"No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy

Firstly, may I direct you towards a piece I have just posted about this (more specifically about the character of Anton Chigurh) on my blog? (see below)

Secondly, I would just like to say that I don't think I have ever read a book that so closely resembles the film. This could, generally speaking, be a good thing or a bad thing, but in this case, I think it is a testament to McCarthy's literary skills and the Coen brothers' skills as film-makers – their understanding of the book, their enlivening of the characters, the locations, etc. I did, in fact, decide to read this book on the recommendation of the various people involved with the making of the film who, on one of the documentaries on the DVD, spoke so highly of it and of the Coens' interpretation of it. So…

There is, in my experience, very little "out there" which is similar to "No Country for Old Men" (as this is the first McCarthy novel I have read, this does, of course, perhaps not include his other works). It is, shall we say, stylistically unconventional. It has been described as a "neo-Western," and as such, it is written in a pared down Texan patois, with little regard for paying too much attention to punctuation or superfluous verbiage. One could indeed say that the language that is used for describing the events, dialogues and thoughts of the characters therein resembles the vast, barren wastelands of Texas itself… which in turn resembles the uncluttered, focused mind of Anton Chigurh, the undoubted anti-hero of the story, who fulfils his dark destiny with an incomparable sense of purpose and precision.

There are, of course, the other two main characters – the good old boy, Llewlyn Moss, who pretty much stumbles into a whirlwind of trouble; and the cynical but morally uncompromising Sherriff Bell – but it is the "Zen psychopath," Anton Chigurh who is (and would seem to be intended to be by McCarthy) the story's main draw. He is an artful, morbidly fascinating portrayal of the potential (albeit calm, methodical potential) for "Evil" in the soul of mankind. He may or may not be a character who exists in reality, but irrespective of whether or not there are anyreal Anton Chigurhs out there, he serves as a powerful archetype of the dark side of humanity – a "warning" to us all, if you like. All very "Western"!

I'm not sure if I personally like the term, "neo-Western," but there's no doubt that this story (as portrayed through the book and the film) has a very strong Western-feel to it. The fact that it is set in the latter part of the twentieth century (1980, to be precise) does not belay the fact that it is infused with classic Western themes – the eternal battle of Good Vs Evil; the power and vulnerability of individuals; the casual, almost off-hand use of (often extreme, usually fatal) violence. "No Country for Old Men" is a Western – "neo" or otherwise; the fact that it contains trucks, automatic weapons and high-rise buildings almost seems irrelevant to this fact. And like a good Western (of the proper, serious, spaghetti type), you will come away from it feeling thrilled, horrified, morally challenged and perhaps a little disturbed…

pe
ps
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