Abstract
Despite its overwhelmingly positive reception, the apparently redemptive conclusion to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006) attracted criticism from some reviewers. They read in it an inconsistency with the nihilism that otherwise pervades the novel, as well as McCarthy’s other works. But what are they referring to when they interpret “redemption”, the “messianic” and “God” in McCarthy’s novel? Some introductory thoughts from apocalypse theory and deconstruction reveal a more nuanced approach that not only “saves” McCarthy from the charge of such critics. It also opens up more interesting avenues for exploring the theme of redemption and the messianic in contemporary disaster fiction.
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