/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.8743077]

Why was this so good? I think it may even be better than Blood Meridian, I'm not sure. Did Suttree realize at the end that being "Suttree" is a state of being and not a state of individual existence, hence why he chose and failed to live out his life on the river?

[Anonymous No.8743113]

>a state of being and not a state of individual existence
what do you mean by this

[Anonymous No.8743154]

he took 20 years to write it

[Anonymous No.8743265]

>>8743077
I like this one more than Blood Meridian. It has everything. I found Blood Meridian to be too apocalyptical and surreal. That is all I can say.

[Anonymous No.8744334]

>>8743077
Top comfycore. My favorite of corncobs.

"The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For him such memories are bitter ones."

[Anonymous No.8744607]

C O R N C O B B Y

[Anonymous No.8744841]

>>8743113
Maybe "state of mind" is a better description. The physical, emotional, and spiritual dislocation experienced by Suttree and others is mirrored in the descriptions of the temporal dislocation of Knoxville and McAnally. It's a shared pain

[Anonymous No.8745051]

>>8743077
McCarthy is the most American thing you can find in the sense that he's trying to hit a certain mature aesthetic yet sounds incredibly naive in doing so. He's essentially America's microcosm. A very young nation, expressively potent but lacking a certain touch of grey, a touch of existential wisdom, a touch of refinement that comes with age. McCarthy tries to hit that palette while also incorporating certain themes that might be classified as inherently American. Domestically many fall for it, but he is a non-entity for any experienced connoisseur. Much like an aged father laughs, though with some kindness, at his teenager son's attempts at legitimacy.

[Anonymous No.8746289]

>>8745051

[Anonymous No.8746296]

>>8745051
This is the most godawfully pretentiously written and ill-conceived post I've read in a while but I actually agree with you, unfortunately. Good post.

[Anonymous No.8746309]

>>8745051
you sound like the kind of person who fucks watermelons

[Anonymous No.8746334]

>>8743154
he made his wife type out the final draft twice on his typewriter.
>>8743077
>>8743265
It is better.

[Anonymous No.8746496]

>>8746309
lmao

[Anonymous No.8746519]

>>8743077
>tfw they didn't have this at the book store today

[Anonymous No.8746544]

>>8745051

[Anonymous No.8747961]

>>8746296
Well in his defense, I'd say that sometimes Blood Meridian seems a bit too much
"look how dark and mystic I can paint things".

At some point I understand that Blood Meridian can look like a teenager trying too hard to reach maturity.

As for Suttree, to me it is definitely a better piece of writing. And more relatable, because it happens in a modern city. You can feel these guys. Like Steinbeck's Cannery Row but better.
Blood Meridian sounds like it has been written by some apostle on acid, trying to impress some degenerates living on the outskirts of humanity

[Anonymous No.8748452]

>>8747961
Any passages with which to explain your point? Because a significant chunk of BM is the judge specifically trying to impress some degenerates living on the outskirts of humanity in order to conduct his plans.

[Anonymous No.8748782]

>>8748452
Good point

Maybe BM is too much of an exercice of style, about what is going on in a mind slipping towards evil, the kid (the last part in any reasonable human being able to discern tragedy from evil) being ultimately corrupted and swallowed by this, punished for not having escaped from this mess (yes that is my 2cents analysis)

Ok Malcom we got it, you have awesome writing abilities, congratulations you can write in a biblical fashion about horrible things.

I feel like Suttree is better because it is less a show off of writing ability, and in the meantime i find it to be much more subtle than BM, because characters are more relatable than any of the degenerates army of psycho of BM.

[Anonymous No.8748826]

>>8748782
Shit, I meant Cormac, fuck me, not Malcom

[Anonymous No.8749620]

>>8748782
I mean, I prefer suttree as well. I just find that BM was the point corncob leaped off into a prose style that was totally unlike his southern works. As if the completion of Suttree was essentially a subsequent admission to an unknown frontier, as is symbolized in the novel by Suttree leaving Knoxville behind at the end

So If you find the shift jarring, that's understandable. I do love the ideas of meme meridian, but it's a fact that Suttree has more innate character.

[Anonymous No.8749692]

>>8743077
>>8743265
>>8744334
I've read The Road, and BM. Where does Suttree rank in comparison?

[Anonymous No.8749699]

>>8749692
Suttree is his best novel.

[Anonymous No.8749714]

>>8748452
>>8747961
BM has such hardcore padding it hurts. I mean, some conversations still make it worth it, and I'll always laugh at "nigger heart", but fuck's sakes.

[Anonymous No.8749717]

>>8749699

[Anonymous No.8749851]

>>8745051
you sound like you've been reading Oscar Wilde too much or something

[Anonymous No.8752004]

It's the funniest book I've ever read.

I'm still looking for a book that can make me laugh even half as much. Catch-22 is the only book even remotely close.

[Anonymous No.8752418]

>>8745051

[Anonymous No.8753039]

>>8749699
I agree, laddie

[Anonymous No.8753169]

I want a stepping stone into mccarthy should I read outer dark or child of god

[Anonymous No.8753179]

>>8753169
Child of God

[Anonymous No.8754979]

Bump

[Anonymous No.8755127]

>>8752004
Lolita and Fight Club made me laugh the most. As I Lay Dying comes in 3rd.

[Anonymous No.8755314]

>>8743077
mmm this was a great book. i personally enjoyed it better than blood meridian. i have been trying to start it again but its a hard one to start. from what i gathered, the general theme of the book is death.

[Anonymous No.8755393]

>>8743077

Whether this is better than Blood Meridian or not I can't say but I think the appeal of Suttree is that it is deeply moving in an intimate way that Blood Meridian isn't.

I've always heard Suttree is semi-autobiographical and I wonder what parts of McCarthy's life are drawn in this.

[Anonymous No.8755419]

>>8746309
underrated post

[Anonymous No.8756410]

>>8755127
I know funny, and those books aren't funny

[Anonymous No.8756485]

>>8743077
I liked it, but I definitely prefer Blood Meridian. I think heavier subject matter just fits McCarthy's prose better. It definitely had some great moments, but just a bit too meandering for me.
>>8745051
Great new pasta.
>>8749692
Suttree feels like McCarthy experimenting with his writing in this very loose ended way from subplot to subplot. You can definitely see the seeds of what would become Blood Meridian there. It's just too self-indulgent though. It just feels like another writer's attempt to make his life into a literary work.

[Anonymous No.8757361]

>>8743077
So this is a McCarthy general thread yes? Just finished All the Pretty Horses and into The Crossing, it fucking killed me when he grabbed his rifle and out the wolf out of it's misery, I was all settled in for a story about a boy bonding with a wolf.

[Anonymous No.8757462]

>>8756485
>It's just too self-indulgent though. It just feels like another writer's attempt to make his life into a literary work.
It's semi-autobiographical

[Anonymous No.8757761]

>>8757361
The Crossing is McCarthy's most boring book imo. It took me nearly a month to finish because it kept putting me to sleep.

[Anonymous No.8757794]

>>8745051

[Anonymous No.8757811]

is Knoxville /lit/?

[Anonymous No.8758654]

>>8757811
I'm visiting family there in a couple months, I'm planning to do location scouting and ridiculous amounts of drinking there

[Anonymous No.8758676]

>>8757811

No. It's mostly backwoods hillbillies with an incredibly insular mindset. It's doubtful they've even read a significant portion of the New Testament despite being such outward proponents of "Christian" values.

Granted, some of the more metro parts of the South aren't quite as homogenous and aren't ostensibly backward, but even the young and hip crowd tends to be pretty right-leaning when you actually get to know them.

[Anonymous No.8758739]

>>8757794
>>8752418
>>8746544

Jealous, inarticulate samefag is...

[Anonymous No.8759129]

>>8757761

I loved The Crossing and event more Cities of the Plain.

This is great movie material, even more than The Road, Blood Meridian (which is not possible to transform in a good movie IMO) or No Country for Old Man (which was average to me, both the book and the movie).

>>8758739

poor posting is poor posting, I agree

[Anonymous No.8759133]

>>8757811
Why Yes, Anon (or maybe I'm the only one)

[Anonymous No.8759937]

>>8743077

I got bored by the endlessly shifting narrative, so I haven't read the last 100 pages.

[Anonymous No.8760108]

>>8759937
>I got bored by the endlessly shifting narrative, so I haven't read the last 100 pages.

they're the best and most tragicomic

[Anonymous No.8761628]

>>8757811
I'd say so. It's an ugly city and a beautiful place. It can be called into question whether it's a city at all, or rather a large town. It is one part failing industrial hub where trains use to stop before going to Nashville or Birmingham or Louisville, and marble used to be pulled out of the ground, but the trains rarely run anymore and the Marble City has all but dried up.

It is also a college town where the flagship University of Tennessee stands in the west. During the week, the students there trek up the hill on Fort Sanders, where the old Victorian homes James Agee grew up in are now occupied by these same students and then trek up the famous "Hill" where the school's buildings lie. On the weekends, they drink, dance, and fall in love in the bars that stand in the valley. Luke the city itself, the campus is ugly but has its own character in the 70's era architecture, nearly Soviet in design, intermixed with the odd sleek modern facility and gorgeous, centuries-old halls. intermixed with the odd The college grounds are also home to the largest building in Knoxville, a football stadium that stands as one of the largest venues in the world. In the fall, the emotions of the campus and the whole state depends on a few dozen college students dressed in bright orange led by a stout middle-aged man who looks like an enraged lesbian.

It is also part hipster paradise, jokingly called Scruffy City in the Old City to the north, where hipsters drink in their pubs and talk to the Professors and grad students who live in cheap neighborhoods even farther north. The only city part of the city is a couple blocks downtown, plainly Gay Street, filled with theatres, bars and apartments filled with rich and trendy young people from around the area, that could fit in among any metropolitan in America. The cultural heart is Market Square, where a factory once stood, and is now home to a plethora of restaurants and bars, and a large open area for performances. In the very middle, the plain-looking Worlds Fair Park is dominated by the gaudy Sunsphere, a giant, golden ball on a stick, leftover from a worlds fair dating back thirty years that has, perhaps fittingly, become the symbol of the city.

Not even mentioning the West Knoxville suburbs, where the Old money, southerners mix interchangeably with new money Yankees from all over, it is perhaps the comfiest town on Earth, the people are hard-working but friendly, there's a good mix of salt of the Earth farm boys and brilliant engineers working in Oak Ridge who are united perhaps only in love of the Tennessee Volunteers. This person >>8758676
I would wager has never been to Knoxville and is stereotyping an entire region of the country because that's the kind of guy he is.

[Anonymous No.8762245]

>>8761628
I wanna do a pub crawl there whilst pretending that I'm doing research for a novel when really I'm just getting fucked up

[Anonymous No.8762305]

>>8762245
Cool Beans --> Uptown --> Longbranch --> the Half Barrel --> make the trek through the fort to downtown (stop at Fort Sanders Yacht Club if you want an extra drink but it kinda sucks) for full experience bum a natty lite off one of the parties being held there --> The Stock and Barrel --> Clancy's Tavern --> Downtown Grill and Brewery --> Suttree's High Gravity Tavern --> The Crown and Goose --> The Jig and Reel --> Hanna's Cafe --> The Public House

I assumed you wanted to end the night by picking up some /lit/ hip girls, if you want a sorority girl reverse the order.

Also if you go while school's out: e.g. December, Spring Break, or Summer, just cut out everything before Stock and Barrel, and then just hit more in Market Square and the Old City.

You can thank me later.

[Anonymous No.8762666]

>>8761628
great post

[Anonymous No.8762954]

>>8761628
thank you

[Anonymous No.8764498]

>>8762305
>Suttree's High Gravity Tavern

Wow it's an actual place. Neat.

[Anonymous No.8766341]

>>8764498
/lit/ meetup when?

[Anonymous No.8766800]

>>8764498
Amazingly it's not in the hipster part of town

[Anonymous No.8768828]

Why did Suttrees mother in law attack him?

[Anonymous No.8769046]

>>8743077
I like The Road the best, it's so dark and terrifying, but heartfelt also.

[Anonymous No.8769179]

>>8761628
Man this is mildly pretentious but as someone who has lived in Knoxville, essentially true.

>>8758676
Fuck you.

[Anonymous No.8769192]

>>8762305
> Not even mentioning Barley's
Haram

[Anonymous No.8769658]

>>8745051
>he is a non-entity for any experienced connoisseur

[Anonymous No.8769663]

>>8768828

He did something in the past

[Anonymous No.8769675]

Stfu loss against

[Anonymous No.8769892]

>>8761628
I live in Morristown to the east and I'd have to agree, except you forgot the insane amount of underground bands that preform there.

[Anonymous No.8769906]

>>8743077
Harrogate is maybe the funniest character in American literature
>a melon ain't no beast

[Anonymous No.8770966]

>>8769906
>What do you aim to do?

>Hell, I dont know. It’s about too late to do anything. He’s damn near screwed the whole patch. I dont see why he couldnt of stuck to just one. Or a few.

>Well, I guess he takes himself for a lover. Sort of like a sailor in a whorehouse.

>I reckon what it was he didnt take to the idea of gettin bit on the head of his pecker by one of them waspers. I suppose he showed good judgment there.

>What was he, just a young feller?

>I dont know about how young he was but he was as active a feller as I’ve seen in a good while.

>Well. I dont reckon he’ll be back.

[Anonymous No.8771084]

Did you guys prefer blood meridian or no country for old men?

[Anonymous No.8771093]

>>8771084
Blood Meridian, No Country was mediocre beyond belief. The movie was better; the book was written more like a treatment for film than it was a good novel. Blood Meridian will prove to be unadaptable as time passes and people try, partially because of its prose.

[Anonymous No.8771099]

>>8748826
S'kay. I wouldn't fuck Malcolm anyway

[Anonymous No.8771104]

>>8771084
On second thought let me prhase it like this
Where should i start with Cormac to not make it unappealing to read the rest of his work? Some of you guys seem to think that blood meridian is hard to sit through.
Is Child of God as needlessly violent as it sounds?
Is NCfOM a good place to start?
Keeping in mind i'm just starting to depleb, read in my free time.

[Anonymous No.8771169]

>>8771104
Start from the beginning and proceed chronologically. If you want an "easy start" either The Road or NCFOM are the best entry points, but I would say it's better to start from the beginning and then go onwards from there.

And enjoy, friend. He's one of the best writers alive.