We’ve come to the end of the line discussing another book and that means it’s time to answer your questions! A lot of questions came in for this one, and we did our best to get to the bottom of as many as we could. Thanks so much to all who posted questions. Happy listening!
Takes me back to my college existentialism class which was basically just Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky. Simpler times. Also, obviously Tim has big fish to fry but the pods that do have all four of you on are so perfectly balanced and I can't even articulate why.
I just wanted to thank you all for this discussion. I enjoyed The Road but it’s one of those books that this podcast was well-situated to help a reader understand better, to pose and explore the big questions it poses.
You compared McCarthy's writing to Impressionism several times over the four episodes. As I have thought about "The Road" and paintings, I keep thinking of Picasso's Guernica due to the simple solid lines, use of blacks and grays, harsh images, and yet its beauty.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful answer to my question and the close reading of that passage. I especially liked what Tim said about the father being "untabernacled" -- what a great word. I agree with the impression that the father's words are not spoken to the boy but maybe said aloud so that the boy can't hear them.
It also occurs to me that in that scene there's a sort of inverse imagery of the grail legend. In the grail legend the wounded king is brought water and drinks from the grail and lives and here the father is brought water from the grail and drinks and dies.
Thank you for the recommendations! And the ones you guys recommended to read next are ones my husband and I have on our “to read” shelves-we’ve been collecting Cormac McCarthy books for a bit since my husband read “The Road” and “All the Pretty Horses”
I've been super busy and I forgot to submit a question, but I was wondering what people thought about The Road in terms of contrasting it with Canticle for Liebowitz from last season. I have some thoughts, but I was wondering about you all's
One thought I have about the ambiguous cataclysm is would the characters even know what happened? I think it’s totally possible that they would not. It seems like there’s no long distance communication and I imagine anyone close enough to witness it wouldn’t survive.
I used to think it was a nuclear disaster but this read through I was definitely more drawn to the idea of it being a natural disaster, probably an asteroid strike or a super-volcano popping off.
Between David's Viggo/Aragorn take, Sean's Snape take, and the Teddy Roosevelt Comment, we need a hot takes episode. What are three extremely unpopular opinions our hosts have. That would be fun.
If anyone else was looking for the book Tim mentioned about the Modern Moralists, it's Nine (not Four) Modern Moralists, by Paul Ramsey.
Takes me back to my college existentialism class which was basically just Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky. Simpler times. Also, obviously Tim has big fish to fry but the pods that do have all four of you on are so perfectly balanced and I can't even articulate why.
I just wanted to thank you all for this discussion. I enjoyed The Road but it’s one of those books that this podcast was well-situated to help a reader understand better, to pose and explore the big questions it poses.
You compared McCarthy's writing to Impressionism several times over the four episodes. As I have thought about "The Road" and paintings, I keep thinking of Picasso's Guernica due to the simple solid lines, use of blacks and grays, harsh images, and yet its beauty.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful answer to my question and the close reading of that passage. I especially liked what Tim said about the father being "untabernacled" -- what a great word. I agree with the impression that the father's words are not spoken to the boy but maybe said aloud so that the boy can't hear them.
It also occurs to me that in that scene there's a sort of inverse imagery of the grail legend. In the grail legend the wounded king is brought water and drinks from the grail and lives and here the father is brought water from the grail and drinks and dies.
Thank you for the recommendations! And the ones you guys recommended to read next are ones my husband and I have on our “to read” shelves-we’ve been collecting Cormac McCarthy books for a bit since my husband read “The Road” and “All the Pretty Horses”
I've been super busy and I forgot to submit a question, but I was wondering what people thought about The Road in terms of contrasting it with Canticle for Liebowitz from last season. I have some thoughts, but I was wondering about you all's
One thought I have about the ambiguous cataclysm is would the characters even know what happened? I think it’s totally possible that they would not. It seems like there’s no long distance communication and I imagine anyone close enough to witness it wouldn’t survive.
I used to think it was a nuclear disaster but this read through I was definitely more drawn to the idea of it being a natural disaster, probably an asteroid strike or a super-volcano popping off.
Between David's Viggo/Aragorn take, Sean's Snape take, and the Teddy Roosevelt Comment, we need a hot takes episode. What are three extremely unpopular opinions our hosts have. That would be fun.