A Bloody and Barbarous God - by Petra Mundik (Paperback)

About the Book

A Bloody and Barbarous God investigates the relationship between gnosticism and the perennial philosophy and how these traditions have influenced the later novels of Cormac McCarthy, namely, Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain, No Country for Old Men, and The Road.

Book Synopsis

A Bloody and Barbarous God investigates the relationship between gnosticism, a system of thought that argues that the cosmos is evil and that the human spirit must strive for liberation from manifest existence, and the perennial philosophy, a study of the highest common factor in all esoteric religions, and how these traditions have influenced the later novels of Cormac McCarthy, namely Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain, No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Mundik argues that McCarthy continually strives to evolve an explanatory theodicy throughout his work and that his novels are, to a lesser or greater extent, concerned with the meaning of human existence in relation to the presence of evil and the nature of the divine.

Review Quotes

Mundik's book tackles the challenging complexity and darkness of McCarthy's metaphysical vision and finds a consistency of vision throughout his novels that is both profound and--in all senses of the word--illuminating.--Lydia R. Cooper, author of No More Heroes: Narrative Perspective and Morality in Cormac McCarthy

About the Author

Petra Mundik is a research assistant at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. She has published articles, chapters, essays, and papers on Cormac McCarthy and is at work on a second book dealing with his early novels.