The 2007 film “No Country for Old Men” was a smashing success at the box office. Over $171 million was made from ticket sales alone. The film also took home the Oscar for Best Picture. The film was adapted from the same-titled novel. The death of the author who wrote it has created a void in literature.
Cormac McCarthy, who lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, passed away on June 13 at the age of 89. The writer was heralded as a literary giant in the United States. His works gave a realistic and brutal portrayal of the American West. He persisted in his argument that the territory was conquered via bloodshed.
The author’s birth year is listed as 1933. After relocating to the South, he followed in his father’s legal footsteps with the Tennessee Valley Authority. To avoid being confused with one of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen’s creations, Charles McCarthy changed his name to Cormac when he first started writing professionally.
The Orchard Keeper, McCarthy’s debut novel, was released by Random House in 1965. He finally found success with his book “Blood Meridian” twenty years later. In his long career, he produced 12 books, 3 short stories, 5 screenplays, and 2 plays. A Pulitzer Prize was awarded to him in 2007 for his book “The Road.”
The author has a reputation for using few punctuation marks throughout his work. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, he claimed that punctuation is unnecessary for good writers.
Iconic author Stephen King tweeted praise for McCarthy, calling him the “greatest American novelist of my time.” Even though he lived a long life and “created a fine body of work,” King is nevertheless saddened by his passing.
According to Robert McFarlane, McCarthy was a “giant of a writer, who wrote with a pen of iron.”
