SOURCE: "Suttree and Suicide," in Southern Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 1, Fall, 1990, pp. 71-83.

In the following essay, Shelton comments upon the existential themes within Suttree, and focuses on the protagonist of the same name. Shelton provides an overview of the novel, and discusses the Myth of Sisyphus, suicide, and other topics in his treatment.

Since the modern South possesses such a rich literary tradition, it is often customary to examine a contemporary southern writer from the point of view of his regionalism. However, Cormac McCarthy, in Suttree at least, can be rewardingly analyzed in the light of existential philosophy. The characters of his first three novels, The Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark and Child of God, are of such limited self-awareness, not to mention awareness of larger philosophical or religious issues, that whatever philosophical burden the stories bear is provided by the author and is deeply implicit in the novels...