title: Understanding Cormac McCarthy (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)
author:  Steven Frye 
description: Frye offers an excellent synthesis of all McCarthy's novels and a significant overview of the man himself as a means of understanding his creative output. . . . Anyone wishing to understand the significance of McCarthy and the aesthetic transformation of his work over the years will find this a foundational work. Choice
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  Praise for  
   **CORMAC McCARTHY**  
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  “McCarthy is a writer to be read, to be admired, and quite honestly—envied.”
  
  
  —Ralph Ellison
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “McCarthy is a born narrator, and his writing has, line by line, the stab of
  actuality. He is here to stay.”
  
  
  —Robert Penn Warren
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Mr. McCarthy has the best kind of Southern style, one that fuses risky
  eloquence, intricate rhythms and dead-to-rights accuracy.”
  
  
  — _The New York Times_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Cormac McCarthy is a Southerner, a born storyteller, a writer of natural,
  impeccable dialogue, a literary child of Faulkner … capable of black,
  reasonable comedy at the heart of his tragedy.”
  
  
  — _New Republic_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “[McCarthy’s] lyrical prose never sacrifices necessary economies [and his]
  sense of the tragic is almost unerring.”
  
  
  — _Times Literary Supplement_ (London)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/McCa_9780307762474_epub_tp_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _The author wishes to express his gratitude to  
  The American Academy of Arts and Lette