OBSCURE CHARACTERS IN CORMAC MCCARTHY'S FICTION

The fiction of Cormac McCarthy is often seen as enigmatic due to the wide range of possibilities of interpretation and his excessive use of violence. Villains, criminals, deviants or other psychopaths and sociopaths dominate McCarthy's fiction. The aim of this paper is to examine these protagonists in more detail and to draw attention to the innovative nature of their characterization. The main attention is paid to the author's exclusive use of male "nomadic characters," their restricted interiority, limited empathy, inability to grow, as well as the lack of linguistic expression these characters exhibit. The paper also examines how these elements subvert traditional conceptions of American heroism and masculinity and, consequently, literary characterization in general. McCarthy's unconventional characterization violates the reader's expectations of a normative literary experience and offers exciting new interpretative approaches.