With respect to Larry McMurtry fans it’s time to grow up and admit Blood Meridian eats Lonesome Dove for lunch with room to spare and the world no longer needs to pretend otherwise.
Exhibit A - Cormac McCarthy:
It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.
It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.
Exhibit B - Larry McMurtry:
Immediately Jake Spoon began to change the way her thinking worked. Before he even brought his bottle to the table to sit with her, she began to want him to. If he had taken the bottle and gone to sit by himself, she would have felt disappointed.
Immediately Jake Spoon began to change the way her thinking worked. Before he even brought his bottle to the table to sit with her, she began to want him to. If he had taken the bottle and gone to sit by himself, she would have felt disappointed.
Exhibit C - McCarthy:
In this container with hair afloat and eyes turned upward in a pale face sat a human head. They dragged him forward with shouts and gestures. Mire, mire, they cried. It was Captain White...[The kid] spat and wiped his mouth. He ain’t no kin to me, he said.
In this container with hair afloat and eyes turned upward in a pale face sat a human head. They dragged him forward with shouts and gestures. Mire, mire, they cried. It was Captain White...[The kid] spat and wiped his mouth. He ain’t no kin to me, he said.
Exhibit D - McMurtry
“Was you ever threatened by a woman?”
“I was hit with a stove lid once or twice.”
“Why?”
“No reason. You live with Mexicans you can expect to eat beans sooner or later.”
“Who said anything about Mexicans?” Jake said, exacerbated. Gus was the derndest talker.
“Was you ever threatened by a woman?”
“I was hit with a stove lid once or twice.”
“Why?”
“No reason. You live with Mexicans you can expect to eat beans sooner or later.”
“Who said anything about Mexicans?” Jake said, exacerbated. Gus was the derndest talker.
One of these dudes is in competition with Mozart while the other is writing summer hits for mid-2000s pop grunge sensation Hinder. This is my conclusion after 858 pages of Lonesome Dove. McCarthy’s prose drags you through hell itself while McMurtry writes cowboy rides at Funtown.
The reason for this weird thread that none of you care about is these two novels are frequently listed in comparison to each other and Larry McMurtry is on record saying Cormac McCarthy doesn’t have any great books which is the opinion of either a jealous person or an illiterate.
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