Historia, mit amerykańskiego Zachodu, przemoc. Wojenne i rewolucyjne reminiscencje w Tetralogii Pogranicza Cormaca McCarthy’ego
History, the Myth of the American West, Violence Reminiscences of War and Revolution in Cormac McCarthy’s The Border Trilogy

Author(s): Joanna Wildowicz
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Cormac McCarthy; violence; myth; Borderland; revolution
Summary/Abstract: Blood Meridian, Or the Evening Redness in the West, All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain, which are set on the southwestern edge of America, are the volumes of the brilliant Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. Although none of the novels is set in a time of great warfare or revolution, the strong repercussions of a bloody and violent era accompany the protagonists, who try to get to know and understand the South of America and Mexico, stigmatized by the memory of historical events. The Mexican War (1846–1848) and the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) form the narrative background for this prose. Reminiscences of destructive conflicts, which carry with them barbarity, suffering and death, haunt the protagonists, not allowing them to forget the atrocities associated with war and revolution. Some are burdened with the memory of a bloody wartime past, others are affected by the mere recollections of these experiences. McCarthy in the history of Borderland exposes the feelings and emotions of people affected by turbulent historical events, combining a fictional story with history, the past with the present. All the novels go deep into American history, face its facts and myths. McCarthy, in turn, tries to present the history of his country according to historical facts, thus destroying well-functioning myths. The writer’s revisionist approach to the restless and unruly history has turned the most recognizable symbol of America, the Wild West, into an American myth, which is deprived of its own raison d’être.

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