On 24th February, Dr Alan Gibbs held a research seminar on one of my favourite writers, Cormac McCarthy. The seminar was entitled “Things happen to you they happen”: Cormac McCarthy and the New Naturalism. Dr. Gibbs began the presentation with a quick reference to novelist and playwright Émile Zola an early contributor to the naturalism movement and his incorporation of experimental characters through a narrative storytelling, something which McCarthy would later pick up on in No Country for Old Men. Dr. Gibb’s precursor to the presentation took form in establishing the old naturalism against the new. He commented that American naturalism differed its European counterpart in how it embraced a romantic connotation to the exploration of class struggles and capitalism in a time when European literature turned away from the romantic, Dr. Gibbs also emphaized a reduced pre-occupation with determinism and a looser ideological and philosophical perspective. Dr. Gibbs summarized American naturalism as more of a hybrid form than a pure naturalism.
Dr. Gibbs then pointed to America’s post- 9/11 reaction through literary naturalism as a catalyst of change, pointing to Philip Roth’s Plot Against America as indelible proof of a newly emerging form. This naturalism gave its characters a lack of choice and used choice as a catalyst for progressive plot development. This new aesthetic parallels an America who after declaring war on Iraq was now seemingly blameless. Coined as “Neo-Naturalism”, the form assimilated its way into fiction and as Dr. Gibbs pointed out as an example, the once privileged white male character was now on a downward spiral, referencing Walter White from Breaking Bad as a key example. McCarthy’s aesthetic. the form now capitalized on this peeling away of social and cultural elements and refused to give way to the interiority of the character which beyond reaction convolutes and dilutes the realism of the portrayal.
Walter White of Breaking Bad, an archetype of the American white male in the context of neo-naturalism
Dr. Gibbs noted Llewlyn Moss’ as another example and his return to give help to the dying criminal in No Country for Old Men as free-will guised in a pre-disposed kindness which is immediately overridden by the almost supernatural force of chance as he is then chased down and identified. The character of Sheriff Bell likewise alludes to the new naturalism of McCarthy through his own sense of failure. In fact. No Country for Old Men perfectly encapsulates the idea of action and decision and the seemingly disasterous, but completely logical and rational chain reactions which affect others. As Stephen Tatum states, “Through Bell’s narration and commentary, No Country for Old men asks whether there is something valuable to be learned from living with grief, which is to say from recognizing one’s vulnerability to loss and to remaining exposed, in a condition of unknowingness or cognitive paralysis, not seeking a resolution through fantasies or of violence as redemptive.” (Tatum, Mercantile 93) Bell’s passiveness to the choices which he makes and indecision reflect the same result as Moss int hat they affect him completely. Both characters contrast Anton Chigurh, the very embodiment and personification of chance and fate who seems to survive by playing on the line of chance.
The sad irony of this naturalism is that it is not simply one choice made by one character, it is a highly interwoven, cross section of choices and decisions which involve people unrelated to the core matter. Moss did not even die as a direct result of his taking the money, he died indirectly as a result of his decision to take the money. Therefore, despite Moss’ circumstance, he was not in control of his destiny, it was indirectly and unknowingly decided by another.
The Road, which Dr. Gibbs termed as an example of “New new naturalism” asks the question, how much can we strip away from the world? What’s interesting about The Road are the moralities which the characters hold on to despite their circumstance. Lost in an apocalyptic wasteland which feels like an eerie warning to the America of now. The son’s rationality through a morality which no longer exists shows this striking self-justification in spite of survival which is rarely touched upon in other works of apocalyptic fiction. Dr. Gibbs states that the 9/11 connotations attached to the novel illustrate an “entrenchment of the family.” (Gibbs 2016)
One aspect of naturalism which I would’ve enjoyed hearing more about are the existential themes which McCarthy’s work lend themselves to. For example, The Sunset Limited, “A Novel in Dramatic form” is rife with existential thought of two differing characters in a neo-naturalistic style of drama. The novel explores idealistic interpretations of Christianity and the power of chance and the mystery of fate as a catalyst for characters discovering their shifting perspective of the world and themselves. The novel is not particularly interested in studying character as conveying ideologies through the medium of a conversation. The most striking thing about The Sunset Limited is its ending, White leaves to commit suicide and Black is left questioning his own belief repeating “Is that okay? Is that okay?” (McCarthy, Sunset 143) to the ceiling above him. McCarthy’s naturalism is often harrowing in how it portrays the realism of tragedy and seeing a man’s only belief compromised in a single conversation is startling.
Work Cited
Gibbs, Alan. February 24 2016. Alan Gibbs, “”Things happen to you they happen”: Cormac McCarthy and the New Naturalism” School of English Research Seminar. O’Rahilly Building, University College Cork, Cork City. February24 2016. Lecture.
McCarthy, Cormac. The Sunset Limited. Picador: 2011 Print.
Tatum, Stephen. “”Mercantile Ethics”: No Country for Old Men and the Narcocorrido.” Cormac McCarthy. Ed. Sara L. Spurgeon. New York: Continuum, 2011. Print.
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