July / USA Reading: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

[lugdunum]

First of all, please excuse the length of what follows...

I've just watched the interview of McCarthy by Oprah
//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNuc3sxzlyQ&feature=related

and got a few answers:

1/ God
This thing we were talking about before of whether when he made reference to praying it was meant as praying to a particular God.
and he says (6')

Sometimes it's good to pray. I don't think you need to have a clear idea of who or what God is in order to pray

Which would match with what someone had suggested that in the book, praying is more an image of pure faith.

2/ Luck
When I read the book, I made a comment to myself that it was a bit too convenient how every time they ran out of food they would find something to eat (the bunker, the abandoned house, the ship...).
Well the interesting thing here is that throughout the interview, they discuss the fact that MC has had some really bad financial times and he says at least twice that:

when things were truly truly bleek, something totally unforeseen would occur

3/ Style
When asked about this particular style of his with very little punctuation, he says that:

If you write properly you shouldn't have to punctuate.

(Cormac Mc Carthy 5: )

I'm sure that those of you who write will have something to say to this
Agree or disagree

[Virgil]

Lug, that was a great post. i had forgotten about the Opra interview. I had come across it and did not have time to play it. Thanks. I will tonight. As to luck and God, I feel they are connected in the novel. I can't help but feel that the luck was through the hand of God. This brings to mind another allusion I had not thought of before, and that is the Biblical wiping out of the earth with Noah and the new covenant. There is a sort of wiping out of the earth here and a re-establishment of a new order.

As to the writing style, tell that to a grammar teacher and see what she says.

[Jozanny]

You're right, good point .

It's like at the begininning the tones are greyish, metallic and foggy creating an oppressive and suffocating atmosphere.

Then when they get to the sea you can almost imagine the scenes as when your shooting with your camera set on the sepia mode.

And then at the end, the last paragraph, is green and fresh. Makes you want to fill your lungs with some fresh air.

Well, after giving it more consideration, I am going to keep the text and reread at a more leisurely pace. Later. For now it goes in the bookcase. I cannot give it the highest rating because I have read too many end-of-species and post-apocalyptic tales for The Road to really feel fresh, but given this objection, McCarthy does rather pack a full load here, Crusoe and all the rest of it, and Crusoe was a nice catch by Virgil, though I am not sure about which foil is the anti-Friday.

I don't think it was the burnt man, and Ely, well, he was a blind seer of a sort.

I realize McCarthy isn't dead, but I can't help feeling this was a prose-elegy to his son. I have read scholars who argue that Moby Dick is the American prose-epic, so why not consider The Road in the same vein.

I have paused to wonder whether or not McCarthy read Lessing's Memoirs of A Survivor. Not because he references it, but because in her tale, it is the feminine journey of two characters which contains the regenerating principle for humanity's future, and it almosts seems as if Cormac deliberately annexes my gender from that role in this tale. It is the male-to-male bond which is the nurturing force for any remnant of hope.

If I can still post in this thread when I decide to reread,{{{ }}} perhaps I will have some additional insights, or change my mind.

[Virgil]

Joz, I don't know Lessing at all I'm afraid, but if there are parallels and contrasts and McCarthy even remotely alludes to it one would have to assume he read it. From what I read on line about Lessing's novel, one can't help but feel that McCarthy is tied in some fashion to it, either as a parallel or as contrast or both.

[Jozanny]

Joz, I don't know Lessing at all I'm afraid, but if there are parallels and contrasts and McCarthy even remotely alludes to it one would have to assume he read it. From what I read on line about Lessing's novel, one can't help but feel that McCarthy is tied in some fashion to it, either as a parallel or as contrast or both.

She was awarded the Nobel in 07, and I should read many more of her titles than I have, but I think she is one of the greatest women writers alive. I remember she joked with a reporter that the committee probably awarded the prize to her because they were afraid she'd *pop off*. She is old white colonial British Africa, and I think that has much to do with her less than species-optimistic view of the human condition:


http://www.dorislessing.org/thememoirs.html

I tried to reread Memoirs again right after 9/11, and I got really frightened, cried, and tossed my old paperback copy against the wall. Silly, given how old the title is, but it seemed oh so starkly prophetic.

[bouquin]

I find McCarthy brilliant in how he sets the setting of the story. His description is great, although I find myself lost sometimes and forced to re-read certain parts more than once (it's probably my problem though). I'm still in the beginning of the book, so I'll probably have more comments when I've read more. But so far it's good.

To be honest, I got kind of tired after a while having to read over and over and over again how it was cold and everything was covered with snow and ash!

[Nossa]

To be honest, I got kind of tired after a while having to read over and over and over again how it was cold and everything was covered with snow and ash!

You're partially correct. But this is just a part of the story's setting, the 'end of the world' atmosphere that took over from the start can't change, and so he's forced to keep almost the same description throughout the entire novel. I think what's really interesting is that nothing really happens. Meaning that, for most of the first 70 pages or so, nothing happened except for the people they met and the man the father killed. Other than that, it's just them, walking in the snow and seeking refuge. What's interesting, as I was saying, is that I always felt compelled to come back and finish it. I mean, I did get bored after a while, but even when I put down the book for a while, I felt that I always wanted to know how it's gonna end and what will happen. I'm not done with the book yet, I'm a very slow reader, but I'm looking forward to finishing it.

I have a comment on the idea of punctuation in the novel. I've had a hard time reading the story at first cuz of the lack of commas in particular. It sounds funny, I know, but I had to re-read many parts cuz they simply didn't make sense to my little brain from a first read. I think that even in poetry we use punctuation. I know I do (not that I'm that good, but that's how I see it). I think the style was a bit difficult, but McCarthy made it up with his brilliant choice of words, metaphors and overall description.

[Virgil]

Nossa, a lot of contemporary writers and poets are reducing punctuation down to bare minimum if at all. I don't know if this is a fad or something that will stick, but it makes them look modern. Actually in this novel the lack of punctuation kind of aesthetically matches the situation and setting.

[Agatha]

I have a comment on the idea of punctuation in the novel. I've had a hard time reading the story at first cuz of the lack of commas in particular. It sounds funny, I know, but I had to re-read many parts cuz they simply didn't make sense to my little brain from a first read. I think that even in poetry we use punctuation. I know I do (not that I'm that good, but that's how I see it). I think the style was a bit difficult, but McCarthy made it up with his brilliant choice of words, metaphors and overall description.

Yes, I know what you meant. I've had a simliar problem. Especially the dialouges seemed hard to me, because while I was reading a conversation between the father and the boy I didn't know who is saying concrete sentence. And I had to re-read a lot of parts. But I don't think that it was waste of time I think that McCarthy's style is tricky. Because at the begining I thought that I'd read this novel quickly, beacuse of the short, simple sentences etc. But then I've changed my mind

[Virgil]

I have to admit I had no problem with the language and style and diction. Now I also want to say that this is very American english, and not just American but American from I think the south west part of the US. Are the people who had some trouble with the language and style have english as not their primary language or are British english and not used to the Americanism? That could be part of the problem. Not only did I not have a problem with the language, but I actually found it easy and natural.

[Jozanny]

I have to admit I had no problem with the language and style and diction. Now I also want to say that this is very American english, and not just American but American from I think the south west part of the US. Are the people who had some trouble with the language and style have english as not their primary language or are British english and not used to the Americanism? That could be part of the problem. Not only did I not have a problem with the language, but I actually found it easy and natural.

The dialogue is in the American idiom. I am from the North east but had no problem with Cormac's staccato. His work has been made into film here, and the team that shot Old Country have made other modern westerns, and that is pretty much how they talk.

Okay
Okay is a kind of Americanism. We lack linguistic complexity.

For me, the lack of quotation marks worked, not just because minimalism has been popularized within the literary genre, but because this is a barren world reflected in a language that has been stripped down to the barest essentials.

[lugdunum]

From my point of view the style was not that difficult to understand, although it's true that to me it was quite unusual.

The only thing I has problems with were dialogs. I had to read some of them (especially the long ones) a few times to figure who'd said what.

But as someone said, it matches the setting.

************************************************** ********

She was awarded the Nobel in 07, and I should read many more of her titles than I have, but I think she is one of the greatest women writers alive. I remember she joked with a reporter that the committee probably awarded the prize to her because they were afraid she'd *pop off*. She is old white colonial British Africa, and I think that has much to do with her less than species-optimistic view of the human condition:

http://www.dorislessing.org/thememoirs.html

Thanks for that interesting link Jozanny. One more author on my reading list.

[Jozanny]

Thanks for that interesting link Jozanny. One more author on my reading list.

Great minds think alike!

[DapperDrake]

I didn't have any problem with the language or grammar, it was a fairly flowing read for me, I think I was subconsciously punctuating it myself in my mind. So far as it being American, well I did fail too pick up on some things like filling the bath tub etc but beyond that I don't think I missed too much.

I do agree though in a couple of places the dialogue did get a little mixed up but it was only a few places.

[Virgil]

She was awarded the Nobel in 07, and I should read many more of her titles than I have, but I think she is one of the greatest women writers alive. I remember she joked with a reporter that the committee probably awarded the prize to her because they were afraid she'd *pop off*. She is old white colonial British Africa, and I think that has much to do with her less than species-optimistic view of the human condition:


http://www.dorislessing.org/thememoirs.html

I tried to reread Memoirs again right after 9/11, and I got really frightened, cried, and tossed my old paperback copy against the wall. Silly, given how old the title is, but it seemed oh so starkly prophetic.

I bought Lessing's book at lunch time today. Not sure when I'll read it.

I do agree though in a couple of places the dialogue did get a little mixed up but it was only a few places.

I supposed you mean you got mixed up, because I don't think McCarthy or the proof readers could have goofed. I didn't find any mix ups. It was tricky in spots but I think I got it.