American writer Cormac McCarthy has died at the age of 89. This was announced by his publisher, Knopf. Just a few months ago, after a long break, two of his new novels were published at the same time, “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris”. It was his last.
McCarthy, who lived far away from the literary centers in the south of the USA, gave no readings and hardly ever gave interviews, was nevertheless one of the best-known American authors of his generation. His books were characterized by a sparse existentialism, violence and hopelessness reigned in his novel worlds. Nevertheless, they had nothing accusatory, there is no one in McCarthy who would have been responsible for the human fate. McCarthy’s nihilism was rough but by no means grim, not least he was admired for his subtle humor.
Harold Bloom counted McCarthy among the great American writers of his time
McCarthy has often been attributed to Southern Gothic for his rugged landscapes and minimalistic language. Others said that Hemingway had a greater influence on his prose than Faulkner. The influential literary scholar Harold Bloom counted McCarthy among the four great American writers of his time, along with Philip Roth, Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon.
In 1992 his novel “All The Pretty Horses” received the National Book Award, the most important literary prize in the USA. He received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, and the following year the film adaptation of his novel No Country For Old Men won the Oscar for Best Picture. Cormac McCarthy has died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the age of 89.