{"product_id":"9780807181539-professing-darkness","title":"Professing Darkness","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCormac McCarthy's Catholic Critique of American Enlightenment\u003cbr\u003eConfirms the centrality of Catholic thought, imagery, and sacrament to the spiritual and ethical outlook of the work of Cormac McCarthy and, more specifically, its consistent assessment of Enlightenment values and their often-catastrophic realization in American history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eProfessing Darkness\u003c\/i\u003e confirms the centrality of Catholic thought, imagery, and sacrament to the spiritual and ethical outlook of the work of Cormac McCarthy and, more specifically, its consistent assessment of Enlightenment values and their often-catastrophic realization in American history. D. Marcel DeCoste surveys McCarthy's fiction from both his Tennessee and Southwest periods, with chapters devoted to eight of his published novels—from \u003ci\u003eOuter Dark\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eThe Road\u003c\/i\u003e—and a conclusion that examines the writer's screenplay for \u003ci\u003eThe Counselor\u003c\/i\u003e and the duology of \u003ci\u003eThe Passenger\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eStella Maris.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDeCoste's attentive, wide-ranging interpretations demonstrate that McCarthy's work mounts a sustained critique of core Enlightenment ideals and their devastating results in the American context, especially for Indigenous peoples, the environment, the viability of community, and the integrity of a self irreducible to the status of a commodity. \u003ci\u003eProfessing Darkness \u003c\/i\u003eshows that Roman Catholic understandings of Penance and Eucharist, along with specific Catholic teachings—such as those regarding the goodness of Creation, the nature of evil, the insufficiency of the self, and the radical invitation to conversion—enable McCarthy's revelatory engagement with American Enlightenment. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn important contribution to the ever-expanding critical literature on a towering contemporary author, \u003ci\u003eProfessing Darkness\u003c\/i\u003e offers an innovative reading of both the spiritual and political valences of McCarthy's writing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56160551043446,"sku":"9780807181539","price":41.33,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_37472563_2be0b190-ce6a-41c3-8f70-9ab2122cdd3f.jpg?v=1762057768","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780807181539-professing-darkness","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}