"He runs like he's angry at the dirt" is a compliment one would pay to a baseball player renowned for his speed on the bases. This guy wrote the same way: a goal in mind and on his own terms, brushing past outstretched arms trying to tag him out.....
This is a lovely tribute, Janisse. I too love his work and my favourite is the border trilogy. I don’t mind that he makes the reader work a bit and I love the Spanish - it’s so true to life without translation. What a writer!
I've been afraid to read him; afraid he would ruin my sensitive inner world with dark violent stuff I might not be able to close my memory to. Thank you for this; for opening my amazement right up---and oh those verbs!
Fascinating memorial. I shall keep 'bluedeep' and look more into Cormac. It will be interesting feeling out some of the Faulknerese. The talk of verb use caught me. I had taken a copy of The Long-Shadowed Forest by Helen Hoover on a 10-day sojourn into the boreal forest of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, sleeping on the ground and eating mosquitoes. I imagined her setting on the MN/Canada border would make a compelling backdrop to my journey. Alas, I did not read it as we kept moving and exploring apace. I did read a chapter last night called The Flowering Carpet that walked through the months around their cabin. It was so nice to now be familiar with the many Northwoods plants she mentioned. What really caught my eye was a wonderful onamatopoeic verb she used of wind around the house. I shall keep this verb too----
Sough
[səf, sou]
VERB
soughing (present participle)
(of the wind in trees, the sea, etc.) make a moaning, whistling, or rushing sound:
"the soughing of the wind in the canopy of branches"
Everything you said was true - from the punctuation, to the writing in Spanish, to his propensity for writing about taboo topics. Strangely, one of my favorites of his is CHILD OF GOD, so not sure what that says about me. Suttree was my least favorite.
I suppose considering where he was in his career, breaking the rules was fun, maybe a test for his publishing house. Let's see who, if anyone pushes back. ;)
I've read so many tributes since McCarthy died, but this one really hit me, Janisse. Like McCarthy, I was raised in Knoxville, so I always had an affinity for his novels set in East Tennessee, and like you noted, they were so hard to read in places. The one thing I loved the most in his East Tennessee novels was how perfectly he captured speech on the page. All his speakers were SO East Tennessee.
After the porch collapses in The Orchard Keeper, Mrs. Eller says: "That Coy Tipton showed up here this mornin looked like he'd fell in a combine." Lord, how many times did I hear my father refer to someone as "that" before their name? It is LOADED with meaning. Thanks for this tribute, Janisse.
Janisse, this commentary on Cormac McCarthy and his work showcases your own formidable talent as a writer, honed through time and experience, and informed by your own strong heart and the words and passions that have penetrated deep enough to reach it. Suffice it to say I was delightfully wowed.
A wonderful remembrance of a newly-minted ancestor.
“They were watching, out there past men’s knowing, where stars are drowning and whales ferry their vast souls through the black and seamless sea.” ~ Blood Meridian
"He runs like he's angry at the dirt" is a compliment one would pay to a baseball player renowned for his speed on the bases. This guy wrote the same way: a goal in mind and on his own terms, brushing past outstretched arms trying to tag him out.....
This is a lovely tribute, Janisse. I too love his work and my favourite is the border trilogy. I don’t mind that he makes the reader work a bit and I love the Spanish - it’s so true to life without translation. What a writer!
I've been afraid to read him; afraid he would ruin my sensitive inner world with dark violent stuff I might not be able to close my memory to. Thank you for this; for opening my amazement right up---and oh those verbs!
A valid fear. I never smell smoke without wishing I hadn't read The Road, even though I loved it.
Fascinating memorial. I shall keep 'bluedeep' and look more into Cormac. It will be interesting feeling out some of the Faulknerese. The talk of verb use caught me. I had taken a copy of The Long-Shadowed Forest by Helen Hoover on a 10-day sojourn into the boreal forest of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, sleeping on the ground and eating mosquitoes. I imagined her setting on the MN/Canada border would make a compelling backdrop to my journey. Alas, I did not read it as we kept moving and exploring apace. I did read a chapter last night called The Flowering Carpet that walked through the months around their cabin. It was so nice to now be familiar with the many Northwoods plants she mentioned. What really caught my eye was a wonderful onamatopoeic verb she used of wind around the house. I shall keep this verb too----
Sough
[səf, sou]
VERB
soughing (present participle)
(of the wind in trees, the sea, etc.) make a moaning, whistling, or rushing sound:
"the soughing of the wind in the canopy of branches"
That's a perfect last graf, Janisse.
Now I want to reread all his books
Again.
Brilliant he was. Dark he was. The world is a darker place today without him. Thank you for your words about him.
PS - trying to clear my calendar to join your silent writing time soon!
Yay. It's always good to work with you.
Everything you said was true - from the punctuation, to the writing in Spanish, to his propensity for writing about taboo topics. Strangely, one of my favorites of his is CHILD OF GOD, so not sure what that says about me. Suttree was my least favorite.
I suppose considering where he was in his career, breaking the rules was fun, maybe a test for his publishing house. Let's see who, if anyone pushes back. ;)
I see what you did here! Wonderful.
I've read so many tributes since McCarthy died, but this one really hit me, Janisse. Like McCarthy, I was raised in Knoxville, so I always had an affinity for his novels set in East Tennessee, and like you noted, they were so hard to read in places. The one thing I loved the most in his East Tennessee novels was how perfectly he captured speech on the page. All his speakers were SO East Tennessee.
After the porch collapses in The Orchard Keeper, Mrs. Eller says: "That Coy Tipton showed up here this mornin looked like he'd fell in a combine." Lord, how many times did I hear my father refer to someone as "that" before their name? It is LOADED with meaning. Thanks for this tribute, Janisse.
Janisse, this commentary on Cormac McCarthy and his work showcases your own formidable talent as a writer, honed through time and experience, and informed by your own strong heart and the words and passions that have penetrated deep enough to reach it. Suffice it to say I was delightfully wowed.
A wonderful remembrance of a newly-minted ancestor.
“They were watching, out there past men’s knowing, where stars are drowning and whales ferry their vast souls through the black and seamless sea.” ~ Blood Meridian
🖤🖤🖤
gawwwd. oh my.
Nice one, Janisse