[Cormac McCarthy. Photo Credit to Commons wikimedia]

Cormac McCarthy, author of “No Country for Old Men” and “The Road”,  who was often regarded as one of the greatest living American novelists, peacefully passed away on June 13th in his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

The news of his death was met with shock by millions of his fans around the world, including Stephen King,  who said that McCarthy was “maybe the greatest American novelist of my time”.

McCarthy’s first novel, “The Orchard Keeper” (1965), was described to be “carnivalesque”, an indication of his future works imagination of a post-apocalyptic world.

This marked the beginning of his “Appalachian works”, a series of novels set in the southeastern United States, including “Outer Dark” (1968), “Child of God” (1973), and “Suttree” (1979). 

However, McCarthy was largely unnoticed by the mainstream literary community until he moved to Texas and embarked on a new phase of his career.

In 1981, after moving to Texas, McCarthy was awarded 236,000$ for the very first MacArthur Fellowship, an annual prize awarded to only 40 U.S Citizens across all fields of study. 

McCarthy then visited the American Southwest, which became a central theme across his literary works.

Shortly after his visit, McCarthy published “Blood Meridian” (1985), set in the 1850s, where a young teenager witnesses the brutal massacre of Native Americans on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The plot of the book stunned the literary society for its brutality, with the New York Times describing it as “the bloodiest book since the Iliad”. Nevertheless, he was critically acclaimed for his work, and soon released “All the Pretty Horses”, which also took place between the U.S.-Mexico border. 

McCarthy’s most recognized work, “The Road” (2006), a chilling portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world, won him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007, further cementing his reputation as a genius novelist. 

His ability to vividly describe post-apocalyptic landscapes and the theme of the exploration of the human spirit resonated with a global audience, earning him millions of fans worldwide.

In 2005, McCarthy wrote “No Country for Old Men”, a novel about the U.S.-Mexico drug dealership in the 1980s. 

2 years later, the book was adapted into a film by Joel and Ethan Coen. The movie received widespread acclaim from critics and viewers alike, and was selected for 4 Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. 

Despite creating a legacy of his own , McCarthy did not flaunt his achievements. Even after the huge success of “No Country for Old Men” back in 2007, when being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on the “Oprah Winfrey Show”,  McCarthy stated that you “shouldn’t be talking about [writing books]”, but rather “you probably should be doing it”. 

There is no doubt that his work will continue to be read as an integral part of the fabric of American literature.