What a nice man, Cormac McCarthy. Hard to believe that such images that show up in his books come from this soft-spoken, gentle and unassuming man.
But then again, one of his statements stayed with me: "You can’t plot things out. You just have to trust where they come from." From what he said, it looks like while he can pinpoint several instances that inspired The Road but he really didn’t know as he was writing it exactly where it was heading. Perhaps that’s why his images are so acute; they are something he’s seen that has affected him enough to remain in memory. His landscapes are likely not something he’s trying to build, but something he remembers, as he remembers it for the reason it’s remained with him.
While Oprah may have had the very rare opportunity to sit with him, this is someone I would just love to sit and talk with. Not just about literature and writing, but just about life. That’s what comes out in his writing surely.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology