Master of Petersburg

[Bekah]

I think Suttree is a good place to start with McCarthy.  It's not  
quite as good as Blood Meridian,  but imo it's more accessible.

Bekah


On Aug 31, 2008, at 12:11 PM, Michael F wrote:

> Cormac isn't one of the "Enlightened" Modern intellectuals, and I  
> don't think Pynchon is either; both loathe and eschew the tools  
> that "push" us forward into Modernity.  McCarthy falls into the  
> category of Ancient thinkers more than he does Modern(Bacon,  
> Spinoza and so forth), as a matter of fact I think he's out to  
> dispute mane of the Modern philosophical concepts.  Yes, he  
> believes that evil is as ever present as the air we breath, and of  
> course the Modern, "Enlightened" Humanity departments, and readers,  
> can't grasp this; because of course they have all the answers as to  
> how the world can be "saved".  The only fiction writer of the  
> Modern era that I would be able to compare him to would be Conrad 
> (who is of course, against the author's stated intentions, read for  
> political reasons on our institutions).
>
> Please, read McCarthy's "Knoxville Fiction" it is much better than  
> his post-Blood Meridian pieces.  It's not surprising that Hollywood  
> want no parts of his Knoxville fiction, I can't fail to mention  
> that there's no one in Hollywood who could read his earlier  
> fiction.  I shouldn't be too hasty, The Road has as much  
> philosophical insight as his earlier works do.  Don't start off  
> with NCFOM or the Border Trilogy.
>
> Mike
>
> On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 11:13 AM, Thomas Eckhardt  
> <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de> wrote:
> Laura and David,
>
> thanks for your comments on Cormac McCarthy. I will give him a try  
> as soon as I have finished "Against the Day" (which may yet take a  
> while).
>
> David, I hope you are in a safe place.
>
> Thomas
>
>
>
> kelber at mindspring.com schrieb:
> I've jumped in and started reading Master of Petersburg.  I needed  
> an antidote to The Savage Detectives by Robert Bolano, which I gave  
> myself permission to stop reading halfway through.  That book  
> struck me as an emotionally arid ego trip.  I'm only 50 pages into  
> Master.  I was a little put off at first by the, not pretentious,  
> but overly literary writing style.  I kind of have a horror of  
> books that can be described as "well crafted" - heavy on style,  
> weak on content.  I'm not far enough along to decide whether Master  
> falls into that category.
>
> I wouldn't describe Cormac M. as pretentious (I've only read Blood  
> Meridian, and I've seen the movie of No Country for Old Men, so I'm  
> no great authority).  But his apparent obsession (EVIL is afoot and  
> it's something we all have to reckon with) isn't one I share.
>
> Laura
>
>
>
>