Cormac McCarthy, author of The Road, an Obituary
Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer winning author of ‘The Road’, ‘Blood Meridian”, and “No Country for Old Men”, to name a few, died June 13th, aged 89, at his home in Santa Fe.
An influential writer, his prose was brutally visceral, lyrical and amazingly challenging. And while people know of these books, others, such as Child of God, and Outer Dark tend towards transgressive horror, and are equally amazing, and as disturbing and spare as the Road and No Country for Old Men.
In a statement announcing his passing from Penguin Random House CEO, Nihar Malaviya, they said, “For 60 years, he demonstrated an unwavering dedication to his craft, and to exploring the infinite possibilities and power of the written word.”
Shy and retiring from the spotlight, Cormac McCarthy’s ‘the Road’ was chosen as an Oprah book pick in 2007, and won him a Pulitzer, while his first critical success was in 1992, and was the first of the Border trilogy, ‘All the Pretty horses’.
From post apocalyptic travels of a father and son in ‘The Road,’ to a serial killer collecting bodies in ‘Child of God’, gritty, gruesome western ‘Blood Meridian’ (or The Evening Redness in the West) to ‘No Country for Old Men’ and his bolt gun wielding assassin, his work has shaped and influenced the work of many, and remains part of the fabric of American literature and will do for years to come. A foundational writer in southern gothic, and post-apocalyptic works, many of his themes (cannibals, incest, necrophilia) might be seen as transgressive, but are all firmly rooted in the action or inaction of his all too relatable characters.
And as his publisher added in their statement announcing his passing, and offering their own obituary, “Millions of readers around the world embraced his characters, his mythic themes, and the intimate emotional truths he laid bare on every page, in brilliant novels that will remain both timely and timeless, for generations to come.”
McCarthy was also a trustee of the Santa Fe Institute, an independent non-profit for “the research of complex systems science”.
His most recent books, ‘The Passenger’ and ‘Stella Maris’ were released in 2022 and while unlike his other works, still as spare and beautiful and startlingly parallels themes in his other works. His loss is a great one, but his work will no doubt stand the test of time.
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D Kai Wilson-Viola, or Kai, is a writer with many pen names. By day, she’s a freelancer, but by night, she writes. Or at least, tries to.
Under Sabrann Curach (horror), Fayth C Reeves (erotica), River Harlequin (transgressive), Kai Viola (romance and chic lit), Kai Ellory Viola (Paranormal and RH) and D Kai Wilson-Viola (almost everything else).
In the next six months she’s got seven books planned, after sitting on them for years and years. She can also be found at Author, Interrupted or Books By Kai. When not writing she’s usually scaring the life out of herself with extreme horror books and movies, Ludosport and knitting, chasing around after her two cats and two kids, or gaming with her partner. Currently, she’s battering around on Heroes of the Storm.
