Voices of the “In-Between”. Anarchetypal Crossings of the Frontier in Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy
Voices of the “In-Between”. Anarchetypal Crossings of the Frontier in Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy

Summary/Abstract: Ever since Christopher Columbus set foot in America, the leitmotif of the travel narratives written by those visiting it has been that of shaping the unknown territories according to prefabricated ideas. The importance held by the myth of never- ending expansion in American culture has also created a fascination for everything situated beyond the culturally constructed borders of the country. Cormac McCarthy’s The Border Trilogy tackles both these matters, as it is centred around the frontier between Mexico and the southwestern part of the United States. This paper will analyse the patternsof movement taken up by these characters in crossing the borders, while also using Corin Braga’s concept of the “anarchetype” to characterize them as products of an in-between state in which the characters cannot follow a clearly structured route anymore because they belong to both and neither of the two extremes simultaneously.

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