Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Overcoming Cormac McCarthy

I've never been too fond of meeting authors or hearing them speak. There's too much of a risk that if they turn out to be dicks I can never read their books again as all I'd have in my head is an image of them and their dickishness. That apart, Roland Barthes wrote a very interesting essay that more or less sets my stall out for me regarding authors more articulately than I could ever manage.

However, strangely enough the absolute opposite may just have happened. Regular readers may be aware of my antipathy towards pulitzer prize winning author Cormac McCarthy and his punctuationless prose. Indeed it is a fairly long running bone of contention here at C&P. McCarthy's The Road was recently chosen as an Oprah's Book Club choice and as part of this privilege the reluctant and shy McCarthy was obliged to undertake an interview with Ms Winfrey. You can watch it here although you do need to sign up to Oprah's Book Club to do so.

The thing is, is that I watched expecting my prejudices to be fulfilled but unfortunately McCarthy turned out to be a thoroughly nice and interesting bloke. Watching him squirm trying to politely answer Oprah's inane questions I found a whole new level of respect. So much so that I'm going to try The Road Again!

I suppose the thing to do is not just to admit you were wrong but to admit it in public too...

2 comments:

  1. It is a great interview.

    I also think the list of books on the Oprah bookclub is excellent. Apart from anything else it's a slap in the face for all those who think lazy thoughts like "Oh nobody wants to read the classics these days, they're so long and boring".

    Anna Karrenina is on there, so is Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, Marquez 100 Years of Solitude - all great books! All read by millions of Americans!

    Richard and Judy take note...

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  2. AnonymousJune 18, 2007

    Oh god... I'm picking this book up from you later today for my first attempt at a book group. Know nothing about it, but hearing that it's punctuationless is now gearing me up for a week of vicious ripping-apart. Heh.

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