Who is Cormac McCarthy

The Border Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, the Crossing, Cities of the Plain (Everyman's Library)

by: Cormac McCarthy

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Release Date: 09/28/1999

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All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, Book 1)

by: Cormac McCarthy

The first novel "All the Pretty Horses" tells of John Grady Cole, a sixteen year old cowboy who grew up on his grandfather's ranch in west Texas. The story begins soon after the death of John Grady's grandfather, and John Grady learns that the ranch is to be sold. Faced with the prospect of moving into town, John Grady instead chooses to leave, convincing his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, to accompany him. Traveling by horseback, the pair travel southward into Mexico, where they hope to find work as cowboys. They encounter, among others, a young boy, Jimmy Blevins, whom they befriend, and a young aristocrat's daughter, Alejandra, with whom John Grady Cole falls in love.

The Crossing

by: Cormac McCarthy

The second novel in the trilogy, "The Crossing," like its predecessor, All the Pretty Horses, is a coming-of-age novel set on the lands bordering the southern United States and Mexico. The plot takes place before and during the Second World War, and focuses on the life of Billy Parham, the protagonist, a teenage cowboy, his family and his younger brother Boyd. The story tells of three journeys taken from New Mexico to Mexico. It is noted for being a more melancholic novel than the first of the trilogy, without returning to the hellish bleakness of McCarthy's early novels.

Cities of the Plain

by: Cormac McCarthy

The third novel of the trilogy "Cities of the Plain" takes place on both sides of the United States-Mexico border. The novel brings together John Grady Cole, protagonist of the first book of the trilogy, with Billy Parham, the young cowboy introduced in the second book.

The story begins in 1952 with both John Grady and Billy working together on a cattle ranch near the border cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. We learn of their life and work on the ranch. The owners are kind, but small cattle ranches of this kind are not thriving. Although the cowboys barely eke out their living, it is clear that John Grady and Billy love this harsh life -- close to the land, their horses, and the wild creatures that live in the desert. After a visit to a brothel in Juarez, John Grady falls in love with a fragile young prostitute, Magdalena. His destiny is to rescue her. Billy knows his younger friend is altruistic to a fault, but helps him in his mission. The brothel is run by Eduardo, a formidable adversary, and the opposite of John Grady in every way. Their meeting leads inevitably to a duel.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

by: Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy's earlier Blood Meridian (1985) was among Time Magazine's poll of 100 best English-language books published between 1925 and 2005

Retrieved on 2008-06-03 and he placed joint runner-up for a similar title in a poll taken in 2006 by the The New York Times of the best American fiction published in the last 25 years.

Retrieved on 2008-06-03

Literary critic Harold Bloom named him as one of the four major American novelists of his time, along with Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, and Philip Roth. He is frequently compared by modern reviewers to William Faulkner.

McCarthy also has written plays and screenplays.

No Country for Old Men [Blu-ray]

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Miramax No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray)
Acclaimed filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen deliver their most gripping and ambitious film yet in this sizzling and supercharged action-thriller. When a man stumbles on a bloody crime scene, a pickup truck loaded with heroin, and two million dollars in irresistible cash, his decision to take the money sets off an unstoppable chain reaction of violence. Not even West Texas law can contain it. Based on the novel byPulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, and featuring an acclaimed cast led by Tommy Lee Jones, this gritty game of cat and mouse will take you to the edge of your seat and beyond - right up to its heart-stopping final moment.

All the Pretty Horses

Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 11/12/2009)

Adapted from Cormac McCarthy's award-winning novel, All the Pretty Horses cries for epic length but runs only 112 minutes for theatrical release. Drastically shortened during a lengthy stretch between production and release, this operatic drama feels as if huge chunks are missing, and what remains are fragments of a masterpiece that might have been. Unless a more definitive version is revealed, we must settle for this faint echo of McCarthy's ambitious narrative, in which dispossessed Texas rancher John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) ventures to Mexico in 1949 to revive his fading dreams of cowboy glory. With best friend Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas), Cole's odyssey takes him from youthful idealism to rugged, often horrific, and ultimately ennobling tests of integrity.

"Cormac McCarthy": A Biographical Essay from Gale's "Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 256, Twentieth-Century American Western Writers, Third Series" (code 16)

Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 11/13/2009)

If you are looking for the best information about a favorite literary figure, turn to "Dictionary of Literary Biography" for the finest literature reference material. Brought to you by the Gale Group--the world's leading source of reference information--this e-doc contains a biographical essay written by a noted literary expert as well as extensive primary and secondary bibliographies.