Philosophical Parables in Cormac McCarthy’s “The Crossing”

Abstract

In this essay we interpret some of the more complex pages from the novel by Cormac McCarthy The Crossing as "philosophical parables", i.e., as a story within a story in which the author deals with some of the most stimulating philosophical and ethical issues. We refer to the ambiguous relationship between life (and death) human and animal as well as conceptualized in the figure of the Hunter; to the complicated network of roots and adventure, destiny and determinism, sense and nonsense of all life; to the search for God as the guarantor of a full life that can never be achieved; the conditions of possibility of the truth in the narration and history. Finally, we consider how the work and philosophy of McCarthy can be interpreted as part the literature and postmodern thought