Enjoyed your perspective, Alex. The Road looms large in my memory and I saw the ending as a sliver of hope that somehow, slightly, balances McCarthy’s dire nihilism. I read it a second time when a book group tackled it but no third reading, thank you very much. I come often to dystopian fiction, equally relishing (if that’s the word) the…
Enjoyed your perspective, Alex. The Road looms large in my memory and I saw the ending as a sliver of hope that somehow, slightly, balances McCarthy’s dire nihilism. I read it a second time when a book group tackled it but no third reading, thank you very much. I come often to dystopian fiction, equally relishing (if that’s the word) the grief absorbed from a dark future and the (sometimes) compensating lift from imaginative hopefulness (I’m thinking Station Eleven here). The Road is all the former and I love it. Existentialists need to gaze upon the abyss; then they need to find a way to climb up and out.
I think it's interesting that in McCarthy's eyes, it's not nihilism at all. Because I also read The Road as pretty nihilistic. I will write on Station Eleven at some point in the near future — I have probably as equally conflicted feelings about it as I do The Road. I also prefer stories that are not just about wallowing in nihilism, but it turns out I am pretty picky about what I consider to be plausible ways out of that pit! :-)
Enjoyed your perspective, Alex. The Road looms large in my memory and I saw the ending as a sliver of hope that somehow, slightly, balances McCarthy’s dire nihilism. I read it a second time when a book group tackled it but no third reading, thank you very much. I come often to dystopian fiction, equally relishing (if that’s the word) the grief absorbed from a dark future and the (sometimes) compensating lift from imaginative hopefulness (I’m thinking Station Eleven here). The Road is all the former and I love it. Existentialists need to gaze upon the abyss; then they need to find a way to climb up and out.
I think it's interesting that in McCarthy's eyes, it's not nihilism at all. Because I also read The Road as pretty nihilistic. I will write on Station Eleven at some point in the near future — I have probably as equally conflicted feelings about it as I do The Road. I also prefer stories that are not just about wallowing in nihilism, but it turns out I am pretty picky about what I consider to be plausible ways out of that pit! :-)