To my eternal shame, I have joined Oprah’s book club. To my credit, I joined only to get access to her interview with my all time favorite writer – Cormac McCarthy.
He’s a wonderfully intelligent, private man who has spent a lifetime of turning down speaking engagements, saying “everything I have to say, I’ve said in my books.” He opens up with complete honesty, and it’s beautiful. Of course, Oprah is way out of her depth. One blogger commented that it’s like watching Jessica Simpson interviewing Henry Kissinger … and I have to agree.
One thought that resonates is on having a 9 to 5 job: “I thought: you’re just here once – life is brief – and to have to spend every day doing what someone else wants you to do is not the way to live it. I don’t have any advice for anyone on how to do that, but if you work at it you can do it.”
On the subconscious – they were talking about how he feels that he’s “taking dictation” when he writes – and he tried to explain the feeling of the subconscious always being present – but that it decides at any given point “okay, tell him this, no no … he’s not ready for that.” He tried the example of the chemist who realized the structure of benzene rings while dreaming. Then he asked, somewhat rhetorically, “why wouldn’t your subconscious just tell you? Maybe it’s because the subconscious is older than language. Perhaps it’s just more comfortable in images … maybe that’s why it speaks most clearly in dreams.” He looked at Oprah, checking for comprehension.
She said, and I quote, “wow.”
To which I say: Hey, check out this interview:
A writer who renders the brutal actions of men in excruciating detail, seldom applying the anesthetic of psychology,
Yup.
It’s probably time to read Blood Meridian again … though as usual I’ve given away all my copies.
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