Morality in Cormac McCarthy's Fiction

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction

   • Russell M. Hillier

   Pages 1-13

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3. “Give the Devil His Due”: Judge Holden’s Design in Blood Meridian

   • Russell M. Hillier

   Pages 15-51

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4. “Antic Clay”?: The Competing Ethical Appeals of Blood Meridian

   • Russell M. Hillier

   Pages 53-93

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5. “A Knowing Deep in the Bone”: Cowboy Stoicism and Tragic Heroism in All the Pretty Horses

   • Russell M. Hillier

   Pages 95-126

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6. “Like Some Supplicant to the Darkness Over Them All”: The Good of John Grady Cole in Cities of the Plain

   • Russell M. Hillier

   Pages 127-160

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7. “Nothing is Crueler Than a Coward”: No Country for Old Men and The Counselor as Tragic Fables of the Contemporary Southwest

   • Russell M. Hillier

   Pages 161-261

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8. Coda—The Good of Story in The Road

   • Russell M. Hillier

   Pages 263-277

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9. Back Matter

   Pages 279-317

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This book argues that McCarthy’s works convey a profound moral vision, and use intertextuality, moral philosophy, and questions of genre to advance that vision. It focuses upon the ways in which McCarthy’s fiction is in ceaseless conversation with literary and philosophical tradition, examining McCarthy’s investment in influential thinkers from Marcus Aurelius to Hannah Arendt, and poets, playwrights, and novelists from Dante and Shakespeare to Fyodor Dostoevsky and Antonio Machado. The book shows how McCarthy’s fiction grapples with abiding moral and metaphysical issues: the nature and problem of evil; the idea of God or the transcendent; the credibility of heroism in the modern age; the question of moral choice and action; the possibility of faith, hope, love, and goodness; the meaning and limits of civilization; and the definition of what it is to be human. This study will appeal alike to readers, teachers, and scholars of Cormac McCarthy.  

• Ethics
• Intertextuality
• Violence
• Philosophy
• Genre

“Hillier focuses on examining one aspect of McCarthy’s moral vision in each chapter, the result of which is a book that is well organized around this central theme. Hillier includes quotations from McCarthy’s novels in his chapter titles, each of which fittingly summarizes the moral concerns in the narratives. His scholarship, which is rooted in the Western literary and intellectual tradition, in combination with his nuanced textual readings and his unearthing of frequently overlooked textual clues makes his argument insightful and compelling.” (Aihua Chen, Soundings, Vol. 101 (04), 2018)



“This book reads easily, as it should, and is therefore recommended not only to graduate students and scholars but to advanced undergraduates. … The overall structure of each chapter, and how the chapters produce the larger argument, generally present yet another admirable quality of this book.” (Jay Ellis, The Cormac McCarthy Journal, Vol. 16 (2), 2018)

“In Morality in Cormac McCarthy’s Fiction, Russell Hillier applies his considerable knowledge of the Western literary tradition to expand in an extraordinary way our understanding of Cormac McCarthy’s rich ethical vision. The book is elegant, insightful, and manifestly original. While rooted in the scholarship, Hillier brings literary and philosophical contexts to bear that have largely been untouched by others. This is a work that will emerge as central to McCarthy studies for years to come.” (Steven Frye, President of the Cormac McCarthy Society, USA)

“In the now fervid world of Cormackian criticism, Russell M. Hillier's style and voice stand out for their deftness and elegance. His probing and insightful intertextuality brings to bear the influence of Job, Ovid and Dostoevsky, among many others. His vindication of John Grady Cole as stoic and tragic hero is as uplifting as it is needed, and his critical consideration of The Counselor will become a primary resource.”  (Allen Josephs, University of West Florida, USA)

“This fine study of our greatest living poet in prose argues for McCarthy’s “impassioned and consistent moral vision,” and that McCarthy “remains as intrigued by the mystery of goodness as he is by the mystery of evil.” As applied to McCarthy’s Southwest novels, including Blood Meridian, the Border Trilogy, No Country for Old Men, and with a chapter on McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Road, Hillier’s approach to what he calls “McCarthy’s examination of goodness striving to prevail in a dark world and wide” is presented with a rare combination of intellectual clarity and force. This is a book that is bound to be enjoyed and to stimulate lively discussion amongst McCarthy enthusiasts both professional and private.” (Peter Josyph, author of “Adventures in Reading Cormac McCarthy”, and “Cormac McCarthy's House: Reading McCarthy Without Walls”)

“It is entirely appropriate that Renaissance man (and scholar) Russell Hillier here turns his attention to what he calls Cormac McCarthy’s “Renaissance mind.”  Hillier joins writers such as Edwin Arnold, Dianne Luce, and more recently Lydia Cooper and Matthew Potts in focusing on the moral engagement of McCarthy’s works, and he is often surprising and always illuminating in drawing out McCarthy’s debts to Dante and Donne, Ovid and Marlowe—allusions that have not been as commented upon as those to the likes of Faulkner and Hemingway, for instance.  This clear and incisive study will be a touchstone.” (Stacey Peebles, editor of The Cormac McCarthy Journal, USA)

“In this meticulously researched and elegantly written volume, Russell Hillier has rendered disputatious Cormackians a boon service by pouring more fuel on the fire kindled by critics like Dianne Luce, Lydia Cooper, Manuel Broncano and Petra Mundik. Hillier not only argues convincingly for an ethical and even heroic vitality to the master's works, but  stakes out new and important critical territory by demonstrating McCarthy's indebtedness to formerly neglected sources like Milton's poetry and Shakespeare. This is an important addition to the exegetical literature about McCarthy.” ( Richard Wallach, The Cormac McCarthy Society, USA)

• Providence College , Providence, USA

  Russell M. Hillier

Russell M. Hillier is Associate Professor of English at Providence College, Rhode Island, USA. He is the author of Milton’s Messiah (2011) and has published numerous scholarly articles on William Shakespeare, John Milton, John Donne, George Herbert, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Cormac McCarthy.

Policies and ethics