish line. The title is also alarmingly vague; “The Gnostic World of Cormac McCarthy’s Tennessee Period” may have been more appropriate, as each chapter heavily relies on gnostic interpretations of the texts.

[Gavin Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are caught in the vortex of McCarthy and want to start to find your bearings, this is the book to start with.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressive scholarship from an important McCarthy scholar. She does much in this book and that is perhaps the root of my main concern with it. It doesn't seem to have any central thesis nor does the book itself build towards any cumulative effect. The emphasis on gnosticism is such that a lot feels repetitive in later chapters. Luce says in the introduction that she wants to read what McCarthy has read and use knowledge of his contexts to help provide readings of his early works. She does an admirable job and has obviously done much research and hard work. I just would have liked to have seen it be a bit more focused.

Overall though, this book is a fine addition to McCarthy scholarship.