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Fiction

In reply to the discussion: Any Cormac McCarthy fans here ? [View all]

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
29. Well, I consider it a rare and valued opportunity to talk about these things.
Sun Apr 29, 2012, 10:30 AM
Apr 2012

All the Pretty Horses:


"In the evening he saddled his horse and rode out west from the house. The wind was much abated and it was very cold and the sun sat blood red and elliptic under the reefs of bloodred cloud before him. He rode where he would always choose to ride, out where the western fork of the old Comanche road coming down out of the Kiowa country to the north passed through the westernmost section of the ranch and you could see the faint trace of it bearing south over the prairie that lay between the north and middle forks of the Concho River. At the hour he'd always choose when the shadows were long and the ancient road was shaped before him in the rose and canted light like a dream of the past where the painted ponies and the riders of that lost nation came down out of the north with their faces chalked and their long hair plaited and each armed for war which was their life and the women and children and women with children at their breasts all of them pledged in blood and redeemable in blood only. When the wind was in the north you could hear them, the horses and the breath of the horses and the horses' hooves that were shod in rawhide and the rattle of lances and the drag of the travois poles in the sand like the passing of some enormous serpent and the young boys naked on wild horses jaunty as circus riders and hazing wild horses before them and the dogs trotting with their tongues aloll and foot-slaves following half-naked and sorely burdened and above all the low chant of their traveling song which the riders sang as they rode, nation and ghost of nation passing in a soft chorale across that mineral waste to darkness bearing lost to all history and all remembrance like a grail the sum of all their secular and transitory and violent lives."


I really don't have any idea what to call that. I think I got it all right. I made the mistake of opening that book again yesterday, and now I'm not going to get anything done for a while.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Any Cormac McCarthy fans here ? [View all] russspeakeasy Apr 2012 OP
Present. bemildred Apr 2012 #1
100% !! russspeakeasy Apr 2012 #2
yes, even though he tends to give me nightmares JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #5
Hey Jitterbug! bemildred Apr 2012 #6
I prefer the scary stuff LOL JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #7
So did you read "Child Of God" yet? bemildred Apr 2012 #10
it should be fed ex'd to me tomorrow JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #14
Hmm, I'll look into Mr Stanley. He sounds interesting. bemildred Apr 2012 #16
my favorite KSR books are JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #17
I'll find it. bemildred Apr 2012 #18
A short disquisition on Cormac McCarthy and his work: bemildred Apr 2012 #19
Oh yeah....Haven't read "Outer Dark" yet but I'll add it to my list...n/t Rowdyboy Apr 2012 #3
Leave a post after you read it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. russspeakeasy Apr 2012 #4
Rowdyboy! JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #8
Hello my friend....I'm still around and kicking.... Rowdyboy Apr 2012 #9
Hi sweetie JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #15
Umm TuxedoKat Apr 2012 #11
If you get the chance "Suttree" is one of his very best, IMHO. russspeakeasy Apr 2012 #12
Ok then TuxedoKat Apr 2012 #13
Just started Child of God-- JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #20
That is one great book... Hope you enjoy it. russspeakeasy Apr 2012 #21
I love it JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #22
If that's as crazy as a person can get, you nailed it.! russspeakeasy Apr 2012 #25
A conversation between author Cormac McCarthy and the Coen Brothers, about the new movie No Country bemildred Apr 2012 #23
Thank you for that link. Someone once asked him why he became an author. russspeakeasy Apr 2012 #26
Just trying to share. bemildred Apr 2012 #27
thanks for sharing JitterbugPerfume Apr 2012 #28
Well, I consider it a rare and valued opportunity to talk about these things. bemildred Apr 2012 #29
Blood and time: Cormac McCarthy and the twilight of the West bemildred Apr 2012 #24
Wow, you are good. russspeakeasy Jun 2012 #30
here. fe6252fes Jun 2012 #31
I love everything with the exception of what I call his "Larry McMurty Period" (The Border Trilogy) Tom Ripley Jul 2012 #32
I know what you mean...... russspeakeasy Jul 2012 #33
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