In the Wake of the Sun

Book excerpt: Dr. Chris Walsh's scholarship has resulted in a new study on one of America's leading authors. In the Wake of the Sun: Navigating the Southern Works of Cormac McCarthy offers close textual analysis of all of McCarthy's Southern works along with an overview of the notable critical responses to them. The book is designed for use by scholars, teachers, and students at all levels. McCarthy's works set in the desert Southwest have received substantial critical and commercial acclaim. However, his Appalachian texts--which include two short stories written as an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee, five novels (including the Pulitzer Prize winner The Road), a play, and a screenplay--rival the Southwestern works in terms of their aesthetic achievement and complexity. In the Wake of the Sun introduces readers, scholars, and students to the pertinent themes in each text while also walking them through the most significant critical dialogues surrounding the texts.