The New Canon is a regular feature, contributed by Ted Gioia, focusing on great works of fiction published since 1985. These books represent the finest literature of the current era, and are gaining recognition as the new classics of our time. In this installment of The New Canon, Gioia looks at The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Cormac McCarthy’s fiction has always possessed an apocalyptic edginess — so who can be surprised that he finally wrote a novel about end times. Or that he seems so much at home in the bleak and ominous landscapes of a dying planet Earth? His post-Armageddon setting for The Road, from one perspective, is merely an extension of the violent, inhospitable borderlands he has been writing about for decades
You can tell a lot about writers from whether their eschatology comes with a bang or a whimper. For Cormac McCarthy there is only a long, drawn-out and anguished grinding to a halt. There is no Rapture in this author's vision of the final days: everyone is left behind here. Except, those who are already dead before the narrative starts—and, McCarthy hints, they may be the most fortunate of them all.
A man and his son are struggling for survival in the aftermath of some devastating cataclysm. McCarthy offers few details of the events that led to this situation. His reticence on this account is surprising, when one considers the other writers who have used the depiction of dark future times as a springboard for political commentary. Whether George Orwell or Ayn Rand, Margaret Atwood or Aldous Huxley, the prognosticators have pretended to talk about the future, when their real interest is in offering incisive commentary on their present day society. Yes, 1984 is a book about 1948, as becomes all the clearer with the passage of time. Brave New World is, among other things, a guide to a now departed world, whose naive positivism we can hardly imagine nowadays. But McCarthy not only resists the temptation to offer a political angle to his book — he even seems blissfully unaware that this is even an option open to him.
Article comments
1 - Lisa Solod Warren
I was JUST going to review this book for blogcritics! I have had it for two years (as I often have books for years before I read them. I am OCD about having tons of books around the house so I never run out of things to read) but as soon as I saw the film was coming out, I knew I had to get on the stick, as I will NEVER see a film 'til I have read the book.
It is AMAZING, brilliant, and yes, you cannot put it down. It has kept me up now two nights.
A MUST READ.
Thanks, Ted, for once again bringing this astonishing piece of literature to people's attention. Yes, it uncomfortable, but that is what art does: makes you think, wonder, cry, and be stunned. This a beautiful, damning, profound piece of art, that grabs at you and won't let go.
Buy it, read it, keep it. Recommend it.
2 - George T. Karnezis
I'm in a reading group. One member suggested that half of us read THE ROAD and the other THE PESTHOUSE. I read the latter which I thought tedious and inept. My wife read the former and I don't believe ever voiced such distaste for a book as this. What amazed her was not only the hyperbolic praise given to it, but the fact that it received the Pulitzer. Both of us have advanced degrees (one in English)and have open minds when it comes to reading, but really, books like THE ROAD and the praise they receive leave us wondering just what has happened to literary standards which have, perhaps, become the specialty of Oprah and marketers. Really, we understand there's always room for dispute about taste, but the warm praise given to both these books was something we simply could not understand.
3 - Bjorn
Read the road and studied it for english coursework:
A fantastic book that i believes deserves more than the praise it is getting.
It is one of the best ecological book ever written yet contains not facts or figure. It gives an insight of what to possibly expect in the future
It is a must read novel
4 - Aurel
Fabulous review. I loved this book, but found it very difficult to put into words the experience of reading it. You have done so flawlessly. Thanks, and I'll be keeping an eye on this feature!
5 - Wilson Knut
Yes! I wrote a post on my blog long ago about how this book should be required reading. Again, I love the idea of this feature. If you ever want a guest writer, let me know. McCarthy's The Road
6 - zingzing
i've read a majority of mccarthy's books at this point, and i have to say this is his weakest, at least in my opinion. i don't know why. i still like it, because it's mccarthy, but he holds back, i think, from using his gifts with language to the fullest. the minimalism of the whole thing--from plot to characters to action to (the lack of) dialects, etc--is interesting, but i think of this one as a bit of a failed experiment. it just doesn't come off as well as i think it should. it's the only mccarthy book i've been disappointed with, but that's only because it's mccarthy. i might have enjoyed it more if i hadn't hyped it up so much in my mind.
reading blood meridian now.