The Cormac McCarthy Journal, Volume 10 (The Cormac McCarthy Journal)

Volume Ten of the Cormac McCarthy Journal may well be our most lively and interesting issue yet. This issue discusses a variety of McCarthy's works, including Samuel Beckett's influence on The Sunset Limited and the echoes of King Lear in No Country for Old Men. We also engage the background radiation of the Vietnam War in No Country. Blood Meridian's terrifying supervillain Judge Holden comes in for an amusing and troubling comparison to P. T. Barnum, while we simultaneously explore Holden's role as a trickster figure. We then turn our attention to the imagery of breath in The Road. Finally, Knoxville historian Wes Morgan offers a compelling read about the mysterious "government tank" in The Orchard Keeper. The cover of this year's issue features a gorgeous illustration of a brook trout, reminiscent of the final passage of The Road, by wildlife artist A. D. Maddox.