Outer Dark

Synopsis

Outer Dark is the second novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy, published in 1968. The time and setting are nebulous, but likely take place sometime around the turn of the twentieth century somewhere in Appalachia. The novel tells of a woman named Rinthy who bears her brother's baby. The brother, Culla, leaves the nameless infant in the woods to die, but tells his sister that the newborn died of natural causes and had to be buried. Rinthy discovers this lie and sets out to find the baby for herself. The name of the novel is derived from the Gospel of Matthew, specifically the meeting between the Roman centurion and Jesus, during which Jesus says: "But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth".

Text license: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Details

Type

Book

Release date

January 1, 1968

Genres

Southern Gothic

Created by

Cormac McCarthy

Countries

United States