#21
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Cormac McCarthy released a new book today, his tenth. It's getting good reviews. I bought a copy today, picked it up, scanned the critical blurb on the back jacket, and thought: "Wow. I'm glad he's still writing. He's an old man."
And he is. 73, to be exact. I'm grateful for many of the gifted writers that keep penning stories, long after an age at which they could've retired. John Le Carre also just released a critically hailed novel. He'll be 75 in less than a month. P.D. James' novel "Children of Men" will see a film version in the next few months. She's 86. Irish nonfictionist Frank McCourt is 76. A 74-year-old Umberto Eco released his final novel (or so he says) last year. And, near the end of the pack, Don Delillo will hit the 70 milestone in less than two months.
This is a pretty common thing, I guess. In the music world (and to a lesser degree the film world), artists get lots of attention if they stick with it past the age of 60. So, hats off to the writers who don't put their pens down at 65.
posted, with grace and poise, by Jason @ 9/26/2006 11:13:00 PM,
1 Comments:
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At 12:07 PM,
Buddy Chamberlain said...
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On the flipside, where are the up-and-coming shining stars of the literary world? I mean, sure, in any given genre, we each find our little favorite authors. But let's be honest, most of them will never be "classics" when we are old. Aside from J K Rowling (sp?), who has just jumped to the forefront of the literary community recently at a reasonably young age? Specifically, are there any in thier early to mid 20s that stand out in your mind (aside from the critically acclaimed J C Panella, of course)? Blog on this, please.
