It blows my mind how often McCarthy initially answers with “oh, I don’t know” to then eloquently and voluminously discuss the matter at hand lol

@dah_goofster

Жыл бұрын

That’s why it’s important to get an interviewer on his level. Let him hash out his thoughts and ideas give him time to grow his ideas to fruition.

@alexk6343

Жыл бұрын

We're just witnessing a smart man thinking. Rare breed these days

@No-xk4mo

11 ай бұрын

Socratesmaxxxing

This will never not blow my mind every single time I read it: "The jagged mountains were pure blue in the dawn and everywhere birds twittered and the sun when it rose caught the moon in the west so that they lay opposed to each other across the earth, the sun white hot and the moon a pale replica, as if they were the ends of a common bore beyond whose terminals burned worlds past all reckoning"

@pantalaemon

Жыл бұрын

truly the kind of prose that could make a grown man cry. blood meridian is full of descriptions like these that just seem to burn on the page.

@wecanjump7512

Жыл бұрын

I like his philosophy- "You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it"

@bkdesignr

Жыл бұрын

one of my all time favorite quotes from 'blood meridian'

@jeffhidalgo8457

Жыл бұрын

"The crumpled butcher paper mountains.." really got me.

@jeffhidalgo8457

Жыл бұрын

@@Johnconno , He is the Melville of our, fortunate times.

RIP Cormac McCarthy (July 20, 1933 - June 13, 2023), aged 89 You will be remembered as a legend.

"1728 is 12 cubed, and everybody knows that" Me: 😳

@loypineda5331

7 ай бұрын

😂😂😂

@MightyConch

2 ай бұрын

I think I must need a math lesson, 12x12x12 is 1728, but wouldn’t 12 cubed be 12x12x12x12?

@StefanDan85

Ай бұрын

@@MightyConch no

@genegade

Ай бұрын

@@MightyConchno. 12 cubed is 12^3.

I could watch 100 hours of conversations with McCarthy like this. It’s a shame no one else was able to film another video like this with him. Karol you’ve filmed something truly valuable.

never thought I’d lived to see and hear cormac talk about his ideas in an open, none dumbed down interview. Literally feels like a missing major cultural touchstone has been recovered. Thank you for making this.

@WhiteStoneName

Жыл бұрын

omg. I just started this. Same. Excited to watch.

@graham6132

Жыл бұрын

It’s like Pynchon writing the introduction to his short story collection.

@danielrae861

11 ай бұрын

@@graham6132 it is not "like" anything other than what you see and hear on this KZread segment. It is like that.

@DougerArt

10 ай бұрын

@@danielrae861 yeah, you can never compare anything

@danielrae861

10 ай бұрын

@@DougerArt not so. I meant to say that our friend Cormac is beyond compare. One might say that he is "like" Melville in terms of their genius but apart from that just read his fucking books! Ya know?

Just finished Blood Meridian and cannot believe how normal its creator is.

@donaldwebb

Жыл бұрын

he might not have seemed so normal when he wrote it 40 years ago

@billyalarie929

Жыл бұрын

​@@donaldwebb he wouldn't have changed that much in 40 years.

@minechaftgamer288

Жыл бұрын

First read this a couple of months ago still and cannot believe how good it is.

@donaldwebb

Жыл бұрын

@@billyalarie929 Ha ha . In forty years? That's a long time. We change daily

@doclime4792

Жыл бұрын

@@donaldwebb hell we can't ever decide precisely. Best we can do is say we feel at any moment.

I am so glad that this video was created at the time it was created. RIP legend.

It's amazing the difference between this interview, and the one conducted by Lawrence Krauss... Krauss basically recorded a video in which he gave Cormac his opinion on everything, hoping to receive validation from him. Thank you for letting McCarthy speak.

@JEEDUHCHRI

Жыл бұрын

Totally agree.

@drts6955

Жыл бұрын

I came here from that one, after enduring an excruciating 10 minutes

@heavenlydemon3761

Жыл бұрын

The biggest wasted opportunity in the recent history of interviews, it makes me mad that one of the 5-6 chances of hearing McCarthy speak results in a monologue of the interviewer.

@QuietExplorations

11 ай бұрын

I don't think this is really fair to say, after watching both. First, this was filmed in 2017. Second, McCarthy was in much poorer health in the Lawrence Krauss video. Third, McCarthy seems much more willing to speak in this video than he does in the Krauss video. Krauss talks so much because McCarthy wouldn't budge, and there are multiple moments where he actually interrupts this interviewer in wanting to launch a thought!

@emiami458

8 ай бұрын

​@@QuietExplorationsno, the krauss guy is notorious for trying to be the loudest and most obnoxious in the room, he craves attention like a petulant man child.

Wonderful to see the brilliance of McCarthy isnt because he’s some genius made of pure light. He’s a guy, interested in people with ideas, who learned about those people and their ideas, and had ideas of his own, and never stopped being that.

@delco2035

Жыл бұрын

way to go, right ? Thanks youtube for facilitating this for everyone with a friends list that's not full of quantum physicists and litterary geniuses.

@CameronStrandberg

11 ай бұрын

:) Just a guy.

@sigmund1955

11 ай бұрын

Well put.

@cameronscottcairney8852

9 ай бұрын

Yup. Wish more people had the courage to take that route

From All the Pretty Horses "You cannot train any creature to that for which its heart has no shape to hold" I have loved this from the first time I read it and feel it reflects both the poetry and the varied interests he plays with

@Sons_Brad_Dalton

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing this quote. I picked up the book this past weekend. Can’t wait to read it

Such a soft-spoken, gently-mannered man for a writer of such darkness and violence and human depravity.

"Fly them"- Suttree, 1979 Here on the day he passed away. RIP

Interesting how the interview is all about architecture and analytic philosophy. You could watch this interview and not even know McCarthy wrote novels lol. I enjoyed it a lot.

@JB-kn2zh

Жыл бұрын

I want another interview where they discuss nothing but Gnosticism. Is the horrifying cave beast in the beginning of the Road that has eyes like spider eggs the demiurge? I want to know.

I'll never forget The Road. I read it when I was 14 and it scarred me. The baby eating part horrified me. I slammed the book shut. Took me a few days to pick it back up and finish it. It still bothers me to this day. (This was about 17 years ago) What a remarkably effective piece of literature. "People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there"

@alexsetterington3142

Жыл бұрын

You should try Blood Meridian

@angusjowitt450

Жыл бұрын

comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable.

@poopbagh

Жыл бұрын

Well wait till you pick up Blood Meridian.

@paulwittenberger1801

Жыл бұрын

Every father should read The Road.

@tompurvis329

Жыл бұрын

I read it on one rainy Sunday when it first came out- had to take the following day off work and stare at the distant horizon for quite some time. Love at its bleakest.

Just heard the news. I'll miss his incredible writing. Thanks for posting this.

His writing is transcendent and so subtle but absolutely brilliantly blunt in his entire writing style. Doesn't pull punches, no quarter is given.

Watching the camera chase cormac's slouch is as iconic as he ever is

What a fantastic conversation. I could listen to these two all day. Great palate cleanser for my mind after my daily KZread diet of Russian car accident videos, bar fight compilations and other nonsense that I usually watch.

@baserink3941

Жыл бұрын

Don't forget border car jacking attempts

@pickleneck526

2 ай бұрын

Ah, i see a fellow russian dashcam connoisseur. A child of god much like myself perhaps. Chapeau!

May his soul rest in peace. No one will ever compare.

I will always be grateful to Harold Bloom for introducing me to Cormac McCarthy

@mattmarkus4868

10 ай бұрын

100% same here. I picked up blood meridian after seeing a quote of Bloom's in '06. It was Christmas time and I had a really bad flu with a high fever, in bed for days, and I started reading it and my mind was blown. The fever, the weird dreams, all that definitely helped me transport to the world in that novel. I couldn't stop talking about it for days and everyone was sick of hearing me

Coming back to this interview I'm reminded of the fact that so many great authors alive today and in the past required self isolation in order to create, and how that it's increasingly tougher to do that today. I wonder if part of the reason we don't see writers and storytellers with the level of weight and elegance in their work as Cormac has is because the internet has made quiet contemplation too difficult or unappealing.

@billyalarie929

Жыл бұрын

It’s never been THAT appealing. Yes it can make for interesting art, but I think we really need to be careful not to glorify self isolation. It can be hard on peoples mental health. 2020 certainly showed how true that is.

@i.hold.vertigo2329

Жыл бұрын

@@billyalarie929 Fair point. Another reason could be a lot of the creative thinking that used to go into writing books now goes into films and digital content creation. I get not glorifying isolation, I just find people who are singularly focused and obsessive about their process fascinating.

@worldobserver3515

Жыл бұрын

@@i.hold.vertigo2329 or passively watching KZread....

@RoosterFloyd

Жыл бұрын

​@@i.hold.vertigo2329 There's no shame in glorifying isolation. I mean, it's a mediative act for a higher purpose. A lot like the isolation and vows that monks take upon themselves for their beliefs. No art is devoid of love by it's creator and molder of it's form. Even if a piece is inspired by and created during a time of pure rage it wouldn't exist without love. So you can see it as isolation, I see it in the same vein as spending all your free time with the woman you love. A dangerous thing, solitude, it can be maddening, especially when it is done, not because of a near manic desire to create but, because a deadline needs to be reached. Stress and isolation are essentially the recipe for a break down. Even if the means are unhealthy I believe intense passion and such a strong commitment to anything should be commended and encouraged. As well, perhaps a bit of a dark thing to say but with each day we are decaying, we're meat outside of the freezer, it's just a matter of time. We can't live forever. I think some goals are worth sacrificing this short life's luxury, companionship, joy, and even it's very existence. To me the most worthy would be the creation and immortalization of your very soul that true art becomes.

@laurasalo6160

Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of a quote: "The world is a hellish place and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering."

This is the best interview with Cormac McCarthy I have seen. Finally someone has allowed him to talk. It was a pleasure. Thank you.

The ending is profound. Not only Cormac's final words. Words I find quiet heartwarming and brilliant. His whole take on the exclusivity of our personal subconscious at the ready in our service. Though too the choice of the auteur on the other side of the camera to leave the words hang and resonate in the silence.

Farewell to the old Don, his work will for centuries. And thanks to Mr Krakauer for this parting gift.

I just coincidentally finished reading Blood Meridian and Blindsight. While these books are vastly different in terms of genre and style, Cormac McCarthy's questions in this video about the relationship between the unconscious and the conscious are surprisingly in line with the themes of Blindsight. If you're interested in further exploring the question of the unconscious and the conscious, and its relationship to intelligence, I highly recommend checking out Blindsight. It is a hard Sci-Fi book but deeply philosophical. It's always a thrill to find bridges between different genres of books. It's a reminder that all great stories are connected in some way, and that there is no such thing as a truly isolated work of art. You never know what sort of connections you'll find, and that's part of the joy of reading.

You sir just made history. Thank you immensely for making this - we'll be studying this forever.

@carloswsteele

Жыл бұрын

Damn right.

@skeletonshorror5184

Жыл бұрын

Well said.

@jodawgsup

6 ай бұрын

hahahah what are you on about man

He was without equal in his life and we will never see another like him again.

1:05:38 I can’t even imagine the psychological burden of the guy whose job it is to decide whether *an interview with Cormac freaking McCarthy* has gone on long enough.

@loganjaxey3211

Жыл бұрын

The answer is always no

Cormac McCarthy is my all time favorite author. I've read everything he has ever written, that I could get my hands on. I'm going to be lost after Stella Maris. I will forever long for his prose, approach and environmental descriptions. The hundreds of ways he has described the moon, many times in each book. That very thing keeps me looking up. Thank you so much!

@willnorden2268

Жыл бұрын

What's your favorite of his lunar depictions? Also, what are some of your favorite lines of his?

@bizmonkey007

Жыл бұрын

I love every one of his novels (except the Passenger). Even the greats must eventually pass on though.

@StanleyNumber427

11 ай бұрын

Cormac just passed away recently. RIP. Is there something you want to say about this?

@JapaneseIrishman

8 ай бұрын

Read William Faulkner next, it was his favorite author

His explanation of how sentences are formed in speech and writing is very interesting

@anshulkandpal2384

Жыл бұрын

Hi, at what point did he talk about this?

@alphonseelric5722

Жыл бұрын

@@anshulkandpal2384 42:11

This is the kind of talk everyone has been waiting for! Compared to the interview with Oprah, you really get to see McCarthy here open, candid, and really in his element. I remember I saw a two-minute snippet a while back and can't believe the full video is out and in beautiful quality!

This video justifies KZread forever. Thank you so much!

CP Snow, a renowned physicist, penned an awesome essay, The Two Cultures, that describes the anticipatory collision of the lexicons between literature and science. Snow's writings echoed in my brain when reading Stella Maris, a story of a tortured female mathematical genius.... by CM...

I just finished reading the passenger and it's crazy how much of this interview feels like it leaked right into that book. There were a couple of times when you could see Cormac McCarthy just staring off into space after talking about stuff that features heavily in the book. Your mind can't help connect dots and wonder

@ghostsballz

Жыл бұрын

How was the book?

@adeniz7340

Жыл бұрын

The interview is also a specimen of the sort that forms the backbone of Stella Maris, doncha think?

@MrGunwitch

Жыл бұрын

Just finished it myself. Certainly far from his best work but I loved every minute of it.

@VerMirror

Жыл бұрын

@@ghostsballz Very good.

Forests move me deeply, but McCarthy is right to say there is something truly transcendent and ineffable about deserts.

McCarthy is the Melville of our times. A brilliant scholar , he is a gift. A true higher mind, he is. Cheers Jeff Hidalgo

@worldobserver3515

Жыл бұрын

Brilliant writer, not a scholar.

@giuseppejones1554

Жыл бұрын

or maybe he’s just the Cormac MCarthy amid our time

@robertmacdonnell258

Жыл бұрын

Interesting you would say so. Maybe the hardness of the intellect, but surely not in style. Melville was beautifully sententious; while McCarthy has an austere spareness to his prose in a way that Hemmingway would wish he had.

@jeffsyg

5 ай бұрын

Relating him to Melville is the highest honour but it seems so apt, both describe the world so artfully.

This guy's generosity of spirit is incredible. I assumed he'd be a Brando type where he'd treat every interview question as ignorant, or a waste of time. Instead, he takes such careful time to craft thoughtful answers. What a gift.

came to watch this again after hearing the news today. rip.

Thrilled to hear McCarthy talk about Fallingwater.

What an amazing interview. Thank you so much for releasing it openly for everyone.

This was super cool! Thank you for making this. Would love to have more but I’m happy with this.

Great conversation, thank you for uploading this

It was just an amazing piece of a conversation , thank you

Cormac helps the scientists write by getting them to pay attention to punctuation? That's rich😂 I'm so very glad he recorded a talk like this. Thank you to everyone involved.

Wow! What a rarity and a treasure this interview is. It honestly feels like a gift

That's the longest I've ever heard him speak. What a cool guy.

what a gift to have given this video to the community. Thank you for this.

Rest in Peace Cormac McCarthy

@pickleneck526

2 ай бұрын

89 years, he was just a kid. Me, I am an old man. That animal Franco, i can't even say his name, murdered his books. No more of this!

What a wonderful interview! I enjoyed every minute of it.

Amazing. This needs to be preserved.

What a gem. Thank you so much for this.

How wonderful - geez I wish he gave more interviews. Well I have my reading list for the next ten years I suppose. Merci...

What an amazing journey McCarthys life has been. A struggling writer for many years then finally becoming celebrated and appreciated. You have to admire his tenacity. Never giving up. He is probably the last writer that can achieve this.

This was wonderful to watch. Thank you.

to see and hear cormac talk is just amazing, thanks, so much, for filming this!

Rest in Peace Cormac, you were a gem. You deserved the Nobel Price.

Just an astounding interview! Thank you

Yesss. For the longest time I could only find that interview w Oprah and a few scattered Santa Fe Institute clips. This is incredible. Many thanks.

God I wish there were more interviews with this guy. He's so fun to listen to.

Just listening to the audio alone I expect this to be some super 16mm film back of the studio classic interview. Very well done and well a treasure

Panie Karolu, co za wspaniałości. Dziękuję!

Unbelievable talent, what a brilliant mind. Proud to have shared a city with this man(Knoxville,Tn)

Oh my goodness. Thank you for this. David Krakaur and Cormac McCarthy. Miracles do happen. So much greatness. Just Wow.

You will be so, terribly, missed.

RIP LEGEND

I can't believe there's footage of a truly great writer.

I cannot love this interview any more than I do. Thank you.

It's great to finally see him speak at length. All of the talk about the unconscious really shined a light on the more hallucinatory parts of the Passenger. What a guy.

@lshwadchuck5643

Жыл бұрын

That's what I was thinking. I'm nearly finished The Passenger and have been finding those pages difficult. I'm wondering whether his desire to 'chat' with the smartest people on the planet is a coin with a flip side - people are nasty and brutish and make bad decisions, like his protagonist's description of his participation in war. And even his brilliant physicists caused the ultimate destruction. I think he's lived his whole life gobbling what the best minds have to offer, because everything else is hell bent.

Terrific. Thank you!!

I've read a good few of his books, but what a thrill to hear him talk like this, I'm not surprised Mr McCarthy has his own spin on the unconscious, what a delight:)

Fantastic interview. Thank you 🎉

I love his books. The man is brilliant .

This is tremendous and a sheer delight.

I never thought I’d see the day when we would get a long-form Cormac McCarthy interview (beyond the Oprah one). I’m so chuffed, so happy to see this; I’m sure I’ll be watching this for years to come, as well as reading his books. And not using semi-colons too much. 😂

I was smiling through Cormacs’ discussion on whales and elephants. So fascinating

Fascinating. Thank you.

Mr. McCarthy’s work has impacted my life as I know it has so many others. Grateful for this interview.

Love how he's slowly sliding down into the couch in the first half hour.

A Cormac sighting! Looks legit!

All the Pretty Horses is my favourite book of all time incredibly beautiful novel.

This conversation fills me with glee.

This was wonderful. Thank you.

love the little shots of McCarthy after speaking where he just sort of stares at nothing and occasionally licks his lips

@pantalaemon

Жыл бұрын

geniuses get old too huh

@andress4780

Жыл бұрын

based

We need David Krakauer to do more interviews like this.

He was such a legend. Currently reading the passenger, ive enjoyed all of his previous works. The road ive read many times such a good book.

I’m new to Cormac McCarthy’s work, I’m reading the passenger and have to say I’m literally blown away.

Please get more of McCarthy on video in this interview format please!!!

Oh my god. I literally gasped

Falling Water. Yes, the pinnacle of all the art mediums

I had more in common with the workers drilling holes outside bothering the interview, but loved No Country for Old Men very much. I live in that bleak and awesome part of West Tx. He wrote fiction just the way it is in what passes for the real world. Great conversation/interview and thanks for posting!

Incredibly pleasant man to listen to.

Thank u so much for matching his energy. He seems to b a soft spoken man & in another interview, the host’s mic was sooo hot & McCarthy’s was too low. It made enjoying the conversation very difficult. So, thanks again & for the content.

@wungabunga

3 ай бұрын

The audio is bloody awful.

Please tell Mr. McCarthy thank you! And Please write an autobiography. Autobiographies are so pure! The Road has permanently instilled gratitude in me! Talk about iconography of our lifetime!

Its beautiful watching Cormac look for the right word to say live as its happening in his head

Amazing interview!

Excellent interview. Thank you.

Mccarthy was truly one of a kind. The term "legend" is thrown around far too often but that's what he was, a Living Legend. An actual literary giant. I'm glad i decided to read the remainder of his catalog when i did. Ended up finishing Blood Meridian the day he passed. The Crossing and Child of God before that. He'd probably disagree with me but I'd say the universe did this by no coincidence. Rest easy, Cormac McCarthy.

@samcrow2488

11 ай бұрын

I was reading the passenger when he passed, it's really sad he died.

Best American author since Hemingway. My God, such talent!

A treasure. Thank you.