Like most writers committed to pessimism, McCarthy is never very far from theodicy. Relentless pain, relentlessly displayed, has a way of provoking metaphysical complaint.

But McCarthy stifles the question of theodicy before it can really speak. His myth of eternal violence...asserts, in effect, that rebellion is pointless because this is how it will always be. Instead of suffering, there is represented violence; instead of struggle, death; instead of lament, blood.

Instead of Cormac McCarthy, we want noodle salad.