Este artículo examina la influencia que la concepción nihilista de la existencia humana ha ejercido sobre la novela norteamericana de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. En primer lugar, se relata brevemente la historia del término nihilismo y se explica cómo la violencia se ha convertido en un tema principal para los novelistas que comparten una visión nihilista de la realidad. Para concretar esta idea, se procede después al análisis de cinco novelas escritas por autores norteamericanos durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX: Trampa 22 (1961), de Joseph Heller; Matadero cinco (1969), de Kurt Vonnegut; Meridiano de sangre (1985), de Cormac McCarthy; American Psycho (1991), de Bret Easton Ellis, y El club de lucha (1996), de Chuck Palahniuk.

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the influence that the nihilist conception of human existence has exerted on the North American novel of the second half of the 20th Century. First of all, it relates the history of the term ‘nihilism’ and explains how violence has become a main theme for novelists who share a nihilist vision of reality. In order to concrete this idea we will analyze five novels which have been written by North American authors during the second half of the 20th Century: Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut, Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy, American Psycho (1991) by Bret Easton Ellis and Fight Club (1996) by Chuck Palahniuk.

Nihilismo, violencia, novela norteamericana, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk. Nihilism, violence, North American novel, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk.