Episode 64: McCarthy and Philosophy

Last October while attending the American Literature Association fiction symposium in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I managed to sequester two live, dyed-in-the-wool employed philosophers who also happen to be Cormac McCarthy experts.  My AV guy (which is me) thought to handle the situation in some arm chairs near an elevator using a very expensive microphone rig ($28 at least) which attached to my phone.  So--the sound is challenging, but I hope that listeners will forge ahead to this excellent conversation.  Returning to the podcast is Dr. Rick Elmore, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Appalachian State University and Senior Managing Editor of book reviews at Symposium. He researches and teaches in the areas of twentieth-century French philosophy, critical theory, animal philosophy, and Cormac McCarthy Studies. He is the co-editor of The Biopolitics of Punishment: Derrida and Foucault (Northwestern University Press), The Evolving Project of Cormac McCarthy (LSU) and, published after this recording, New Perspectives on Cormac McCarthy: Encountering The Passenger and Stella Maris (U. South Carolina Press). His articles and essays have appeared in Politics & Policy, Symplokē, Symposium, Mississippi Quarterly, and The Cormac McCarthy Journal, among others. Joining him is his good friend Dr. Vern Cisney,  the chair and associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Gettysburg College, where he teaches at the intersections of philosophy, religion, film, literature, politics, and popular culture.  He is the author of Deleuze and Derrida: Difference and the Power of the Negative (Edinburgh, 2014).  He is additionally the coeditor of Between Foucault and Derrida (Edinburgh, 2016), BioPower: Foucault and Beyond (Chicago, 2015), The Way of Nature and the Way of Grace: Philosophical Footholds On Terence Malick’s Tree of Life (Northwestern, 2016) and a number of other books.  Recent articles include work in Deleuze and Guattari Studies, and pieces in The Evolving Project of Cormac McCarthy, and New Perspectives on Cormac McCarthy: Encountering The Passenger and Stella Maris. Thanks as well to Thomas Frye, who composed, performed, and produced the music for READING MCCARTHY.  The views of the host and his guests do not necessarily reflect the views of their home institutions or the Cormac McCarthy Society.  We appreciate favorable reviews on the platform of your choice.  If you enjoy this podcast you may also enjoy the GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL PODCAST, hosted by myself and Kirk Curnutt. To contact me, please reach out to readingmccarthy(@)gmail.com. The website is at readingmccarthy.buzzsprout.com Support the showNew! A book adaptation of many of the episodes focusing on McCarthy's Southern novels is forthcoming in December, 2026.  Click the link for details on Reading Cormac McCarthy: Scholars Discuss the Southern Novels.Starting in spring of 2023, the podcast began accepting minor sponsorship offers to offset the costs of the podcast.  This may cause a mild disconnect in earlier podcasts where the host asks for patrons in lieu of sponsorships.   But if we compare it to a very large and naked bald man in the middle of the desert who leads you to an extinct volcano to create gunpowder, it seems pretty minor...