Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Oprah Finds Cormac Surprising, Weird
For those of us fortunate enough to around a television set at 4 in the afternoon, Tuesday was that rare moment: an interview with Cormac McCarthy as tie-in to Oprah's surprising pick of The Road as her last book club pick.
The famously reticent writer has, if rumor and hearsay can be trusted, given only two interviews since anyone cared enough to request one. spoke with Oprah from this weird New Mexico think-tank that he hangs out at.
It was curious to see someone so completely out of step with the publicity machine go on to Oprah and swat at her softball questions. McCarthy, hand stuck to his face, delivered brief, halting, reluctant responses, displaying a disregard for audience (thousands? millions? so what?). She lead him with "remember whens" like "remember when you lived in a shack with no electricity, and had no toothpaste?"
Oh, Cormac replied, that's right, but then a free sample showed up in the mailbox, and, well, his whole career has been like that. He got evicted from a $40/month flop in New Orleans because he was too broke, but I don't recall a satisfying conclusion to that story.
Viewers also learned from Oprah that she had interviewed a LOT of authors. She made that point twice. She also struggled to comprehend his lack of interest in sales, and she tiptoed around his personal life, though mentioned his three wives.
Oprah's site has some interesting material on it, but requires registration, which I have been too lazy to do. However, if you are considering her next pick, Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex (announced that same show), might be worth registering. You can join the 14 of us who have yet to read this. Great beach read, she insisted. Nothing like taking a well-read book to the beach. Personally, I like to take an entire year's worth of Atlantic Monthly back-issues.
Also on that day's Oprah: Michael Moore, and her faux-embarrassment at being on two of the 20 Vanity Fair covers for their forthcoming issue on Africa.
The famously reticent writer has, if rumor and hearsay can be trusted, given only two interviews since anyone cared enough to request one. spoke with Oprah from this weird New Mexico think-tank that he hangs out at.
It was curious to see someone so completely out of step with the publicity machine go on to Oprah and swat at her softball questions. McCarthy, hand stuck to his face, delivered brief, halting, reluctant responses, displaying a disregard for audience (thousands? millions? so what?). She lead him with "remember whens" like "remember when you lived in a shack with no electricity, and had no toothpaste?"
Oh, Cormac replied, that's right, but then a free sample showed up in the mailbox, and, well, his whole career has been like that. He got evicted from a $40/month flop in New Orleans because he was too broke, but I don't recall a satisfying conclusion to that story.
Viewers also learned from Oprah that she had interviewed a LOT of authors. She made that point twice. She also struggled to comprehend his lack of interest in sales, and she tiptoed around his personal life, though mentioned his three wives.
Oprah's site has some interesting material on it, but requires registration, which I have been too lazy to do. However, if you are considering her next pick, Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex (announced that same show), might be worth registering. You can join the 14 of us who have yet to read this. Great beach read, she insisted. Nothing like taking a well-read book to the beach. Personally, I like to take an entire year's worth of Atlantic Monthly back-issues.
Also on that day's Oprah: Michael Moore, and her faux-embarrassment at being on two of the 20 Vanity Fair covers for their forthcoming issue on Africa.
Labels: authors, Cormac McCarthy, fiction, magazines, Oprah, television
