Cormac McCarthy, whose nihilistic and violent tales of the American frontier and post-apocalyptic world won awards, film adaptations and sleepless nights for his enthralled and awe-stricken readers, died Tuesday at the age of 89.
According to a statement from publisher Penguin Random House, McCarthy — arguably the greatest American writer since Ernest Hemingway or William Faulkner, both of whom were sometimes compared — died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. happened. , John McCarthy.
Little known for the first 60 years of his life, enthusiastic reviews 1992 all beautiful horses – the first in The Border Trilogy – all that changed. The book was made into a movie – as it was in 2005 no country for old men and 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winner Way,
But McCarthy has never been seen on the red carpet. An intensely private man, he almost never gave interviews. He provided a rare exception to Oprah Winfrey in 2007, saying: “I don’t think (the interview) is good for your mind. If you spend a lot of time thinking about how to write a book, you probably don’t.” Shouldn’t.” Thinking about it, you probably should do it.”
McCarthy wrote with a distinctive, spare style that escaped grammatical norms but relentlessly drew the reader into his world of blood, dust and an unforgiving universe.
“He stood at the window of the empty cafe and looked at the activities in the square and said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the youth because they were starting out or else they would not have had the heart to start all ,” he wrote in typical fashion all beautiful horses,
not respectable
Born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr. on July 20, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island, McCarthy was one of six children in his Irish Catholic family, and later switched to using the old Irish name of Cormac.
His father was a lawyer and he was brought up in relative comfort in Tennessee. But Central America was not for him.
He said, “I quickly realized that I was not going to be a respectable citizen. I hated school from the day I stepped into it.” new York Times In another rare interview in 1992.
He served in the Air Force in the 1950s and was married twice before the 1960s – first to Lee Holleman, whom he met in college and with whom he had a son, and later to English singer Anne Delisle. from whom he was separated. 1976. After a short period in Europe, he returned to Tennessee, settling near Knoxville, Tennessee, and later moved to El Paso, Texas, and then Santa Fe.
his first book garden keeper, set in rural Tennessee and published in 1965, landed with Faulkner’s final editor, who recognized the young writer’s potential. But despite positive reviews – and some shocking backlash – for this and other early works children of God And outer darknessCommercial success eluded McCarthy and he scraped by on writers’ grants.
in 1985 blood meridian was published, attracting little attention at the time, although it is now considered his first truly great novel and perhaps his best. Featuring lots of violence and no protagonists, it tells the story of a gang of skull hunters in the mid-19th century West.
all beautiful horsesA coming-of-age book that kicked off a trilogy centered on Texas ranch hands close to the frontier, it finally found acclaim in the 1990s.
was followed by trilogy no country for old menA deeply disturbing and yet intriguing Western crime novel about a drug deal gone wrong was quickly adapted by Joel and Ethan Coen into a film that won the 2007 Best Picture Oscar.
This was the time that also saw the publication of Way – Maybe even deeper than what went before. Set in a world where an unnamed disaster has decimated society and food production, a father and his son traverse a devastated landscape occupied by desperate people. The full depth of human depravity is on display – but also the love that the little family has been able to maintain through it all. Way won several awards and was also made into a film in 2009.
Then came a long period until two new companion novels were released in 2022 – the connected books passenger And Stella Maris It was unmistakably McCarthy, now approaching the age of 90, though somewhat humble – and, perhaps, vedic.
“Enough,” says a character for whom death is drawing near. “I have never considered this life to be particularly healthy or benign, and I have not the slightest understanding why I was here. If there is an afterlife – and I most pray there is not – I can only hope I bet they won’t sing.
“Cormac McCarthy changed the course of literature. For sixty years, he demonstrated an unwavering dedication to his craft and to exploring the infinite possibilities and power of the written word,” Nihar Malviya, CEO of Penguin Random House, said in a statement. Did.” ,
McCarthy married three times before divorcing his third wife, Jennifer Winkley, in 2006. They had two children: Cullen, born in 1962, and John, born in 1998.