Cormac McCarthy, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, has died

The Swedish Academy will be sorry for the rest of its history (though not ostentatiously, since it is a frequent injustice). He ignored the evidence in the first decade of the 21st century, when the novels appeared There is no country for old men [No es país para viejos, 2005] and the road [La carretera, 2006], two colossal masterpieces created after four decades in which their author offered a narrative production of the highest order, perhaps unmatched. And it’s not that Harold Pinter and Orhan Pamuk didn’t deserve the Nobel Prize – they were awarded in those years – but Cormac McCarthy was a real emperor, in the lineage – it was always said, also because of the obscurity of his style. — Herman Melville and, above all, William Faulkner, who nevertheless won the desired Nordic prize and by which chance he wanted to share the editor, Albert Erskine (not by chance, he knew how to see something in him when the manuscript of his first book fell into his hands ). a book, keeper of the orchard). McCarthy admired Melville and Faulkner so much that he thought Noise and fury at the height of Moby Dick and among the best novels in history (on the other hand, he was surprised by writers who did not deal with the themes of life and death, among whom he mentioned Henry James and Marcel Proust).

Since then, 16 years of editorial silence have passed the road. And at the age of 89, in 2022, he appeared again with a double announcement (Passenger and Stella Maris) which did not reach the level of those two peaks. Its editorial has already warned that the author will not give any interview or participate in promotional actions. Nor was this news: he was a leading member of the most famous triad of American occult writers of all time, with JD Salinger and Thomas Pynchon, the sole survivors.

However, that silence was like an announcement of the end. Discreetly, as has been his life in recent times, news of his death emerged on Tuesday night — barely a month before his 90th birthday — confirmed by his son John and the Penguin Random House group, which publishes his books in Spain. John Francis McCarthy explained that his father died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in a statement collected by newspaper reporter Alexandra Alter The New York Times. His colleague Stephen King immediately announced himself on social networks – practically the first in an endless series of condolences and tributes: “Cormac McCarthy, perhaps the best American novelist of my time, died at the age of 89. He was full of experience and did an excellent job. I am sorry for his passing,” King wrote. The Washington Post he called his novels “lyrical and often brutally violent”, works that spared no scenes of savagery or tenderness, all for the purpose of “exploring the dark side of the human soul”.

He stopped drinking in the 1970s and took refuge in New Mexico, far from the bosom of the Irish family he was born into in New England. He blamed literary circles and showed great respect for scientists, biologists and naturalists. It is said that in the 1980s, along with another escapist, Edward Abbey (author, environmentalist, conservationist and forester), he wanted to release wolves in southern Arizona to restore their penalized population.

His last two novels delved into the worlds of quantum physics, philosophy of mathematics and madness to question the existence of God and the concept of heaven/hell through the tortured story of two brothers obsessed with the role of their father. , a scientist who participated in the development of the atomic bomb. His concern for the future of the planet was a constant in his thinking, which he expressed explicitly in the post-apocalyptic story. the roadwhich won the Pulitzer Prize.

The success of the Coens’ adaptation of “No Country for Old Men”

Cormac McCarthy (Providence, Rhode Island, 1933-Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2023), who lived in Ibiza and El Paso, spoke Spanish and inserted dialogues in Spanish into his novels without translation, published twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays, three short stories, essays and several film scripts. Things got serious with God’s son (1973) and especially with suttree (1979), both letters unclear. But it was in 1992 when public and critical recognition emerged with the appearance all beautiful horses, with which he won the National Book Award. published immediately on the border (1994) and cities in the plain (1998), who integrate with the previous one known as border trilogy.

Cinematography also blessed his work. The first adaptation came from all beautiful horses (2000), directed by Billy Bob Thornton and starring Matt Damon and Henry Thomas. He followed him There is no country for old men (2007) directed by the Coen brothers, starring Javier Bardem as contract killer Anton Chigurh and winner of four Oscars, including Best Picture. After he was released the road (2009), directed by John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortensen; outer darkness (2009), adapted as a short by Stephen Imwalle; and God’s son (2013), by James Franco. Ridley Scott shot his script Adviser in 2013