Category Archives: LITERATURE

LITERATURE: The Road – Setting

McCarthy has given a lot of thought to creating this world, and the greyness of it that he so repeatedly and rather singlely described it as is truly all it is.  He hits us below the belt with the simple … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE & WRITING: The RoadReading Like a Writer

Just as I am getting into Francine Prose’s section on the "beautiful" sentence, what better place to be than in a McCarthy novel? Prose states:  The well-made sentence transcends time and genre.  A beautiful sentence is a beautiful sentence, regardless … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Road – Story

As you all know, I’m a big McCarthy fan but maybe I’m getting a bit persnickety about his writing.  At his best, he is absolutely awesome.  At his worst, he’s still in the top 5%.  But in this novel, while … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Literary Journals

Just received the Spring issue of Prairie Schooner.  Looking at the address label, I can see that there is one more issue due before the subscription runs out. While a quick look at the bookshelves reveals a backlog of fifteen–yes, … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: The Road – Movement

McCarthy opens this book with one new, one oft-used technique of his here: movement.  A boy is sleeping, his father reaches out and touches him.  This is unusual tenderness from McCarthy or his characters.   Amid the greyness of a barren … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Next Up: Ahhh…Mr. McCarthy

It’s off the shelf and on the coffee table:  Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I deserve it.  Continue reading

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LITERATURE: At Swim-Two-Birds – Finale

Please do forgive the expletive on the prior lit posting, but it was quite an awesome reading experience. I realize that I’ve missed several things in this book, though I got so much out of it that it would have … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: At Swim-Two-Birds – Pre-Finale

Holy Shit!  What did I just read? This book was the most amazingest I’ve ever, ever read.  I’ll have to read the last three pages again–I swept through them with a fever as I crossed into yet another of O’Brien’s … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE:At Swim-Two-Birds – Some Notes

One of O’Brien’s techniques throughout the book–or at least, one assigned to at least one of his writers–has been to illustrate the show versus tell instruction. On his smallest finger Orlick screwed the cap of his Waterman fountain-pen, the one … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: At Swim-Two-Birds – The Author’s Pain

Mesmerizing, amid all the wounds inflicted by the Pooka on his maker; how can a writer write such agony to another? Interesting too, that when the son of Trellis–an author in his own right–leaves the room, the other characters–Shanahan, Furriskey–insist … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: At Swim-Two-Birds – Meaning

Has everybody who’s read this book gotten this far still wondering what the damn title means? Continue reading

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LITERATURE: At Swim-Two-Birds – Turning the Tables

O’Brien now captures the full extent of fictional character rights to have Trellis’ own "son" write a story to punish Trellis the author.  Ahah–O’Brien has tapped into the fear of every author whose characters make their own way across narrative … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: At Swim-Two-Birds – Critique

Ah, what would a novel be without an editor?  O’Brien amazes us once again by providing our narrator with a critique on his novel from his friend Brinsley. From a perusal of the manuscript which has just been presented in … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Pulitzer Winner

So very glad to hear that Cormac McCarthy has won the Pulitzer prize for fiction for The Road. Now I’ll have to read it and see if I agree. Continue reading

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LITERATURE: At Swim-Two-Birds – Metaphor

Well either I’ve reached a slightly more accomplished level of reading, or I simply don’t have a clue and made a mountain of a molehill. My last posting made a point of the threads of conversation in the inner world … Continue reading Continue reading

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