"Blount Author at Writing Desk"

September 30, 2022 1:20 PM

Cormac McCarthy doesn’t do interviews ... But in his early career, before the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, before his books were adapted into films and his name became known even by those who never read his books, he revealed something of himself and his craft ... Between 1968 and 1980, he gave at least 10 interviews to small local papers in Lexington, Kentucky and east Tennessee, a region where he lived and had friends. He described his literary influences, his approach to writing, his reading habits and even the house he and his then-wife rebuilt by hand out of an old dairy barn. from Early Cormac McCarthy Interviews Rediscovered [NYT; archive]
posted by chavenet (8 comments total)

The caption and post title ("Blount author at desk") is a play on words. Blount in East Tennessee is pronounced "blunt," which McCarthy often is.
posted by workerant at 2:37 PM on September 30, 2022 [4 favorites]

Our greatest living American author? How many times I've searched my shelves to realize once again I've given away another of his books to a friend, neighbor, acquaintance, workmate - The Orchard Keeper, Child of God, Suttree, Blood Meridian, the Border Trilogy all the way to The Road - to anyone whom I hoped might share my insatiable obsession for his craft and expression. He, Peter Matthiessen and Jim Harrison I just can never seem to keep them "in stock".
posted by thecincinnatikid at 7:23 PM on September 30, 2022 [4 favorites]

Our greatest living American author?

{Wm. S Burroughs voice}
to ludiate on this question would be a task undaunted by time and man's desire for the compartmentalization of authors listed by quote on quote greatness, it's a gesture best left to the list makers.

"The passing of William Burroughs leaves us with few great American writers. His presence in the American literary landscape was unparalleled,″ Silverberg said."
Ira got away with words, he was paid to do so which leads us to rule number 34.32, " don't f*** with Cormac, just enough Tennessee.
"Harold Bloom on Cormac McCarthy, True Heir to Melville and Faulkner"
I will assume this is a melding of gritty realism and life in wisped clean made up counties.
greatness isn't really anything but a brick menace.
William S. Burroughs Puts A Curse On Truman Capote
I assume if you're pushing 90 and still cracking keys there's an element to greatness disregard the legacy of the work.

"The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself."

-William S. Burroughs, 'The Cat Inside'.
posted by clavdivs at 9:37 PM on September 30, 2022 [6 favorites]

As an archivist, I will never cease to be annoyed by articles that position researchers who "discover" things in archives as the swashbuckling intellectual heroes without ever acknowledging the only way these things were preserved and safe to begin with was through the work of archivists.
posted by mostly vowels at 7:13 AM on October 1, 2022 [7 favorites]

Love his work. The Road and Blood Meridian are two of my favorite books. These interviews are a nice find.

I recently read an interview with Larry McMurtry after reading Lonesome Dove (one of the best books I’ve ever read) and had to laugh at his take on both of their legacies.

From the interview:
Bill Marvel: What about Cormac McCarthy? You didn’t mention him in the pantheon.
LM: I think that his early books are not very good. His great book, if he has a great book, is Blood Meridian, but I’m not sure it alone lifts him out of the category of being a minor regional writer. I like, for myself, No Country for Old Men better than Blood Meridian. I think Blood Meridian is a little windy. It loses focus sometimes, although I admire it. And the great passages in it are really wonderful.


Both are towering giants and Larry McMurtry just shrugs. I love all of it.
posted by glaucon at 7:49 AM on October 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

I've read most of Cormac McCarthy's books except The Road. I watched the movie late one night and it scarred me. I had a son about the age of the protagonist's son at the time. It's been at the bottom of my book pile for 10 years. I mostly read at night before bed and every time it makes it's way to the top of pile I always say "not tonight" and put it at the bottom. Maybe some day.
posted by RustyBrooks at 9:08 AM on October 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Honestly don’t. It’s a masterful novel but if the movie scarred you the book will scar you more. Relentlessly bleak.
posted by thedaniel at 12:41 AM on October 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

As mentioned in the Times article, Cormac McCarthy is due back this month with Passengers, his first new novel in 15 years, along with another in November. This article sums up the book along with the best books of fall.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:28 PM on October 2, 2022 [1 favorite]