I will never claim to be an expert as an undergrad at anything, but in my personal opinion, McCarthy is not the son of Faulkner in the Southern Literary Renaissance. McCarthy and Faulkner share common view in the complexities of nature and its subsequent weave with the human condition. The psychological complexity of Faulkner also stems from his desire to explore the true heart of people and not their surfaces (note his Nobel Prize Speech). While McCarthy exposes personalities and creates unbelievable characterizations (the Judge) I don't personally feel that sometimes a true soul is left out. I do not believe that this takes away from his writing, but he would probably focus on distancing himself as far from the Faulkner stigma southern writers are labeled with in order to produce a distinct new form of literature (which in some realms he has). The violence stems from human nature and has been a part of literature for centuries. Most notably, the Victorians may have influenced McCarthy with depressing yet duty bound works as Hardy's Jude the Obscure and Browning's poetry of destruction and desolation. Then again, this is just my unqualified position dashed out at a first response. Thank you for your time and would like to read others opinions. From: Christian the HereticWhat in God's name are you talking about? You're sounding as logical as Fat Freddie Freak after a long speed binge. How can you possibly say that Faulkner is not an influence on McCarthy's fiction? It doesn't make sense. I will agree with you that there are certainly other influences and these are as pervasive (perhaps) as Faulkner, but Faulkner is all through McCarthy's work.This is a "hot button" for me as well since I'm currently working on Light in August in comparison to Outer Dark and Child of God. First the writing style IS similar, although this is arguable from any perspective. While Faulkner uses huge and bulky sentences, McCarthy tends to use a similar rhyt...
