McCarthy, Cormac (1981-83) correspondence archive between McCarthy and fellow author Lawrence Millman

Cormac McCarthy (1981-83) correspondence archive of five letters to fellow writer and editor Lawrence Millman, written on the eve of the publication of his masterpiece Blood Meridian with fascinating content revealing McCarthy’s sense of humour, state of mind, political leaning, the misery of being a writer and much more. McCarthy’s work-in-progress which would become Blood Meridian (1985) is directly mentioned. The archive consists of five letters, one typed and signed by McCarthy, and four handwritten letters, all signed by McCarthy. The letters are addressed to Lawrence (Larry) Millman, multiple award-winning travel writer and editor of Agni Review. In detail: 1) The first letter from January 1981 is typed, one page A4 size, signed with ‘Cormac’. McCarthy states that he is reading Millman’s book, and that it was send to him by his sister taking it as an omen. McCarthy writes that the piece which Millman saw in Tri-Quarterly [it was issue 48 Spring 1980 when a section of Blood Meridian called ‘The Scalphunters’ was published pp. 15-28] was from a novel he was working on at the time and McCarthy agrees to find another cohesive section whih Millman could publish in his magazine. Acoompanied by the original mailing envelope. 2) The second letter from June 1981 is entirely handwritten and is of astonishing content. After the opening lines McCarthy writes “I do indeed know the story of the motel shooting and I’d just like to say that the kind of nitpicking criticism it received in the yankitized press is just what we down here dont need. Sure, the guy made a mistake. What the yankee press failed to mention – in every account – was that he said he was sorry. Not only that, but he expressed his willingness to make restitution in any reasonable & mutually agreeable fashion to the families of both of the dead people. No mention of that. Oh no. And sure the couple that were mistakenly gunned down were on their honeymoon. So what? Does that make it worse? Was he supposed to know that? Big play in the DY press about that little fact all right. Jesus, Larry, are people not entitled to mistakes any more? You’d think he’d done the whole thing deliberatley. And the damn bellboy should have been fined – at least twice what he was fined, in my opinion. I think maybe even fifty dollars might not have been too severe. It was damn careless of him & he should be taught a lesson.  Anyway, we sure as hell dont need a bunch of damn Yankee nitpickers jumping up and down & chortling over what they see as decadence of the old southwest. As far as I am concerned those folks had better on to their own cucumber patch. Anyway, I’m glad to get this off of my chest. It needed to be said & I’ve said it. All the best, Cormac.” With the mailing envelope. 3) In the third letter, also handwritten Cormac apologizes “about the motel incident business” and stresses that it was meant as a joke as he thought the story “was absolutely outrageous”. McCarthy is delighted about Millman’s forthcoming novel. On page two Cormac states ‘the mosquitoes I can do without. I was in Quebec in May & they darkened the sun at noon like passenger pigeons. I really despise being sucked on by insects. We had about 95 hounds with us & they were just about exsanguinated by the time we got out of there. The natives said the ‘real mosquito season’ was just on the way. Cormac goes on further to recommend the essay collection The Geography of the Imagination by Guy Davenport before enquiring about the summer and suggest a meeting in the New York area. in the postscript he congratulate Millman on hos novel and adds “Just have to wear the bastards down”. 4) The fourth letter handwritten in Sept 81 was send together with the piece for Agni Review. Cormac stresses that no apologies are necessary if the piece is not liked. “I didn’t get a copy of Agni, but since you commented on my books with such discernment – as a writer you will know that anything less than delirious enhusiasm is faint praise – I thought I’d have to send you a section of the book. Chapter 10 actually [roughly the middle section of Blood Meridian].” McCarthy goes on to mention ‘The Gardener’s Son’, a TV-series which McCarthy did for the PBS channel and how Millman might be able to see it whilt Cormac hope that it might get a theatre distribution. Finally, Cormac “cant’ imagine worse times in which to try to get a novel published… And tell me how you got Annie Dillard’s [1974 Pulitzer Prize winning author] name on your dust jacket. Do you know her? Will you introduce me?” With the mailing envelope. 5) The fifth letter from Aug 1983 is handwritten on three sheets of Hausman’s Laundry stationary in N.Y. indicating that Cormac was there at the time of writing perhaps waiting for his laundry to be done whilst picking up pen and paper. After the opening paragraph Cormac writes “My brother-in-law spent 2 years in Iceland and I think he liked it pretty well. I have always wanted to go there and I cant tell you why. You didn’t mention anything about the drinking – which I understand proceeds among all classes upon heroic scale. I’d like to hear more… Sorry your book didn’t do better but its a damn tough business. I’ve been writing novels for 24 years and have never sold any. I’m still fiddling with my western book but very soon I will quit and let it go. I’m back in El Paso and I’ve bought a house here so I expect I’ll stay a while. Make occasional sorties down into Mexico. Or up into The mountains in New Mexico and Arizona. Some very nice country, and not (as yet) overrun with tourists. Thanks for the inviataion to read but I dont do it. And you working on your Icelandic narrative? I look forward to reading itif so. I thought your book on Ireland was first class. All the best, Cormac” With the mailing envelope. A great collection of correspondence between the two writers written during McCarthy’s labour on Blood Meridian with direct reference to this Western novel. Although no sections were ultimately published in Agni the content of the leters are truely exceptional. Original McCarthy letters rarely come to the market, partly because McCarthy was a private man avoiding any gatherings in the literary circle, partly because he travelled a lot between several locations, and partly because his work – although receiving praise from literary writers – failed short of commercial success until the publication of the Border Trilogy in the early 1990s. This is the best small archive we have seen in a long time to come to the market. Please note that the first editions of The Orchard Keeper and Blood Meridian showing on the photograph form not part of this lot.