Cormac McCarthy Dies Aged 89

Hello Gentle Reader, 

There can be no denying that Cormac McCarthy is a titan of contemporary American letters. Where others diverged into the cerebral and more playfulness the postmodern literary form provided, such as Thomas Pynchon, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, and Don DeLillo; Cormac McCarthy continued that great American undertaking of writing about the struggles of the frontier, which remained lawless, wild, and even apocalyptic. McCarthy was absolutely singular in form and style, his themes were universal and questioning, reviewing the consequence of sin, nihilistic ponderings, violent conflicts, and the cost for survival. The wavering between moralist and gratuitous violence into the nihilistic void. Yet, McCarthy never veered subscribed to either notion. His characters outsiders in their own right, who faced with extreme threats, revert to more instinctual nature, abandoning logical cognitive processing, and emotional reactionary responses. This in particular is what made "No Country for Old Men," a cinematic wonder (beyond the fact that the novel was originally conceived as a screenplay), the novel is a thrill ride of tension in the rare scenes of quiet, while action is prolonged, measured, and deliberate. The relentless pursuit of Llewelyn Moss by Anton Chigurh is epic in scope and terror. "The Road," was Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning dystopian novel. Often considered one of the most engrossing allegorical novels exploring the inhumanity in a post-9/11 world. "The Road," is by and large a survivalist's novel, and in typical McCarthy fashion does no shy away from detailing the horrors of civilization lost to a calamity, and the desperate measures they will be reduced to in order to survive. "The Road," epitomizes instinct over emotional responses and logical rationale. Concepts of justice and honour are no longer legitimate when society has fallen into primitive anarchy. The novel, however, survives and finds its strength through the bond and love between father and son. Survival is their main objective, but without the element of shared endurance and camaraderie, the novel would have fallen apart due to its lack of humanity. Humanity is the soul of McCarthy's work, celebrating it in all its freakish forms, as is the case of "Suttree," a surreal and down trodden ill fated comedy, of one man's revolt against privilege and luxury, who finds liberty and purpose amongst the otherwise neglected and disposed. Surprisingly, however, after 15 years of silence, Cormac McCarthy returned with a twin set of novels: "The Passenger," and "Stella Maris." "The Passenger," returns to the sense of adventure one should expect with McCarthy, detailing the extraordinary and complicated life of a salvage diver, who on his latest dive, enters into a world of subterfuge and espionage. Though these are circumstances and atmospheres he is more then acquainted with. His personal life was obliterated by his own father's assistance in the development of the atomic bomb, and his sister's suicide. Like a thriller, what follows suit is complication and dead end. Shadowy and unknown characters ransack his life further and force him into hiding, where washed up and destitute he begins the exercise of rehabilitating, or at least remediating his own relationship with his past. "Stella Maris," is the twilight hour to "The Passengers," golden hour. Less straightforward and formal, the novel consists entirely of dialogue between the titular Stella and her psychiatrist. This form allowed McCarthy the freedom to expand his musings on physics, philosophy, the atomic bombs development and deployment, and mathematics without concern for where it will fit in to the novel. McCarthy died of natural causes, and his death marks a extraordinary loss to American Literature, as no writer has had a career so stellar and uncompromisingly singular as Cormac McCarthy. 

Rest in Peace Cormac McCarthy. 

Thank you for Reading Gentle Reader 
Take Care 
And As Always 
Stay Well Read 

M. Mary