The Road to Essence (Existentialism in Cormac McCarthy's The Road) Cover Image

Пут ка битку (егзистенцијализам у роману Пут Кормака Макартија)
The Road to Essence (Existentialism in Cormac McCarthy's The Road)

Author(s): Kristijan E. Vekonj
Subject(s): Existentialism, Theory of Literature
Published by: АЛФА БК УНИВЕРЗИТЕТ
Keywords: Existentialism; humanism; Jean-Paul Sartre; Cormac McCarthy
Summary/Abstract: Although it originates from the period between the two World Wars, existentialism, as a philosophical movement, remains timeless and always current. Whenever human existence is in crisis and whenever human survival is shattered by wars, natural and man-made cataclysms or announcements of doomsday, people are turning to Sartre and the existentialists who claim that "existence precedes essence". In the last fifteen years, the motif of apocalypse is increasingly used in literature. In his novel The Road (2006), Cormac McCarthy is showing us a post-apocalyptic journey of father and son and their struggle for survival, where this struggle reflects the ideas of Sartre and other existentialists. Having received the Pulitzer Prize, this novel has pointed to the importance of asking questions concerning human existence and humanism, two very important concepts between which Sartre puts the sign of equality.

  • Page Range: 127-138
  • Page Count: 12
  • Publication Year: 2016
  • Language: Serbian