麦卡锡的早期作品以美国南方背景为主,评论界普遍认为他是个虚无主义者,但又是个虔诚保守的南方作家。作为虚无主义者,他展现给读者的是一幅缺失人性的无情画面;而作为虔诚的南方作家,他描述的却是具有基督精神的世界观,虽然作品充满暴力与邪恶,但却暗示着真实的救赎意义。1985年,小说《血色子午线》的发表,使麦卡锡的小说背景从南方转移到了西南,也由此引发了关于麦卡锡属于南方作家还是西部作家的争论。理查德·伍德沃德认为,麦 McCarthy’s early works were mainly based on the southern American backgrounds. The critics generally regarded him as an nihilist, but a devout and conservative southern writer. As a nihilist, he shows the reader a derelict humanistic picture of innocence. As a devout southern writer, he describes the worldly view of the Christian spirit. Although the work is full of violence and evil, it implies that the real Meaning of redemption. In 1985, the publication of The Scarlet Meridians shifted McCarthy’s fictional background from the South to the Southwest and sparked a debate about whether McCarthy belongs to a Southern or Western writer. Richard Woodward believes that wheat