UCLA Cormac McCarthy Expert Discusses "The Road"

Kenneth Lincoln, an English professor at UCLA and a founder of American Indian studies at UCLA, discusses Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel "The Road." Lincoln is the author of "Cormac McCarthy: American Canticles" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), which explores 13 major works -- including "The Road" -- produced over 50 years of McCarthy's career. The book becomes available in paperback in February, 2010.
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[@piscadorofisher]

good stuff thanks for posting. mccarthy's work has themes that play out through the whole oeuvre.

[@eruditehedonist5993]

I hear a lot of braying from the gallery about this man's informal appraisal of McCarthy's themes. I highly recommend you read for yourself what McCarthy has had to say about The Road before impulsively lambasting various interpretations merely because you disagree with them. Who knows, you may even learn something.

[@whatley100]

I feel like his interpretation of any of McCarthy's work is completely wonkers. The Road is almost more about the cost of retaining a shred of humanity in the spite of the impending end.

[@thirstypilgrim97]

"Wonkers" is exactly the word for this guy.

[@ulquiorra4cries]

why is everyone hating

[@zacnewford]

obama

[@JamesTKirkCobain]

@BlakeTXHC - I totally agree. He is completely missing the point, which is that all McCarthy was doing was using an apocalyptic settting as a metaphor for life and how a father prepares his son for it. Life is very tough no matter what the setting (unless you`re Paris Hilton) and to prepare a kid for it takes great sacrifice. I swear, these Colleges must hand out these degrees like baseball cards.

[@Aeoen]

@chappelldrew On the surface, what Lincoln says here is exactly what No Country For Old Men is about. What you say is the meaning.

[@side1981]

No way McCarthy will win the Nobel.

[@erniereyes1994]

He should tho

[@JoeGamer81]

You nailed it. However, I don't think it's possible to read the book without meditating on exactly that--the seemingly irresistible inertia of man towards destruction, whether literal or metaphorical. I doubt McCarthy would begrudge anyone wanting to use the book as a cue to make change happen.

[@SpaceCelt]

I'm interested in your reasons for saying this. Would you mind explaining briefly?

[@bigjstokes]

@BlakeTXHC I agree that the novel intentionally leaves out the cause of the apocalypse because that is not what is important. The second half of your criticism feels like a stretch. All he was pointing out was that the story is not "feel-good" and fluffy. I'm sure the man understands how much McCarthy's books are rooted in Christian mythology.

[@TheGilima20]

I disagree without because from the book that I read two themes seem to be vastly played out. One is the and mythical and religious aspect of the relationship between the man and the boy, the second is the destruction of the world. There are numerous pages, more concentrated on the background and setting of the land than on the relationship between the main characters. Not saying that your view is wrong, but when reading a book so complex such as this many things can be taken from it.

[@malafakka8530]

The Nobel is worth as much as any other prize. There is nothing like the test of time. That being said I heavily doubt that McCarthy will ever get a Nobel. Not that it really matters.

[@IndieAuthorX]

@CaptainStarstuff yeah it does.

[@DoctorSess]

@RSCII there is no parties...only The Party.

[@syphonunfiltered]

He seems to have gotten most of his information alternately from he back of the book ("he's our greatest living writer") and Wikipedia ("Who only makes a movie every 10 years. It has Viggo Mortensen in it"). Step up your game profezzor

[@erniereyes1994]

Lol… a lot of people say McCarthy is the greatest living writer bro 😂 if you actually read his work, you’ll know. Don’t need to read the back of a cover or go on Wikipedia to know that lol

[@patduss174]

What does that even have to do with it ? Where are you pulling this out of ?

[@BurtMandrake]

@RSCII Ronald Reagan was too far left for a lot of my econ professors.

[@BlackRose2354]

I was commenting as a response to the comment made by someone else on politics. Please don't whine at me if you're trying to attack me. And by the way, you can clearly see that this professor is projecting his own politics on the book, claiming it is some kind of warning that could happen in the future in a nuclear holocaust, etc. Please. Granted a nuclear holocaust could happen (unlikely), but the concept (which he missed due to his agenda) is much deeper and profound that that of politics.

[@datasoccer]

I agree with you. He's projecting his own liberal agenda in his interpretation--which is perfectly fine to do, but not when you're an alleged scholar, aiming to articulate the authors' intent (and, btw, i'm a liberal, so its' no slam on them... just pointing out, as you did, the obvious)

[@TheWhiteWhale593]

@killyourtvnotme Did I ever say he was a Christian? No. I said that the Road is a RESPONSE to the Christian story, as most of his stories are. In fact you can easily read all of his novels from Blood Meridian through the Road as explorations of a Sacramental vision, albeit in a skewed and somewhat heretical way. Blood Meredian being baptism, ATPH=Confirmation, The Crossing=Holy Orders, Cities of the Plains=Marriage, NCFOM=Eucharist, The Road=Extreme Unction. But I doubt you've actually done

[@TheGilima20]

Yet you use this as your base so your own argument is flawed. The movie was great, it holds a 75+ review status on RT and it was nominated and won quite a few prizes of its own.

[@randomjamsessions1]

Wot. I'm 17 and I understood the book better.

[@avery.a5948]

Damm you’re almost 30 now

[@molloyxx1]

As much as I appreciate McCarthy no American author has produced a more imposing body of work in the past 25 years than Philip Roth]. The Road, Blood Meridian and Outer Dark are all dark brutes of the highest order but Roth's consistency is unparalleled and Sabbaths Theater, The Prague Orgy, The Human Stain, American Pastoral, The Counterlife, The Anatomy Lesson and others are all rigorously honest, unflinching and masterfully written.

[@BenDy994]

@stormchaser6871 He left it out because it was of no relevance. Simple as that.

[@molloyxx1]

@TheRealSmacker I don't think it matters at all what the event was. The Road connects to Blood Meridian, although the prose is much more stripped down [ yet still searing and elegant] and the setting, oddly enough, less obscure. That said, current literary theory is maddeningly contaminated by all manner of political, cultural and feminist theory, much of it promoting the insane notion that authorship is irrelevant. McCarthy is too much of a monster for theorists to begin to contend with.

[@CaptainStarstuff]

@WilliamThomasStory This comment doesn't make a lick of sense.

[@papaglenford]

yes we can gag.

[@AlexSosaBolivia]

"Cormac McCarthy Expert" LOL

[@BlackRose2354]

Can I just applaud for that comment, because I thinking the same thing.

[@01738083370]

the faulkner of this generation? mccarthy is damn good, hes the best contemporary writer in america for sure but faulkner? no faulkners genius is unparalleled!

[@alphonseelric5722]

I know its late but in 50 years they would be saying the same about McCarthy. Its a cycle, once an author is dead for sufficiently long schoolboy fans start popping up. Happened with Faulkner, Hemingway, Nabokov etc. and will surely happen with McCarthy.

[@thirstypilgrim97]

Flannery O'Conner takes Faulkner, in my opinion. Much more sober as well.

[@mikeplaid]

Wow, he was dead wrong when it comes to The Road (Films) reception. It really wasn't that great. No academy awards (not that getting nominated is too much a measurement of anything).

[@TheRealSmacker]

This man has not understood "The Road" at all. It is not a warning about any kind of apocalypse or about how humanity should change to prevent it. The cause of the cataclysm was omitted specifically to PREVENT this interpretation, because the book is about the study of the human condition, morality and fatherhood. It is only the turning off of the light, because you can only see the stars when it is dark enough, only the way to show what really matters. It is so obvious from the entire book.

[@thirstypilgrim97]

John Francis now, looking at any Democrat-Led metropolis... " Yeah dad, you were right"

[@lostfanatic6]

This guys seriously doens't have a clue!

[@alphanokoko]

the road has something to do with the post-oil society. once the Arabian oil on the american soil comes to an end, you will begin to eat yourself up. thats what it is about.

[@VincentCummings]

Please I wish people would leave fucking politics out of videos about authors, art, etc If this guy doesn't know what he's talking about its not because he's a liberal or conservative or bla,bla, bla...its because he doesn't know. It is easy to politically label things you don't understand. And I don't give a shit if you're conservative, liberal...you all are quick to attack someone if they don't wear the social or political label you think they should.

[@TheWhiteWhale593]

@killyourtvnotme ...any serious criticism on McCarthy or even felt the need to delve into his almost unending allusions to Catholicism, particularly the monastic tradition, mysticism, gnosticism, and theology that pepper almost all of his work. The Road alone if rife with Biblical and spiritual allusions. I also find it interesting that McCarthy sends his child to a Catholic school and has been seen attending mass regularly...does that mean he believes it? Not neccessarily

[@weirdshibainu]

This jerk has made a career becoming an "expert" on Cormac? Why didn't the interviewer just interview Cormac himself?

[@douglasdareallen6518]

Cormac does very few interviews

[@weirdshibainu]

@@douglasdareallen6518 Then they would be even more important