Historical Writing In Cormac McCarthy's Western Novels

Cormac McCarthy?1933-?is one of the most famous novelists in contemperary America.McCarthy's western novels include five fictions:Blood Meridian:Or the Evening Redness in the West,the Border Trilogy?All the Pretty Horses,The Crossing,Cities of the Plain?and No Country for Old Men.The unique charm of McCarthy's western novels stem from his respect and reflection on history.In his novels,McCarthy focuses on the expansion of the United States and explores the hypocritical ways and historical roots of the expansion?the myth of“a City upon a hill”and the theory of“Manifest Destiny”?.In addition,McCarthy revolutionizes the way history is written by,points out the relationship between power,history and text,reflects the destructiveness of American's patriotism,thus proposing the solutions:listen to history and reflect on history.Except for the introduction and the conclusion,this thesis is divided into three chapters.Through focusing on the expansion history of the United States which McCarthy is concerned in his works,the first chapter aims to discuss the land expansion and genocide in the Westward Movement,the political and economic policies used by American government to expand Mexico in the mid-20^th century,Mexico's reponse to expansionism?the rise of the Mexican revolution and nationalism?,the Vietnam War which continues the American ideal of expansion and its impact on American soldiers?violence and belief crisis?.By analysing the intertextuality used by McCarthy to explain his view on history,the second chapter explores the intertextuality between McCarthy's western novels and The Waste Land,Paradise Lost,Moby Dick,Faust etc.,highlights the effect of the intertextuality which include revealing the hypocritical colonial discourse,retelling the changing of the American spirit and the spirit of capitalism,and proposing the view of racial equality and religious redemption.The third chapter explores the factors that make McCarthy's special history care and historical writing,including McCarthy's personal life,McCarthy's views on history,power and text?the mutual production and restriction of power and knowledge,the power of historical writing,McCarthy's historical sense of reponsibility and anxiety about the limitations of the text?,and McCarthy's inheritance and development of western novel and literature of the American south.