Email this article «The godfire»: religious and philosophical sources of fiery imagery in Cormac McCarthy's «Bloody Meridian» and «The Road»
- Authors: Vikhrova K.A1
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Affiliations:
- Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design
- Issue: Vol 5, No 8 (2025)
- Pages: 155-160
- Section: ARTICLES
- URL: https://ogarev-online.ru/2782-5329/article/view/374517
- ID: 374517
Cite item
Abstract
the article examines the functioning of the image of fire and its religious and philosophical sources in the novels «Blood Meridian» and «The Road» by Cormac McCarthy, a contemporary American author. This research material was chosen because in both works, fire is an important symbol that reveals key aspects of the poetics of the novels, and an analysis of the fire imagery and its sources allows us to determine the specifics of the moral and ethical system and metaphysics presented in the novels. In the revisionist Western «Blood Meridian», fire acts as an ontologically unifying and simultaneously destructive element, a foundation of existence associated with war and primordial chaos. In «The Road», the image of fire takes on an ethical and existential significance, symbolizing faith, hope, and the preservation of humanity in a world after a global catastrophe. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that the fiery imagery in the novels under study is related to ancient Greek philosophy, primarily the teachings of Heraclitus, Christian eschatology, the myth of Prometheus, and Gnostic ideas about evil and salvation. The results of this study can be used in the teaching of American literature history in higher education, as well as for further research on McCarthy's literary works.
About the authors
K. A Vikhrova
Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design
Email: r2654256@gmail.com
References
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