How Cormac McCarthy Transformed his Writing

Cormac McCarthy on James Joyce

How did James Joyce influence Cormac McCarthy? In this video we will read poetry from Cormac McCarthy (written in French) inspired by Joyce, talk about how Joyce maybe inspired McCarthy to change his name from Charles to Cormac, and references to Joyce in The Passenger, Suttree, Stella Maris, and The Gardener's Son.

Cormac McCarthy on Why Literature is Dead

Cormac McCarthy believed that science was much more important than literature. I will provide clips and passages from McCarthy exploring this idea in this video. We will then deep dive into the big questions about ethics in science, the decline of the humanities, and how humans 10,000 years from now will view Shakespeare!

How Cormac McCarthy Influenced David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace is a massive fan of Cormac McCarthy! In this video, I will explain how Wallace copied the style in Suttrees opening, Wallace's favorite book by McCarthy, how Wallace became obsessed (and had to make a creative break) with McCarthy, and a bunch of other fun stuff from the David Foster Wallace archive. If you are ever in Austin, the McCarthy and Wallace archives are within 25 minutes of each other!

Cormac McCarthy's Secret Writing Advice Revealed from Archive

Today, we will discuss Cormac McCarthy's most candid statement on writing. This quote reveals Cormac McCarthy's only statement ever about one of his novels. It also informs us of the most complex aspect of McCarthy's revision process. Adding a complex occulted form to the novel.

How Cormac McCarthy Transformed his Writing

Cormac McCarthy made a massive transformation in his writing when he moved to El Paso. At one level, McCarthy was peaking as a writer while he worked on Blood Meridian. However, on another level, McCarthy sought a different path with his writing career, pushing toward Hollywood with his The Gardener's Son (1976) and Cities of the Plain (1978) screenplays. The lack of success in both endeavors (Blood Meridian sold 1,800 copies in seven years)  drove McCarthy to combine both approaches by writing less layered works that were more accessible.