tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12158536.post7815657225782891474..comments2024-03-17T03:17:43.229-04:00Comments on David Anthony Durham: Mrs. KimbleDavid Anthony Durhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13885922955551669016noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12158536.post-9078127283061840172007-12-30T15:23:00.000-05:002007-12-30T15:23:00.000-05:00You want me to publicly express an opinion on Mr M...You want me to publicly express an opinion on Mr McCarthy's work? Hmmm...<BR/><BR/>I'll say this - in an answer that's entirely true if also somewhat vague - I've long had a love/hate relationship with McCarthy's work. In many ways I was deeply enamored of the language and epic violence of novels like Blood Meridian and The Crossing, and I read all of his earlier books with interest. My first novel, Gabriel's Story, is a direct reaction to his Western novels in a variety of ways. For that, I have to acknowledge he was a significant influence.<BR/><BR/>Thing is, for all the ways I can become wrapped up and impressed by his language I can also see why a skeptical reader would find fault with the very same passages. Is All the Pretty Horses "a work of stoicism and singular beauty, a breathtaking reading experience" (from the NBA Citation), or is it filled with vague and somewhat pretentious grandiosity? Are his male characters brilliantly portrayed and tellingly complex examinations of the American psyche, or are they maudlinly sentimental characters in disguise?<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure. I'm a fan, but at some level I don't trust that he's not pulling a fast one on me somehow.<BR/><BR/>As for The Road... mixed feelings. It carried me along, but I know that many speculative fiction writers have written more complex and varied post-apocalyptic novels. I'm also aware that if a science fiction writer had written it it would not have won a Pulitzer Prize...David Anthony Durhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13885922955551669016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12158536.post-79825465110823062122007-12-29T21:33:00.000-05:002007-12-29T21:33:00.000-05:00I am also a picky reader, and tend to stay away fr...I am also a picky reader, and tend to stay away from current fic/lit. I do, however, find it curious that many things I read as sci/fi when I was a teen or younger are now considered literature. <BR/><BR/>I know you are working feverishly on the next Acacia novel, but I would be interested in your opinion of Cormac McCarthy. I seem to have developed a bit of an obsession with disliking his work; specifically, The Road.Corby Kennardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06891081576090200925noreply@blogger.com