American novelist Cormac McCarthy: biography, creativity and interesting facts

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Cormack McCarthy is a famous modern American writer, famous for his gothic and western books. Over the past few decades, his works have been confidently leading the tops of the most famous works written in English. An indicator of the author's popularity is that his work is being filmed, and he himself has received numerous prestigious awards as the creator of a unique new adventure genre in a modern style.

Early years

Cormack McCarthy was born in 1933 to a lawyer's family. He graduated from a Catholic school and college in Tennessee. For several years he served in the American army, and after demobilization he continued his studies at the university. It is during this time that he makes his debut as an aspiring writer with several short stories that receive positive reviews. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he worked on his first major novel. Attention is drawn to the talented author, and Cormac McCarthy receives a number of prestigious scholarships that allow him to devote himself entirely to his literary career. He has the ability to travel and devotes all his time to writing novels. In 1965, his work was published"Guardian of the Garden", which cements his fame as the original master of the word.

1960s-1970s

Cormack McCarthy became known as the author of heavy novels, riddled with themes of violence and sin. It is in this spirit that the work “Darkness Outside” is written, in which the main features of his work have already been identified: gloomy colors and a dramatic plot. In 1979, the novel "Suttri" was published, a distinctive feature of which is the presence of autobiographical elements in it, as well as a share of humor. It has been enjoyed by many readers. The author tells about a man who managed to escape from everyday life and gray everyday life and achieve some success in life. In this story, the features of the biography of the novelist himself are guessed.

New success

Cormac McCarthy, whose books are popular with the modern reader, became famous with the publication of his new work "Blood Meridian" in 1985. The story is dedicated to scalp hunters. It was a new level of the genre for the writer: a western in its specific processing. The novel is extremely violent. It is partly based on real events: the author talks about a terrible gang that killed not only Indians, but also ordinary passers-by on the border of Texas and Mexico. The figure of the judge stands out in the plot, into whose mouth the author puts his main idea that a person is militant by nature, and that evil is an integral part of society.

The writer does not condone violence, but tries to find at leastsome explanation for the terrible events that shook the young American state in the first decades of its formation.

So, one of the recognized authors of the Western was Cormac McCarthy. "Blood Meridian", reviews of which indicate that the story shocked readers with its cruelty, is a novel that determined the further creative path of its creator.

Novel and adaptation

The author's style is extremely peculiar and original. He does not punctuate and gives the reader a continuous narrative without any semantic accents, ideological digressions and highlights. Some readers are puzzled by this, but most will admit that, despite the specific style of presentation of events, the text is easy to read.

Cormac McCarthy became famous for creating hard Westerns. "No Country for Old Men" is a novel that, according to the general recognition of the public and critics, has become one of his most widely read works. The story focuses on the struggle between old and young forces in American society. In the center of the story are bounty hunters, sheriffs, their relatives and victims. The author again saturated the plot with cruelties and scenes of violence. The composition is dynamic: chases, pursuits, interspersed with difficult psychological dialogues and showdowns, do not allow the reader to relax. The book was made into a film of the same name, which was nominated for an Oscar in various categories.

Utopian novel

To another famousthe work of the author was the work "Road". The book (Cormack McCarthy, when writing it, somewhat changed the style of the narration) differs from the above works of the author in that the action is not the main thing in it. This time, the author tells about a conditional future in which humanity survived a terrible catastrophe and degenerated into terrible humanoid creatures. They have become literally savages who systematically kill their own kind. The main characters - a father and his little son wander along an empty road, no one knows where and why. The plot almost completely lacks descriptions of nature and the characters themselves, which gives an even darker tone to the story. The author shows that these two lonely people still retain the remnants of humanity: they do not kill anyone and simply fight day after day for their existence. Their relationship is surprisingly touching and simple, and gives the plot a touch of sincerity and warmth.

Ratings

Cormac McCarthy showed himself to be the author of various subjects. "The Road", reviews of which turned out to be generally positive, is a work that differs from the novelist's westerns in its measured and unhurried, but at the same time frighteningly slow plot development. Readers note the author's peculiar style, which for some seemed difficult to understand, but the majority indicate that the original language as a whole corresponds to the general idea. Readers credit the writer with the fact that he so masterfully conveyed the sharp contrast between the terrible world of disfigured humanity and thesetwo travelers who seem to have retained their human form alone. Many liked the scene with the dog, when the father did not kill the animal for the sake of his son, although they were both starving on the road, and it could serve as food for them. In general, a significant part of readers consider the novel relevant for modern times.

Sayings

Cormack McCarthy, whose quotes speak of his extraordinary mastery of the word, wrote in a very peculiar language that makes his works so recognizable. The dialogues of his characters are distinguished by their vitality and truthfulness, and at the same time by some severity, which is explained by the general style of his work.

For example, the phrase "Yes, you will forget what you want to remember, and you will remember what you want to forget" is deeply symbolic in its meaning not only in the context of the novel, but also in a general sense in general. With these words, the author noted one of the characteristic features in human nature, which indicates that he is a master of psychological analysis.

Another quote from him, “Today, no one wants to live and does not want to die” has a philosophical meaning and, in principle, approaches not so much the utopian reality created by the novelist in the work “The Road”, but rather modern reality.

Features of creativity

The writer's works are quite popular at the present time, despite the fact that they are written in a gloomy spirit and contain a large number of scenes related to violence and cruelty. However, many readersfind in them a kind of respite. Some see echoes of the modern world in the works, despite the fact that the action of novels often takes place either in a conventional space or in the past. The interesting facts of his work include, first of all, his peculiar style without punctuation marks, complexity and simultaneous simplicity in constructing sentences.

Another curious fact related to his life relates to the character of the author himself. It is known that he does not like to give interviews about his works, so his novels are often interpreted in a variety of ways. Perhaps that is why his works attract directors who willingly take his stories as the basis for the script.