RIP, Cormac McCarthy
“I had two dreams about him after he died. I dont remember the first one all that well but it was about meetin him in town somewheres and he give me some money and I think I lost it. But the second one it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin through the mountains of a night. Goin through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin. Never said nothin. He just rode on past and he had this blanket wrapped around him and he had his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. About the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men
9 comments:
An absolutely fabulous film. I never read the book.
Tammy
The movie is almost verbatim from the book.
Read them all. Great writer. His "Blood Meridian" is the best "western" novel all time. Warning: not for faint hearts or weak stomachs.
"Suttree" is a twisted comedy. Sort of like Huckleberry Finn with a cast of weirdos and perverts.
All of his books were good.
I've read
All The Pretty Horses
The Crossing
No Country
The Passenger
BTW: Pasto, you may remember - years ago - you recommended I read a book called "Flashback" by Dan Simmons. I did read it and did enjoy it. I particularly liked the fact that it projected a "broken-down" American future, the product of steady long-term decline. Most post-America novels flip a switch - and everything goes dark at once (JW Rawls, Joe Nobody etc.)
I believe the former scenario is more likely (and we are going into it now). In the near future the USA is divided into regions carved up by our creditors and the American military becomes the NWO's mercenary force.
3rd post Anon.
PS: I recommend reading "The Road". But like "Old Man and the Sea" or Kerouac's "On the Road"; budget enough time to read it through in one sitting. Very powerful that way.
The Road seems too depressing to me. But maybe, per your recommendation, I will read it.
I'm impressed that you could read On The Road in one sitting. Old Man and The Sea I get. But On The Road? Wow!
Are you the same guy who digs Zappa? I like your taste.
I've been meaning to read Blood Meridian for a few years.
You're not going to believe what I am spending my time on now. Proust. I am on the 2nd of his 7 book series.
You might wonder, "What the fuck is wrong with you, Pasto?"
Rest assured, I wonder the same thing.
Two other authors I love are David Foster Wallace and Harold Brodkey. Both tedious as all fuck.
I have a deep respect for authors who make the effort to catalogue all the micro-thoughts we have in our experience.
A primary obsession of mine these days is, attempting to think through why humans are better than AI could ever possibly be. This is an insane and impossible task. But among the reasons we are better is ... Proust.
Proust is the Catalogue of Quaiia.
OTR read-through happened on a weather induced over-nighter at LaGuardia Airport. Either read or try to sleep on the floor. All night coffee shack helped.
Zappa, yes, and others discussed here: Beefheart, Beatles vs Stones, Gram Parsons and Keith...also Messiaen and Arvo Part, many others. This blog introduced me to your pen-name-sake. Thanks for that.
Proust huh? The Everest of literature. I haven't worked up the courage for that one yet. Original or translation?
Cheers!
I don't read French, so it's a translation.
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