I did not know that Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for The Road. It is the most disturbing book I have ever read. It is the only book I have ever read that I wish I had not read. It made me realize that there are some places which, once having visited, a person cannot un-visit. The world of McCarthy’s novel is such a place.
One of my favorite movies is “No Country for Old Men.” It is constituted of some elements of the same world that comprise the world of The Road. Do I recommend you read Cormac McCarthy? I neither recommend nor discourage, except to warn: if you choose to, there is no going back. Caveat emptor.
The linked article is intriguing. It does make it seem as if Blood Meridian is McCarthy’s primary work. It’s interesting to think about which authors belong in the “greatest living American novelist” short list. I can see why McCarthy might be included, but I’m just not well enough read to know who his competitors are.
The abyss both terrifies and fascinates us, and a few writers - Cormac McCarthy most certainly among them - are able to carry us some distance down into that pit. Most of them then return us to the surface. McCarthy emphatically does not. He leaves us in the gloom, and you have to find your own way out. It’s not for the faint of heart.
I appreciated reading The Road. The bond between the two. The atmosphere is claustrophobic, but for me believable. I would consider him in the top tier of American writers of both the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Border trilogy put him in the same world of the rarest of the writers that can put so much wonder and class on a page of their thoughts and composition. Rare, indeed, like Townes Van Zandt, one of a kind, a guy with something extra that you anticipate, maybe....crave?
With the 2 new books out soon I look forward to a revisiting of McCarthy work by the world of books.. When I put this together, I read that initially he was put in a category of Southern writer, and this may be why the Border trilogy is not known for what it is. And 16 years since _The Road_ is a long time so a new generation may find him.
I take it McCarthy's universes do not function in a linear manner. If so, I shall seek out his books. Accepting that the universe is non-linear is difficult.
Michael Crichton, on a dare, undertook to write a version of the Beowulf Saga that is boring. I believe he failed.
I did not know that Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for The Road. It is the most disturbing book I have ever read. It is the only book I have ever read that I wish I had not read. It made me realize that there are some places which, once having visited, a person cannot un-visit. The world of McCarthy’s novel is such a place.
One of my favorite movies is “No Country for Old Men.” It is constituted of some elements of the same world that comprise the world of The Road. Do I recommend you read Cormac McCarthy? I neither recommend nor discourage, except to warn: if you choose to, there is no going back. Caveat emptor.
Same for me with The Road. I have read nothing so bleak.
And No Country for Old Men.--which they made in such a movie.
Many efforts to make a film of Blood Meridian --
HOW THE MOST GRUESOME WESTERN EVER WRITTEN BECAME AN ‘UNFILMABLE’ HOLLYWOOD LEGEND
For 25 years, Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece ‘Blood Meridian’ has stumped every director and screenwriter who tried to bring it to the big screen.: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/blood-meridian-movie
The linked article is intriguing. It does make it seem as if Blood Meridian is McCarthy’s primary work. It’s interesting to think about which authors belong in the “greatest living American novelist” short list. I can see why McCarthy might be included, but I’m just not well enough read to know who his competitors are.
The abyss both terrifies and fascinates us, and a few writers - Cormac McCarthy most certainly among them - are able to carry us some distance down into that pit. Most of them then return us to the surface. McCarthy emphatically does not. He leaves us in the gloom, and you have to find your own way out. It’s not for the faint of heart.
He has been at the Santa Fe Institute a long time. They are working on the way out.
https://www.santafe.edu/
I appreciated reading The Road. The bond between the two. The atmosphere is claustrophobic, but for me believable. I would consider him in the top tier of American writers of both the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Border trilogy put him in the same world of the rarest of the writers that can put so much wonder and class on a page of their thoughts and composition. Rare, indeed, like Townes Van Zandt, one of a kind, a guy with something extra that you anticipate, maybe....crave?
With the 2 new books out soon I look forward to a revisiting of McCarthy work by the world of books.. When I put this together, I read that initially he was put in a category of Southern writer, and this may be why the Border trilogy is not known for what it is. And 16 years since _The Road_ is a long time so a new generation may find him.
I take it McCarthy's universes do not function in a linear manner. If so, I shall seek out his books. Accepting that the universe is non-linear is difficult.
Michael Crichton, on a dare, undertook to write a version of the Beowulf Saga that is boring. I believe he failed.
He is 89 now.
Since he began in TN he was initially seen as a southern writer but moved SW.
He lives in Santa Fe Now and is a Trustee of the Santa Fe Institute https://www.santafe.edu/
Me either. The Santa Fe institute where he is now sounds very interesting, too.