{"product_id":"unguessed-kinships-steven-frye-9780817361099","title":"Unguessed Kinships: Naturalism and the Geography of Hope in Cormac McCarthy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLiterary naturalism at play in one of America's most visionary novelists: Cormac McCarthy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e It took six novels and nearly thirty years for Cormac McCarthy to find commercial success with the National Book Award-winning \u003ci\u003eAll the Pretty Horses\u003c\/i\u003e, followed by major prizes, more best sellers, and Hollywood adaptations of his work. Those successes, though, have obscured McCarthy's commitment to an older form of literary expression: naturalism. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e It is hardly a secret that McCarthy's work tends to darker themes: violence, brutality, the cruel indifference of nature, themes which would not be out of place in the writing of Jack London or Stephen Crane. But literary naturalism is more than the oversimplified Darwinism that many think of. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, and humans are part of nature, but the humanity depicted in naturalist literature is capable of love, selflessness, and spirituality, as well. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In \u003ci\u003eUnguessed Kinships\u003c\/i\u003e, Steven Frye illuminates all these dimensions of McCarthy's work. In his novels and plays, McCarthy engages both explicitly and obliquely with the project of manifest destiny, in the western drama \u003ci\u003eBlood Meridian\u003c\/i\u003e, the Tennessee Valley Authority-era Tennessee novels, and the atomic frontier of Alamogordo in \u003ci\u003eCities of the Plain\u003c\/i\u003e. McCarthy's concerns are deeply religious and philosophical, drawing on ancient Greek philosophy, Gnosticism, and Nietzsche, among other sources. Frye argues for McCarthy not merely as a naturalist writer but as a naturalist in the most expansive sense. \u003ci\u003eUnguessed Kinships\u003c\/i\u003e includes biographical and historical context in each chapter, widening the appeal of the text to not just naturalists or McCarthy scholars but anyone studying the literature of the South or the West. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Steven Frye\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 081736109X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780817361099\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Alabama Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/25\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 194\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.91w x 0.63d","brand":"Steven Frye","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44072637300991,"sku":"9780817361099","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_bb75c320-4cec-4ee5-90a8-7709bdcff719.jpg?v=1685443144","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/unguessed-kinships-steven-frye-9780817361099","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}