The Literature of Cormac McCarthy

Response to this post.

 

Cormac McCarthy, author of "All The Pretty Horses"

1. What authors or genres of writing are cited as influencing McCarthy’s writing style?

The NY Times article views McCarthy’s writing as a combination of Larry McMurthry’s “Lonesome Dove” and Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” yet McCarthy’s vision is much deeper and darker.  This is understandable as there is much emphasis on Western elements in “All the Pretty Horses”. Although the novel begins with typical Western and nostalgic imageries, the story eventually transitions into showing the dark sides of human nature and the decay of old Western traditions. The article also mentions that “Cormac McCarthy must be acknowledged as a talent equal to William Faulkner…” 

2. How does McCarthy treat human characters in his story as opposed to landscape and animals like horses?

While McCarthy’s portrayal of Western landscapes and animals are elaboratly detailed and symbolic (almost fantasy-like and beautiful) the human characters  are shown as victims suffering from the results of civilization development and disperse of old traditions. John Grady Cole and his friend Rawlins “escaped” from America to Mexico in order to live on as ranch cowboys, yet what they face later after a short bliss is the evil side of human nature.

3. What type of dialogue does the article state McCarthy uses?

The article states that McCarthy incorporates realistic dialogue in his fiction writings. While reading “All the Pretty Horses”, I felt that the style of the dialogue was accurate enough to hear the characters’ voices “speaking” in my head.

4. What is notable about his diction (word choice)?

The article mentions that McCarthy’s “diction and phrasing come from all over the evolutionary history of English…resembling Elizabethan language in its flux of remarkable possibilities.” At the same time, McCarthy’s choice of words are simple enough for the reader to comprehend what exactly is going on, almost as if “watching” the events of the story occurring frame-by-frame like a feature film.

~ by aliciapark on January 21, 2009.