Shreds of Matter: Cormac McCarthy and the Concept of Nature [Hardcover]

Shreds of Matter: Cormac McCarthy and the Concept of Nature offers a nuanced and innovative take on McCarthys 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 planet 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 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?

JULIUS GREVE is a lecturer and research associate at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany.

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Cormac McCarthys Concept of Nature Trailing the Cord: Literary Descent and the Ethos of Ecology Shreds of Matter: Physiocentrism and Transnational Speculation Cloaca Maxima: Ontological Decay, or the Decomposition of Nature Another Kind of Clay: Physiophilosophy and War Malignant Life: Indifference, Identity, and Narrative Extainment The Ashes of Its Ruin: Writing Nature between Orphism and Prometheanism Conclusion: Naturphilosophie and the Literature of Nature Notes Bibliography Index