writer of the novel no country for old men

Every chapter of No Country for Old Men begins with an extended meditation from Ed Tom Bell, the aged sheriff who oversees the investigation into the myriad crimes at the heart of the novel. If we turn to cinema for images, we look to prose to examine a character’s mind and soul. As readers, there’s only so much our imaginations can do, although McCarthy’s delicious language is a picture unto itself: “The light of the unseen moon before him spread out along the dark placard hills like scrimlights in a theatre.” He has the best words, as some would say.

The stark and seemingly endless Texas floodplains Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) surveys as he aims a rifle or plots an escape through a river practically demand to be captured on camera. The Coens knew what they had in McCarthy’s story, and they knew his setting would translate to the screen. “They didn’t need any help from me to make a movie,” McCarthy said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. One might suspect that McCarthy had a hand in ensuring the film adaptation stayed faithful, but in fact he had almost no role in the Coens’ production. Virtually every scene and every line of dialogue in the Coen brothers’ Academy Award-winning film is lifted straight from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name. If, while watching a movie with your spouse, you like to whisper “that didn’t happen in the book” (and who doesn’t?), then you’ll be sorely disappointed by a screening of No Country for Old Men. In each entry I’ll be comparing a contemporary novel to its film adaptation. A sharp copy.This is the second in a series of posts entitled 21st Century Fiction on Screen.

Signed by McCarthy and numbered 25 to edition page. Original half burgundy leather with marbled boards, gilt lettering to spine. This deluxe edition is highly sought for its beauty, a highlight for any McCarthy collection. A MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, and National Book Award-winner, McCarthy's reputation has been extended further with the success of the Coen brothers' Hollywood adaptation of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is a major work of the McCarthy canon, exploring fate and futility in the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong in rural west Texas. Known for his 'brutal and spare' narratives, Cormac McCarthy has been called 'one of the greatest living novelists' (Cowley, THE GUARDIAN). Deluxe signed limited edition of this neo-Western thriller, one of McCarthy's best-known works and the basis for an Oscar-winning film.

Writer of the novel no country for old men