Where do I start with Mr. Charles "Cormac" McCarthy? Is he even worth reading?
>it's another corncobs tortilla yecarthy thread
Ye Olde Corncobby McCobthy cobbling together another corny thread I see. Go fuck yourself with a cob, cornfaggot.
>>8159443
Start with the greeks
>>8159448
-Spits-
CORNCOB
>>8159443
Read Bloodmeme if you must, but it's absolute shite.
>And here....we........Go
>Only 2 of 8 replies even mention a book.
Man, I think /lit/ might be the worst board on all of 4chan.
>>8159443
If you like Westerns or Americana then Blood Meridian is nice. The Road is fairly popular if you want to start with something more mainstream. The problem with him is that if you've read one of his books, you've read them all. They're all essentially the same thing in a different setting, down to the theme, message, and prose of the book. He's very distinctive, but perhaps a bit TOO distinctive. It's like how you only need to hear two seconds of a song to know it's Red Hot Chili Peppers or how you can tell from a movie trailer if something is directed by Michael Bay or Shyamalan. If you pick one and he's not for you, don't bother trying to force yourself through a second book.
>>8159461
>meme
>The first time I read Blood Meridian, I was so appalled that while I was held, I gave up after about 60 pages. I don’t think I was feeling very well then anyway; my health was going through a bad time, and it was more than I could take. But it intrigued me, because there was no question about the quality of the writing, which is stunning. So I went back a second time, and I got, I don’t remember… 140, 150 pages, and then, I think it was the Judge who got me. He was beginning to give me nightmares just as he gives the kid nightmares. And then the third time, it went off like a shot. I went straight through it and was exhilarated. I said, “My God! This reminds me of Thomas Pynchon at his best, or Nathanael West.” It was the greatest single book since Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.
>we have four living writers in America who have, in one way or another, touched what I would call the sublime. They are McCarthy, of course, with Blood Meridian; Philip Roth, particularly with two extraordinary novels, the very savage Sabbath’s Theater and American Pastoral, which I mentioned before; Don DeLillo’s Underworld, which is a little long for what it does but nevertheless is the culmination of what Don can do; and, of course, the mysterious figure of Mr. Pynchon.
>>8159494
Why does Bloom like As I Lay Dying so much? It's one of Faulkner's weaker novels imo
>>8159494
don't underestimate /lit/'s ability to trivialize the esteemed.
>>8159443
I liked Outer Dark. I hear good things about Suttree and The Crossing. Blood Meridian is the obvious read, but if you don't like it up until the Kid joins the gang then you probably won't like it at all. It runs pretty linear throughout.
I personally like the Road, despite /lit/'s aversion to popularity. He wrote it for his son, so it's not the same as the rest.
>>8159492
summer
>>8159443
I like his writing but to be honest he does mention mexican food a lot.
I wonder if they held a ritual in the eraly 60's where Faulkner passed the sacred corncob to McCarthy
why do people associate McCarthy with corncobs? I can understand not liking him but what do corncobs have to do with it?
Blood Meridian and The Road are usual fare, although /lit/ seems more divisive about The Road. It's either McCarthy's opus or his weakest novel to date. The story isn't very eventful, but I gather it's appreciated more for its atmosphere.
>>8159551
Nabokov, who had never read a book by Faulkner, called him "a writer of corncobby chronicles." And so a bunch of undergrads on this board decided to carry Nabokov's torch and poke fun at a similar author they haven't read.
>>8159556
>if u dn't lik tis buk u hvnt reddit
>>>/trash/
You tortilla fucking piece of shit.
HANG
YOUR
SELF
CORN
COB
Out of curiosity, could anyone ever have actual discussion about books on /lit/ or has it always been nothing but meme-spouting, substanceless garbage where no one ever actually explains why they think what they think?
>>8159692
The latter
>>8159692
DAVID FOSTER WALLAAAAAAAACE
>>8159692
The books must either be rather obscure so that few have read it or a straight up classic from the 19th century or prior. If its not either of these things, the chances of actual discussion occurring is minimal. Bonus memes if the author is still alive or Harold Bloom liked him.
The first book I ever read of his was "The Road" and couldn't put it down. I then tried "No Country For Old Men", "All the Pretty Horses" and "Child of God". Of the three, "Child of God" was the only one that came remotely close to how awesome I felt "The Road" was.
Read Child of God or Blood Meridian first, then read The Border Trilogy, if you've liked what you've read so far read Suttree, after that is up 2 you
>>8159443
Here comes the shitposting.
>>8159692
You're on an anonymous vietnamese shadow puppet drama message board. Why the hell would you come here for serious literary discussion?
>corny mccorncob threads
>>8159692
It's the cycle of this board. You can't just discuss a random book and expect replies because people won't have read it or not remember it well enough to say anything meaningful. So Gass, Corncob, Pessoa, Gaddis, Larkin spamming will get everyone to read their books and in a few months time we will be able to talk about them together.
>>8159861
you're retarded
most of the yecarthy posters have read corncob man and realized he's drivel
corncob posting is my favourite meme
i laugh every time
>>8159868
This. Memes aside, he's painfully derivative of Faulkner and Melville. I post about his corn qualities because I think it's the most blunt way to keep newcomers from falling victim to his retarded folksy prose.
>nabokov
>ceasar
>cornmac
what's it with this board and corn? literally the most obsessed a board has been about a grain since fit and oats
I'm literally eating a can of corn at 5:20 in the morning because of this thread
>>8159926
people have tried before but yecarthy posters refuse to engage with it and usually ignore it or do the "5deep3u you just dont get it" defense. sometimes the "you obviously haven't read it" argument too.
it's pointless. corncobs are shoved way too far up their asses
>it's an oprah winfrey's book club thread
>>8159932
Corncobbyists are seriously the worst fucking posters on /lit/ because of this.
*spits* ah reckon dis here thread done gun teh shit *rides into sunset*
>>8159962
Corncobbyists are those who actually enjoy the """""literature"""""" of corncob tortillas "dirt & spitting" yecarthy desu mi familia
>>8159704
GOOD GOOD AMERICAN WRITER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blnnQMEAfo8I keep alive the flame of shitpostspast
>>8159692
It didnt used to be this bad, at least not for mccarthy
i dont know what happened
Dislike him. Writer of corncobby chronicles. To consider them masterpieces is an absurd delusion. A nonentity, means absolutely nothing to me.
*spits*
>le ' i'm too good for proper punctuation' hick hack
> HAHAHA CORNCOBYECARTHYTORTILLLLLAZ xD
>holds up spork
>>8159553
I always took The Road as more than just the story. I don't get why people get so weird about it
>>8160093
Indeed, that is how mccarthy writea
>>8159443
Worth it, but only if you're not an absolute faggot who cares about 'style and prose' alone. His works are dull and boring if you read them like poetry. You need to finish each chapter, put down the book, and think about what you read. They're more of bedtime reads. You need to think about the events to understand what he's trying to get across.
His books capture many aspects of human nature that we generally try to ignore and avoid. How are many well-adjusted members of society capable of feeling no remorse for committing grievous crimes? Why do we idolize outlaws and gangsters when most of them are scumbags we'd avoid in real life?
I've only read Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men so far (haven't watched the film). I'd start off with BM, since its a good introduction to his brutally pragmatic view of our brutal animalistic natures. NCfOM compares several archetypes - the wise old Sheriff, the misguided thief, the sociopathic hitman, and others.
Just don't read it at one go and absorb everything. The beauty in his work is that while it portrays violence, the violence isn't excessive, glorified, or unrealistic. It's real stuff that happens everyday, in the office, battlefield, playground, home, and everywhere you see.
>>8159553
The fallout with The Road is interesting; this board near-unanimously loved it in the early 2010-2011 days.
>>8160158
>The beauty in his work is that while it portrays violence, the violence isn't excessive, glorified, or unrealistic. It's real stuff that happens everyday
This.
People often try to cheapen his work with "shock value" without understanding the difference between writing something to shock people and writing about something that people find shocking.
Dislike him.
>>8160185
The point that McCarthy makes in his works is that we are capable of exponentially more evil than we can fathom, let alone consciously admit. That's what shocks most 'decent' people.
How could nice Janet from next door fuck 20 guys in college alone, marry the guy she met in her senior year, pop out 2 kids by the time she's 25, divorce him by 35, and fuck 35 more guys until she hits menopause? How could nice Robbie who worked at the local grocery store call an airstrike that levels an entire village in Afghanistan? Both of these individuals are scumbags with an outer veneer of well-adjustedness. McCarthy would argue 'because they can'.
Ultimately, each and every one of us are capable of the worst horrors if we know that we can get away with them. Our consciences are simply rationalizations to help us forget that we are following external rules. Once we know that we don't have to follow these rules, we become demonic.
>>8160240
What a hilariously unbalanced pair of examples you gave. No wonder first world sensibility is in the shitter when slutting around is held in the same esteem as bombing a village.
Pa. Why are eggs breakfast?
What.
You can put bacon on lunch.
Ye.
But if you put eggs on stuff it becomes breakfast?
The man spat and said the eggs are not for this world or from this world they come from the chicken but the chicken knows it not.
He wiped his chin and spat.
>61 posts
>30 ips
literally more than half of the answers in this thread is samefagging by that bald cuck
>>8160158
>>8160240
If you think this--one of the oldest themes in literature--is very deep or original, you would probably benefit from more reading. That doesn't make McCarthy's writing bad, to be sure; what makes it bad is the gore depicted in sparse ("biblical") language, which serves to make it more shocking. That's what he does and it ain't that clever after a while. A few philosophical quips here, then a bit of slashing. Now the cosmic, now the mundane. That's his shtick. It's not that bad as some make it to be, especially if you're a novice reader (which doesn't mean idiot or "pleb", so don't get too defensive about it) but it fails to impress and feels gimmicky after a while.
>>8159692
/lit/ was a pretty slow board before but then /his/ was made and sometime we had shitposters from /mu/ stick around.
>>8160035
Anyone got the original video of the guy in the car yelling "DAVID FOSTER WALLACE" at people?
>>8160843
sounds more like the same 2 - 3 yecarthy fags samefagging it up
protip most people who've read a lot and have some semblance of taste realize yecarthy is a corncobber.
>>8161384
what does it mean to be a corncobber? Is it that he writes provincial literature with a definite time, place, and context? If so, Joyce is a corncobber
>>8161254
I've got you senpai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXvAd7COpJY
>>8161482
If the internet gets wiped out and we're allowed to save only one video, I'm saving that one.
>>8161403
Just some dumb shit Nabocock made up
>>8160061
kek
WHAT DO CORNCOBS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING
>>8159485
Not entirely true. I loved All the Pretty Horses but disliked The Road even though I read The Road about a year earlier.
>>8161482
literally me
>>8161024
What would you recommend I read in the same genre/ category?
