The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men'

The aim of this paper is to analyse of the function (s) of violence in Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men as well as in its 2007 highly praised screen adaptation. The analysis of the use of violence in these works starts from the premises of the embedded, inherent violence of the wester...

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Main Author: Gianina Roman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Press 2011-12-01
Series:Linguaculture
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.linguaculture.ro/index.php/home/article/view/265
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author Gianina Roman
author_facet Gianina Roman
author_sort Gianina Roman
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description The aim of this paper is to analyse of the function (s) of violence in Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men as well as in its 2007 highly praised screen adaptation. The analysis of the use of violence in these works starts from the premises of the embedded, inherent violence of the western genre, seeking to speculate on its contemporary developments and adjustments as well as on its conflicting conventions. “Collapse” seems to be the leitmotif of the novel a s it defines both the structure and the substance of this modern western that, infused with elements of detective fiction – an unsolved crime, moral ambiguity, violence, and an action-driven narrative, epitomizes the urban shift of the genre. The paper will also briefly tackle issues connected to the conventions of the western genre so as to delineate a context for the centrality of stark violence in the modern western.
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spelling doaj.art-34c83eb0e56d481982ef9a6f856dba622022-12-21T22:51:08ZengAlexandru Ioan Cuza University PressLinguaculture2067-96962285-94032011-12-012210.47743/lincu-2011-2-2-265The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men' Gianina Roman0Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania The aim of this paper is to analyse of the function (s) of violence in Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men as well as in its 2007 highly praised screen adaptation. The analysis of the use of violence in these works starts from the premises of the embedded, inherent violence of the western genre, seeking to speculate on its contemporary developments and adjustments as well as on its conflicting conventions. “Collapse” seems to be the leitmotif of the novel a s it defines both the structure and the substance of this modern western that, infused with elements of detective fiction – an unsolved crime, moral ambiguity, violence, and an action-driven narrative, epitomizes the urban shift of the genre. The paper will also briefly tackle issues connected to the conventions of the western genre so as to delineate a context for the centrality of stark violence in the modern western. https://journal.linguaculture.ro/index.php/home/article/view/265mythwesternmasculinityviolencedeconstructioncollapse
spellingShingle Gianina Roman
The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men'
Linguaculture
myth
western
masculinity
violence
deconstruction
collapse
title The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men'
title_full The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men'
title_fullStr The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men'
title_full_unstemmed The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men'
title_short The Urban Shift of The Western: Inscriptions of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s 'No Country for Old Men'
title_sort urban shift of the western inscriptions of violence in cormac mccarthy s no country for old men
topic myth
western
masculinity
violence
deconstruction
collapse
url https://journal.linguaculture.ro/index.php/home/article/view/265
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