Do you agree with McCarthy?

Question

"McCarthy has said that death is the major issue in the world and that writers who don’t address it are not serious."

Source Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/books/review/Kennedy.t.html?scp=4&sq=Cormac%20McCarthy%20death&st=cse

Equally Interesting Article: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6DA163EF93AA25757C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

I've been thinking about that statement since I first read it a few months ago. I think it's a fascinating declaration, and a morbidly useful measuring stick. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, can you give thoughts/proof for any take on it (He's either wrong or right or mixed.)?

Answer 1

spriritually speaking i don't think u mean.

Answer 2

My answer is,

We start dying as soon as we are born.

I have written a children's story about death and Family traditions. In my story the family is to go on the annul family camping trip. Marty is a 9 year old who discovers a connection to his dead grandfather that peaks when Marty looks to the sky and say's "Happy Birthday Grandpa!"

"Break on through to the other-side yea!" (Jim Morrison/The Doors)

hope my answer helps

Answer 3

Those are interesting articles. Thanks for posting them.

I agree that any author who wants to confront the important themes will inevitably have to address death.  I cannot think of a single author whom I truly admire who does not examine death and its implications, in one way or another.

I think it's important not to over simplify though. Plenty of authors deal in death without being in any way "serious", so I would say that death is not the indicator, rather that the seriousness itself will determine an author's insight and approach regarding death. To me it is all about the substance, whether one is talking about life or death, so perhaps I completely missed McCarthy's point.

I have never thought of it as a measuring stick before, but it will probably become one now, at least to some extent. Not that I think measuring sticks are required in the evaluation of art, especially literature. It's right there before us, serious writers are pretty easy to recognize, after all. Still, it's fun to have a few benchmark questions when thinking about a book, or an author, or any other kind of art really, and this is an intriguing one for sure.

Answer 4

Death is only as major as you make it. If you've lived a long, happy life, death isn't going to be such a horrid thing, it might even seem peaceful. To declare writers as not being serious just because they don't address death is a little out of place, there are plenty of serious writers out there that don't think death is that big of a deal.

And look at the world around us, we're exposed to so much violence in the world, why read about it from other writers too? It won't have as big of an impact, we've seen so much death, it's lost it's serious touch.  

Answer 5

One of my poli-sci professors always used to mention "The Big 5" subjects of literature and philosophy: death, love, god, justice, and friendship. Regardless of whether this short list is valid or not, I think you could easily claim that any of those other four topics are just as important as death.

So in short, I disagree that death must be *the* major issue in the world.