This episode has a history that winds like a West Texas border road. My guests are the Brothers Elmore, and we originally recorded it in April but one of the tracks went bad. So finally at the end of our collective academic semesters, we once again discussed No Country for Old Men, speculating about its origins, its commentary on neo-liberalism, the film adaptation, and how some critics tried to read the author through the novel. Twin brothers, the Elmores collaborate on their work on McCarthy.

Jonathan Elmore is Associate Professor of English at Louisiana Tech University and the Managing Editor of Watchung Review.. He is the editor of Fiction and the Sixth Mass Extinction: Narrative in an Era of Loss (Lexington) and co-author of An Introduction to African and Afro-Diasporic Peoples and Influences in British Literature and Culture before the Industrial Revolution (ALG). His scholarship has been published in The Cormac McCarthy Journal, Mississippi Quarterly, The British Fantasy Society Journal, Orbit, The Journal of Liberal Arts and Humanities, and The Criterion, among others.

Thanks as well to Thomas Frye, who composed, performed, and produced the music for READING MCCARTHY.

The views of the host and his guests do not necessarily reflect the views of their home institutions or the Cormac McCarthy Society, although in our hearts we hope that like Hank Williams they will someday see the light. Download and follow us on Apple, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re agreeable it’ll help us if you provide favorable reviews on these platforms. If you enjoy this podcast you may also enjoy the GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL PODCAST, hosted by myself and Kirk Curnutt.

To contact me, please reach out to readingmccarthy(@)gmail.com. The website is readingmccarthy.buzzsprout.com.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the show

Starting in spring of 2023, the podcast began accepting minor sponsorship offers to offset the costs of the podcast. This may cause a mild disconnect in earlier podcasts where the host asks for patrons in lieu of sponsorships. But if we compare it to a very large and naked bald man in the middle of the desert who leads you to an extinct volcano to create gunpowder, it seems pretty minor...

Episode 55 is a discussion with award winning novelist, short story writer, poet, and big-time McCarthy fan, Ron Rash. Ron attended Gardner Webb University in Boiling Rock NC and then earned his master’s in English at Clemson University. He is a writing and English faculty member at Western Carolina in Cullowhee, NC, where he serves as the John and Dorothy Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies. Ron has won many (I mean, many) honors and awards, including the Academy of American Poets Prize in 1986, O’Henry short story awards in 2005, 2010, 2019, and the Frank O’Connor International short story award in 2010. His collection of stories Chemistry and Other Stories was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner award, as was his novel Serena. His most recent novel is The Caretaker, a novel set during the Korean War but dealing primarily with class stratification and the home-front in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The Caretaker was selected by the New York Times as one of the Best Books of the Year for 2023.

Ron was the Keynote speaker at the McCarthy Conference in October, 2024 and was kind enough to sit for an interview and discuss our mutual passion for the works of Cormac McCarthy.

Thanks to Thomas Frye, who composed, performed, and produced the music for READING MCCARTHY.

The views of the host and his guests do not necessarily reflect the views of their home institutions or the Cormac McCarthy Society, although in our hearts we hope they’ll follow along. Download and follow us on Apple, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re agreeable it’ll help us if you provide favorable reviews on these platforms. To contact us, please reach out to readingmccarthy@gmail.com.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the show

Starting in spring of 2023, the podcast began accepting minor sponsorship offers to offset the costs of the podcast. This may cause a mild disconnect in earlier podcasts where the host asks for patrons in lieu of sponsorships. But if we compare it to a very large and naked bald man in the middle of the desert who leads you to an extinct volcano to create gunpowder, it seems pretty minor...

This episode of READING MCCARTHY welcomes to the podcast for the first time Austin Smith. Austin studied history and literature at the University of Georgia. He has worked as a photographer and a professional adventure photographer, following the art into aviation, mountaineering, and motorcycle racing. He now leads a human resources consulting business in Denver, Colorado. A couple of years ago he hooked up an Airstream fifth wheel RV to his truck and, armed with a load of McCarthy novels, followed the books’ trails across the southwest. At one point things maybe even get a little Indiana Jones for Austin (or possibly Bobby Western). Austin’s blog on the subject may be found here: http://www.austincameronsmith.com/photo-essay-cormac-mccarthys-borderlands

Thomas Frye composed, performed, and produced the music for READING MCCARTHY.

The views of the host and his guests do not necessarily reflect the views of their home institutions or the Cormac McCarthy Society. If you’re agreeable it’ll help us if you provide favorable reviews on your favorite podcasting platforms. If you enjoy this podcast, you may also enjoy the GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL PODCAST, hosted by myself and Kirk Curnutt.

To contact me, please reach out to readingmccarthy(@)gmail.com. Despite the evening redness in the west Reading McCarthy is still nominally on X aka Twitter that was. The website is at readingmccarthy.buzzsprout.com, and if you’d like to support the show you can click on the little heart symbol at the top of the webpage to buy the show a cappuccino.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the show

Starting in spring of 2023, the podcast began accepting minor sponsorship offers to offset the costs of the podcast. This may cause a mild disconnect in earlier podcasts where the host asks for patrons in lieu of sponsorships. But if we compare it to a very large and naked bald man in the middle of the desert who leads you to an extinct volcano to create gunpowder, it seems pretty minor...