The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Cormac McCarthy (1933 - )

McCarthy is an American author.

Bibliography

- The Orchard Keeper (1965)
- Outer Dark (1968)
- Child of God (1973)
- Suttree (1979)
- Blood Meridian (1985)
- All the Pretty Horses (1992)
- The Crossing (1994)
- Cities of the Plain (1998)
- No Country For Old Men (2005)
- The Road (2006)

Is it just me or does it feel unfashionable to say you like Cormac McCarthy these days? I think there were some strong takedowns over the past few years that ridiculed his style, and those have not been well defended by those of us who still consider his work to be amazing. I still need to read a three of his books, and hopefully we'll see the long-promised The Passenger some day soon!

It's certainly dark material. I had two fifty-page false starts with Blood Meridian before I finally made it through on my third try (I think Harold Bloom says he had something similar). It was so violent and dense! But I'm glad I persisted. It's my favorite of his.

My personal rankings as of today, though I'm glad he's an author I'm committed to "completing" (when it comes to his novels, at least).

1. Blood Meridian
2. Outer Dark
3. Child of God
4. No Country for Old Men
5. The Road

6. All the Pretty Horses
7. The Orchard Keeper

I was directed here for some Cormac McCarthy discussion. Not sure if anyone will see this as this thread has no activity. I’m currently reading Blood Meridian and plan to read Suttree soon, followed by the Border Trilogy. Anyone want to join in and discuss?

I have only read Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West and while the violence was a lot to take in the prose kept me reading. I won’t read The Road because I avoid dystopian books and Child of God is too disturbing for me, but plan to read his other books and will probably start with Suttree when I do.

I would not have read Blood Meridian if not for praise from Howard Bloom. This isn’t the article I read, but here’s his thoughts if you haven’t read them: https://biblioklept.org/2010/09/30/th...

The only two I have read were Cities of the Plain (about 20 years ago) and The Road (almost 10), and neither count among my favourites. I do have a copy of Blood Meridian (thanks to the first Mookse Madness) but I don't know when I will get round to reading it.

I have only read The Road which I liked, but felt bad for Jim Crace who produced The Pesthouse at the same time and was completely overshadowed.

I don't have much desire to read other McCarthy titles but I might change my mind given a convincing argument.

My argument for McCarthy, as someone who is halfway through Blood Meridian, is that I've been blown away by his prose. Here are a few examples:

"A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he don't want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything."

"They rode on and the sun in the east flushed pale streaks of light and then a deeper run of color like blood seeping up in sudden reaches flaring planewise and where the earth drained up into the sky at the edge of creation the top of the sun rose out of nothing like the head of a great red phallus until it cleared the unseen rim and sat squat and pulsing and malevolent behind them. The shadows of the smallest stones lay like pencil lines across the sand and the shapes of the men and their mounts advanced elongate before them like strands of the night from which they'd ridden, like tentacles to bind them to the darkness yet to come."

"Two other dogs sat a little apart, squatting loosely in their skins, just frames of dogs in napless hides watching the coupled dogs and then watching the prisoners clanking away up the street. All lightly shimmering in the heat, these lifeforms, like wonders much reduced. Rough likenesses thrown up at hearsay after the things themselves had faded in men's minds."

I love McCarthy’s writing- I have four left to read. He is an author I need to be in the mood for- he’s pretty dark. The Road and Child Of God have stuck with me the most.

I think All the Pretty Horses is a good starting place for reading McCarthy. It's the first book in his Border Trilogy and I think it has all the hallmarks of McCarthy without being quite as bloody or searing as some of his others.

Tom wrote: "I was directed here for some Cormac McCarthy discussion. Not sure if anyone will see this as this thread has no activity. I’m currently reading Blood Meridian and plan to read Suttree soon, followe..."

If you aren't getting to Suttree till June, I could join on that. Otherwise let me know when you start the Border Trilogy.

Sam wrote: "Tom wrote: "I was directed here for some Cormac McCarthy discussion. Not sure if anyone will see this as this thread has no activity. I’m currently reading Blood Meridian and plan to read Suttree s..."

I just grabbed a copy of Suttree from the library and plan to dive in shortly, but if I get delayed I'll let you know. And will definitely let you know when I get to the Border Trilogy!

Tom wrote: "Sam wrote: "Tom wrote: "I was directed here for some Cormac McCarthy discussion. Not sure if anyone will see this as this thread has no activity. I’m currently reading Blood Meridian and plan to re..."

Very good!

I have to finish the Border trilogy some day. All the Pretty Horses was my introduction to both McCarthy & westerns -- I was determined to read outside of my comfort zone. I was shocked that I liked it at all, and I really liked it, then I never finished the trilogy (probably my library didn't have the next two, but I own them now, so there's no excuse.)

I hated Blood Meridian the first time I read it (which was not the first time I started it,) then I watched a free class from Yale on YouTube, and I read it again. It was still mighty grisly, but it turns out grisly is OK for me when I understand a bit more. Even when I hated it, I felt like there was something like "the great american novel" lurking in there if I could just figure it out.

BTW - has anyone ever heard about "The Passenger"? There was a reading several years ago ( google shows me this: https://www.newsweek.com/cormac-mccar... ) and there's a great picture/quote about a copy of Blood Meridian there, but since the hubbub around that time, I've not heard anything else.

The last I heard about The Passenger is the “second book” was canceled. Could mean they’re now planning to release as just one long book. It sounds like it’s very long and complicated and that is why it’s release has been delayed. He apparently has been working on it in some capacity for 30+ years.

Nadine wrote: "I think All the Pretty Horses is a good starting place for reading McCarthy. It's the first book in his Border Trilogy and I think it has all the hallmarks of McCarthy without being q..."

I agree that All the Pretty Horses is a good starting place. I've read five of his books and liked them all. His prose is exquisite, in every book I've read.

Anyone think they'll receive an ARC of The Passenger and Stella Maris? If so, would you be willing to share the love?

I've seen this review from Laura Miller making the rounds on social media: https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/cor...

There's no shortage of reviews of McCarthy's latest. A few more:
https://www.vox.com/culture/23423262/...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/25/113128...

It's interesting to read Trevor's opening posts to this thread from six years ago, where he observes that it's no longer fashionable to like McCarthy. That seems very much like a conversation from the last decade when McCarthy was seen as a contemporary writer.

Now that McCarthy is 89 and finally releasing The Passenger and Stella Maris, I feel like he's seen as someone from a prior generation. No one in 2022 is expecting The Passenger to be amazing or relevant. More like we're hoping it's not an embarrassment.

“Arguing that life is brutal and meaningless” doesn’t match up at all with what I got from The Road, which is the only McCarthy I’ve read; though before I read it I would have thought that was exactly what it argued.

Freakishly intelligent incestuous siblings calls to mind Nabokov’s Ada. Alicia and Ada, huh.

David wrote: "More like we're hoping it's not an embarrassment."
Interesting... He doesn't seem like the type of writer who would publish unless his work is up to his own high standards (of course, his judgment could be questionable). Certainly never seems to have been interested in attention or fame in any way.