The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Good old fashioned violent Irish American writing

I’m sitting here re-reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I’m wondering why it’s so controversial. I’m formulating a thesis about it for my Irish Novel graduate class at Rosemont. This is my brainstorm.

Is it wrong that I’m not bothered by the grotesque nature of some aspects of this book? After all, a post-apocalyptic world would not be pretty. Stephen King’s vision (in The Stand) wasn’t pretty, but that seemed to be more acceptable because he wasn’t trying to be phenomenal, he was just trying to be himself—a horror novelist.

I can’t help but think how similar and different my background is to that of McCarthy. He’s a man from the South, with a few years on him. I’m a younger woman from the North. We are, however, both Irish Americans, and both writers, though I am unfortunately more pretentious than he is, with less to show for it.

I guess that means it’s time to start writing.