NO COUNTRY FOR DEAD MEN
Literary titan Cormac McCarthy’s death aged 89 happened three days after the death of one of his closest friends, the whale biologist Roger Payne. Indeed, McCarthy preferred to hobnob with scientists instead of other writers, emblematic of the reclusive quirks that took him decades to gain wider recognition despite his current acknowledgement as one of the preeminent novelists of his time. He still had several literary cheerleaders such as Harold Bloom and Saul Bellow who advocated his bleak, gritty style as worth reading.
The longterm promotion of McCarthy worked – the carnage-ridden Western Blood Meridian was released in 1985 to little fanfare, but within twenty years it was regarded as his masterpiece. He was thrust further into mainstream recognition with the film adaptations of postapocalyptic The Road and Western drug thriller No Country For Old Men, and he published his final two novels last year. Not unlike his career, it took surprisingly long for the DDP to acknowledge him – he was first picked in 2020 and his 2023 selection, as a unique for Pulling up the Daisies, was only his second go-around.
Cormac McCarthy
20 July 1933 – 13 June 2023, aged 89
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