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Topic: McCarthy's Southern Works
Thread: Cormac's Sense of Humor

Total messages for all days: 4

Cormac's Sense of Humor	matt j	2/7/2007
I often find Cormac's dialogue to crackle with subtle humor, but as I'm reading Sutree I'm noticing straight up comedic moments. Most of the business with his drinking buddies, that scene lighting a fire in the car for example, is played for laughs. Harrogate too, is a much more comical character than I've encountered in his other novels. I am wondering other people's thoughts on the subject. Did Cormac lose his sense of humor when he turned to westerns, or did it just adjust to meet the subject matter?

Cormac's Sense of Humor	Simon Sandall	2/11/2007
Hi, I think there is a lot of black humor in Blood Meridian, mainly in the diabolic character of Judge Holden. The devil has been a comic figure for centuries, and I think Cormac McCarthy is playing with this tradition. At the same time, Cormac McCarthy doesn't take away from the seriousness of the brutal acts Holden perpetrates, nor does McCarthy venture into bad taste.

Cormac's Sense of Humor	robj	2/11/2007
matt, Just a heads up: There was a thread just a couple months ago called 'Cormac McCarthy? You're Joking' in which a discussion of humor in the McCarthy canon was discussed. rjj

Cormac's Sense of Humor	arnoldet	2/11/2007
I think Charles Portis has come up on this Forum, but I ran across a good article by Ed Parks on Portis that also brings McCarthy into the discussion. It was in The Believer. http://www.believermag.com/issues/200303/?read=article_park Portis's books Norwood, True Grit, The Dog of the South, and Masters of Atlantis are terrific, and you definitely can find connections between True Grit and The Dog of the South and McC's humor.

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