Embracing Vocation : Cormac Mccarthy's Writing Life, 1959-1974 / Dianne C. Luce.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Luce, Dianne C., 1947- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

McCarthy, Cormac, 1933-2023--Criticism and interpretation.

McCarthy, Cormac.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Fiction--Authorship.

Fiction.

Novelists, American--20th century--Biography.

Novelists, American.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (338 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, [2023]

Summary:

"Revelations on craft from a foundational scholar of Cormac McCarthy. Devotees of Cormac McCarthy's novels are legion, and deservedly so. Embracing Vocation, which tells the tale of his journey to become one of America's greatest living writers, will be invaluable to scholars and literary critics-and to the many fans-interested in his work. Dianne C. Luce, a foundational scholar of McCarthy's writing, through extensive archival research, examines the first fifteen years of his career and his earliest novels. Novel by novel, Luce traces each book's evolution. In the process she unveils McCarthy's working processes as well as his personal, literary, and professional influences, highlighting his ferocious devotion to both his craft and burgeoning art. Luce invites us to see the fascinating evolution of an American author with a unique vision all his own. Until there is a full-on biography, this study, along with Luce's previous, Reading the World: Cormac McCarthy's Tennessee Period, is the finest available portrait of an American genius unfolding"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Apprentice work and biographical context

Drafting The orchard keeper : remnants of the first draft

The "late draft"

Revision for Lawrence Bensky

Working with Albert Erskine

Placing excerpts in periodicals

Compiling the jacket copy

Awards

Reviews and sales

Biographical context and the novel's genesis

the drafting process

Culla's monologues

Sins of the father : the triune surface

The ferry scene and Culla's psychotic break

Culla's dreams

The triune walk

Rinthy's Evolution

The murder of the tinker

The child sacrifice

Culla and the blind man

New Orleans to Knoxville to Europe, 1964-1967

The editing stage

Publication and reception

Subsidiary rights and awards

Genesis

The auction

The high sheriff of Sevier County

Contrary oxen and the unidentified storytellers

The child and the frozen robin

The blacksmith

Domestic life and writing life in Tennessee, 1967-1973

Representation by the Robert Lantz-Candida

Donadio literary agency

Revising Child of God in the middle and late draft stages

Afterword : 1974.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Luce, Dianne C. Embracing Vocation

ISBN:

9781643363561

1643363565

OCLC:

1355693969