Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
The postapocalyptic genre provides opportunity for examination of the most basic aspects of society considering this alone remains of humanity and culture after apocalyptic events. In a genre where much of societal structures and ideologies are lost, the destroyed concepts cannot adequately analyze postapoclayptic texts. Folklore—the study of human behavior and interaction including the communication and binding together of a individuals and groups—becomes necessary. When applying the revelatory aspect of the postapocalypse with the folkloric framework of analysis to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, religion comes to the forefront—not religion as expressed and understood by structured and mass religion, but religious folklore and folk belief: binding together the father and son. Ultimately, the use of folklore in The Road interconnects literature, postapocalyptic fiction, and folklore studies in academic conversation. The Road is a literary case study of folklore, a field not often associated with mass print media.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Location
4101 JFSB
Start Date
20-3-2015 10:15 AM
End Date
20-3-2015 11:45 AM
Included in
The Folks of the Postapocalypse: The Road, Religion, and Folklore Studies
4101 JFSB
The postapocalyptic genre provides opportunity for examination of the most basic aspects of society considering this alone remains of humanity and culture after apocalyptic events. In a genre where much of societal structures and ideologies are lost, the destroyed concepts cannot adequately analyze postapoclayptic texts. Folklore—the study of human behavior and interaction including the communication and binding together of a individuals and groups—becomes necessary. When applying the revelatory aspect of the postapocalypse with the folkloric framework of analysis to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, religion comes to the forefront—not religion as expressed and understood by structured and mass religion, but religious folklore and folk belief: binding together the father and son. Ultimately, the use of folklore in The Road interconnects literature, postapocalyptic fiction, and folklore studies in academic conversation. The Road is a literary case study of folklore, a field not often associated with mass print media.