Suttree Annotated Bibliography

Aldridge, John W. “Cormac McCarthy's Bizarre Genius.” Atlantic Monthly Aug. 1994: 89-97.

Aldridge describes McCarthy as a recluse, and characterizes his fiction as containing nonsequential, episodic narratives, similar to Faulkner but without likeable characters. He describes The Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark, andChild of God as “plotless” with characters that lack intelligence. Aldridge criticizes Suttree as a novel that does not “grow in profundity,” and Suttree as a character lacking self-awareness and failing to progress, an onlooker in his Knoxville of “Dickensian” characters. 

Arnold, Edwin T. “Suttree.” Masterplots II: American Fiction Series. Rev. ed. 2000.

In this summary essay, Arnold provides analysis of major characters. He asserts Suttree’s life is a series of failures, and that by subjecting himself to his doomed life he reveals his humanity. This journey leads to Suttree’s understanding of the the importance of life and responsibility at the end of the novel. He also describes the evident father/son motif, citing Suttree’s rescue of Harrogate from the cave as symbolic of his twin and son.

Brewton, Vince. “The Changing Landscape of Violence in Cormac McCarthy's Early Novels and the Border Trilogy.” The Southern Literary Journal 37.1 (2004): 121. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Apr. 2010.

An extensive and well-thought out critique of violence in early McCarthy novels, this text both makes use of violence as a whole, and separate instances of physical altercations as points of entry to deeper meanings of the novel. Brewton draws a parallel between Suttree, McCarthy's other texts, and Vietnam. Brewton’s writing is fluid, and makes good use of textual and historical references in order to synthesize Brewton's creative and novel comparisons and parellels. This piece does an excellent job hunting out a wide variety of meanings the graphic scenes in Suttree might hold, and makes sense of the many sporadic and apparently trivial fights and spats contained in Suttree.

Canfield, J. Douglas. “The Dawning of an Age of Aquarius: Abjection, Identity, and the Carnivalesque in Cormac McCarthy's Suttree.” Contemporary Literature. XLIV.4 (2003): 664-696.

Canfield draws parallels to many other works and ideas in his lengthy analysis of Suttree; his central metaphor is that of the waterbearer as a Christ figure, signaling the “dawning of an age of Aquarius”. He recognizes the autobiographical nature of the work, and focuses on the central conflict of Suttree’s abjection, alienation, and search for identity, which he supports with Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection. This theory is seen in the character’s grief, escapism in drinking, alienation from his wife, son, and parents, and his troubling relationship with God as a “catholic existentialist”. He outlines the theme of duality and observes Suttree’s fear of the maternal. Canfield also describes the “grotesque folk humor” and carnivalesque qualities of Suttree, as well as the city of Knoxville and the river as a mirror for Suttree’s abjection.

Crace, Jim. “Tribal Views” New Statesman, 99. 2563 (1980):682

Crace describes the tribal nature of the Knoxville characters in McCarthy’s Suttree. He compares this community to Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County, but claims Suttree lacks the “social allegorical context”. Rather, there may be a religious correspondence between McCarthy’s Knoxville to the biblical Sodom and Gommorah. He also criticizes the lack of a distinctive narrative voice in the novel.

Giles, James Richard. “Discovering Fourthspace in Appalachia.”The Spaces of Violence. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, 2006. 16-19. Print. 

Despite focusing primarily on McCarthy’s Outer Dark and Child of God, Giles’ discourse sheds light on Suttree. Focusing on the idea of fourthspace, a term which he coined for McCarthy’s works, Giles claims it “merges the material, the metaphoric or linguistic, and the phychological or subconscious, and only the darkest forms of freedom, the most horrific possibilities, result from the merger.” (18) Withoutthe sense of freedom, , McCarthy’s world seems entirely nihilistic and fate-driven, which is not the case at all, and is acknowledged; “Nihilism and something like religious affirmation are at war throughout McCarthy’s novels” (23). Though Giles’ text does not focus specifically onSuttree, his reading of McCarthy as an author is very accurate, well researched, and respectably recorded, which makes The spaces of violenceapplicable to an array of McCarthy novels.

Guinn, Matthew. “Atavism and the Exploded Metanarrative: Cormac McCarthy's Journey to Mythoclasm.” After Southern Modernism: Fiction of the Contemporary South. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2000. 91-109. Print.

 Launching straight into McCarthy’s use of atavism, Guinn provides a rather thorough and lucid interpretation of McCarthy’s work as a whole. He claims”The result is a fictional past antithetical to modernism, in which, as Bell states ‘not meaning itself but the traditional idea of meaning is made obsolete.’ (20)” (95) Guinn’s opinion that “His [McCarthy’s] forays into an existence that precedes such ordinary principles exploring humanist philosophy itself in eidetic manner-as a series of disjointed and muddled paradigms that fail to cohere into a valid framework for human experience” could perhaps be argued against but despite disagreements such as this, Guinn’s critique on McCarthy, andSuttree in particular, brings forth some important points and ideas (95). The over-archingidea ofSuttree, analysis of violence and past and myth contributes to ordering and organizing one’s life are key to Guinn. Guinn also comments on the specific meaning of Suttree’s twin theme, explaining Suttree’s preoccupation with death. Despite a dense writing style, attention should be paid to Guinn’s work, as he does an excellent job of viewing McCarthy’s works as a whole, and his novels as a timeline to explain the vision of McCarthy as a southern author.

Hibbard, Allen. “Suttree.” Magill's Survey of American Literature. Rev. ed. 2007.

Beginning with a specific time frame for the novel (October 1950 through Spring 1955), Hibbard’s summary essay describes Suttree as a “tolerant and compassionate” character who is also mysterious, “rejecting sober, middle class values” on a search to live authentically. Hibbard recognizes the protagonist does not take fate into his own hands. He also describes the theme of death and the use of Harrogate for comedy, as well as appreciating the balance between dialogue and lyric landscapes in the novel.

Lincoln, Kenneth. Cormac McCarthy: American Canticles. 1st ed. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 69-77.

Lincoln gives a well-quoted and revealing outline of major events in Suttree while offering commentary on the themes and style of writing. He compares the novel to Joyce’s Ulysses as well as the writing of Dickens. Lincoln excels at forming a linear plot out of an episodic collection, identifying the presence of death, “epidemic” violence, and the bizarre combination of erotic and maternal aspects of the book. 

Longley, John Lewis Jr. “Suttree and the Metaphysics of Death.”Southern Literary Journal XVII.2 (1985): 79-90.

Longley identifies the themes of doubles, existentialism, and the pastoral, as well as the metaphors of Knoxville and the river. Family, love, and death are identified as central to the novel, and Longley emphasizes the beginning and ending of the work with death, the passing of most of Suttree’s friends, and twins as an omen of death. Longley states that death is the controlling image: death as enemy, death as danger, death as omnipresent event. In “real” life, death is omnipresent, of course, but in the real life of McAnally Flats, the odds are considerably steeperThe central theme of death is tied to several controlling metaphors which are omnipresent in the story; which weave in and out of the flow of events. McAnally and Knoxville in general is one. Another is the river and by extension its tributaries. Yet another is what might be called the pastoral and its attendant dangers. Truly every prospect pleases and only man is vile. This contrast, according to Longley, increases the power of another phenomenon: the degree to which a sensitive and perceptive human can move within the beauty of the visible world, seeing and feeling it all, and at the same time never forgetting that the world, at best, does not know or care. And, at worst, this beauty may conceal the thing that will kill him.

Luce, Dianne C. “Prisoner in Babylon: Suttree (1979).” Reading the World: Cormac McCarthy's Tennessee Period. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina, 2009. 194-270. Print. 

Diane Luce forges many connections to meaningful sources that each (what?) dig up revelatory aspects of Suttree. Luce manages to satisfactorily cover a variety of topics. Dream frames, while not the most direct section of critique, allows many parallels to be drawn within McCarthy’s other texts and other classic works of literature. The exploratory and indirect nature of this section creates a wide foundation off which to springboard other ideas. By creating such a large and diverse web of analysis of Suttree as a character, Luce designs an unbiased blueprint to the basic Suttree, providing ample framework for more detailed readings. The section titled “Hallucinated Recollections: The Album of the Dead draws together several readings of the text and culls them into elaborate interpretation of Suttree’s exploration of his mother’s photo albums that reveals Suttree’s background and poses plausible reasons for his behavior.

Furthermore, Luce allows many parallels between relationships both within Suttree, and within McCarthy’s works as a whole, which provide an additional level of meaning to her analysis. Overall, McCarthy’s Tennessee Period contains some very high-quality criticism and analysis, and provides expansive groundwork for further work with the text.

Morris, Caroline. “He hardly knew if he dreamt or not” altered states of consciousness in Suttree: a Thesis.” Manuscript. 2001. Appalachian State University. Print

Morris describes how Suttree has many doubles throughout the text. Not only do Suttree’s doubles come in the form of his stillborn brother and the comic Harrogate, but also the ragman, the goat-man who identifies Suttree’s loneliness, and the Indian with whom Suttree, despite himself, longs to make friends. Morris goes on to claim that perhaps the key passage in the novel occurs on Suttree’s river barge where he engages in a dialogue with his shadow, another double, on death and dying. The reference to vanity echoes Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 19, in particular a quote which could stand as an explication of McCarthy’s entire work: “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. McCarthy’s writing has many references to men and animals as being equal before God. To suggest otherwise, the Bible tells us is vanity. In McCarthy’s work, it leads to hubris. In Suttree we are drawn to an understanding that all are one in God.

Rothfork, John. “Redemption as Language in Cormac McCarthy's Suttree.” Christianity and Literature. 53.3 (2004): 385-397. 

 Introducing McCarthy’s earlier novels as works of religion, suffering, and a lack of redemption, Rothfork attempts to understand the complexities of Suttree’s character: an intellectual, romantic, and possible Christ figure though he struggles with the idea of suicide. Through the biblical language of the text, Suttree searches for a loving God, rejecting the Christianity of his childhood. Rothfork argues thatSuttree provides evidence that language as a human construct is lacking in divine qualities Rothfork portrays the novel as an examination of the nature of the divine, discussing the Buddhist qualities of the ragman and the Judgment Day of Suttree’s illness, from which he escapes to the biblical image of the waterbearer.

Shelton, Frank W. “Suttree and Suicide.” Southern Quarterly. 29.1 (1990): 71-83. Print.

Shelton asserts that Suttree is a unique character in McCarthy’s literature due to his intellectual and philosophical capacity. He struggles with the existence of God and meaning, which leads him to contemplate suicide. Shelton also claims that the theme of suicide is central to the novel because McCarthy’s work begins with the suicide of a man who has killed himself by jumping from a bridge into the Tennessee River. Unable to cope with reality, Suttree seeks to escape his consciousness. . Shelton claims that the conclusion of the novel results in Suttree choosing life over death. Suttree, does not actually commit suicide because, while he is “half in love with easeful death,” he also half fears it. According to Shelton, “Suicide would be a definite act, requiring the kind of commitment and certainty which until the very end of the novel he does not possess. Yet the most basic reason death attracts Suttree is made clear: it would be a relief from the burdens and torments of consciousness.”

Winchell, Mark Royden. Reinventing the South: Versions of a Literary Region. 1st ed. Colombia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2006. 223-241. 

 In his article “Scum of the Earth,” Winchell describes McCarthy as eccentric and his writing notable for its “pyrotechnical” use of language. He finds The Orchard Keeper naturalistic and Child of God and Outer Dark centered on horror and disgust. In regards to Suttree, Winchell asserts it is overwritten, with rhetoric that fails to accomplish its purpose. He classifies the Southern aspects of the novel, including the characters, dialogue, mystery of nature, and comedy, comparing McCarthy’s writing to Faulkner. He sees Suttree as a true protagonist and a dreamer, choosing to be among the dregs of humanity in a novel whose greatest virtue is its humor.

Young, Thomas D., Jr. “The Imprisonment of Sensibility: Suttree.” Perspectives on Cormac McCarthy. Rev. ed. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. Arnold, Edwin, and Dianne Luce. Web. 5 Apr 2010.

In this essay, Thomas Young argues that the task which Suttree’s consciousness thrusts upon him in this novel is to determine the difference between “dead and witless” inanimate nature and the peculiar phenomenon of human life that has proceeded out of it. He point out that if animation alone is the distinction, then death really does have the primacy throughout the entire natural world that Suttree’s preoccupation with it suggests. Life becomes an improbable deviation from the uniform. Suttree’s aim, then, is to draw as close as possible to “that still center where the living and the dead are one” (447). Suttree wants to know the miracle by which the individual consciousness emerges out of the impersonal process of the world, how the “[b]lind moil in the earth’s nap cast up in an eyeblink between becoming and done” gives rise to the “I am, I am” (129). Young proceeds rather chronologically through the entire novel, pointing out the more important connections. He discusses common themes, including the preoccupation with death, twinning, psychological metamorphosis, and photo albums, introducing them in a very logical and timely manner. Though incredibly detailed, Young’s biggest strength is perhaps his ability to cull all the relevant references to a plot component or theme, and succinctly explain, with textual support, the common threads and parallels that add extra meaning to an already obscenely fecund novel.