Excellent review of Cormac McCarthy and his work

kennyc · 07-07-2011, 09:48 PM

http://quarterlyconversation.com/cor...orchard-keeper

It is telling that critics frequently compare Cormac McCarthy’s novels to dreams. Two examples: in The New York Review of Books, Joyce Carol Oates stated that McCarthy’s work is reminiscent of one of Pascal Pensées: “Life is a dream a little less inconstant.” Earlier in the same journal, Denis Donoghue found recourse to Freud: “[a dream] does not think, calculate, or judge in any way at all; it restricts itself to giving things a new form.”

Oates and Donoghue do not resort to the tired and superficial cliché, dreamlike; rather they use the language of dreams to describe fiction at once teasingly intimate yet also fundamentally alienated from us. They acknowledge the often surreal quality of McCarthy’s fiction but imply an underlying sensibility beneath the chaos. Indeed, both quotes cut down two of the most persistent critiques of McCarthy: moral ambiguity and a lack of interest in penetrating beneath surfaces. Pascal and Freud offer rejoinders: dreams, like McCarthy, may appear unbound, but they have a power over us that belies that claim.....

Discussed in this essay:
• The Orchard Keeper, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $13.95. 256 pp.
• Outer Dark, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $13.95. 256 pp.
• Child of God, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $13.95. 206 pp.
• Suttree, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 480 pp.
• Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 352 pp.
• All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 320 pp.
• The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 432 pp.
• Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 292 pp.
• No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.00. 309 pp.
• The Road, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 287 pp.

Rest here:
http://quarterlyconversation.com/cor...orchard-keeper

carpetmojo · 07-08-2011, 05:56 AM

Wonderful writer.................

OtterBooks · 07-08-2011, 08:22 AM

can't go wrong with McCarthy. His body of work and consistency taken as a whole, he's probably America's greatest living author.

07-07-2011, 09:48 PM	#1
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	Excellent review of Cormac McCarthy and his work http://quarterlyconversation.com/cor...orchard-keeper It is telling that critics frequently compare Cormac McCarthy’s novels to dreams. Two examples: in The New York Review of Books, Joyce Carol Oates stated that McCarthy’s work is reminiscent of one of Pascal Pensées: “Life is a dream a little less inconstant.” Earlier in the same journal, Denis Donoghue found recourse to Freud: “[a dream] does not think, calculate, or judge in any way at all; it restricts itself to giving things a new form.” Oates and Donoghue do not resort to the tired and superficial cliché, dreamlike; rather they use the language of dreams to describe fiction at once teasingly intimate yet also fundamentally alienated from us. They acknowledge the often surreal quality of McCarthy’s fiction but imply an underlying sensibility beneath the chaos. Indeed, both quotes cut down two of the most persistent critiques of McCarthy: moral ambiguity and a lack of interest in penetrating beneath surfaces. Pascal and Freud offer rejoinders: dreams, like McCarthy, may appear unbound, but they have a power over us that belies that claim..... Discussed in this essay: • The Orchard Keeper, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $13.95. 256 pp. • Outer Dark, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $13.95. 256 pp. • Child of God, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $13.95. 206 pp. • Suttree, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 480 pp. • Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 352 pp. • All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 320 pp. • The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 432 pp. • Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 292 pp. • No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.00. 309 pp. • The Road, Cormac McCarthy. Vintage. $14.95. 287 pp. Rest here: http://quarterlyconversation.com/cor...orchard-keeper

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07-08-2011, 05:56 AM	#2
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Wonderful writer.................

07-08-2011, 08:22 AM	#3
OtterBooks Wizard Posts: 1,262 Karma: 2979086 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle 4, iPad Mini/Retina	can't go wrong with McCarthy. His body of work and consistency taken as a whole, he's probably America's greatest living author.

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