The Orchard Keeper. Cormac McCarthy. 1965.Β
Debut. Literary fiction. Southern Gothic.
A timeless story without a specified human protagonist, πβπ πππβπππ πΎπππππ follows three characters whose lives intersect within a narrow geographical and cultural context.
What changes in this story is not a person, it is a community, a culture, a way of life. And whether that change is good or bad is left entirely up to the reader. Some readers side with modernity and the new (in 1965) All-American ways of doing things. Others assert the primacy of the old ways of Appalachia. McCarthy doesnβt make the decision for his readers.
This approach is similar to my own novel, πππβ, in that two characters with irreconcilable differences are presented. One wins. The other loses. Which of them is seen the protagonist hinges on the readerβs own values. And that decision determines the emotions they experience at the storyβs end.
The voice and vibe in The Orchard Keeper is moody and atmospheric: material decay, social trauma, moral corruption. Think horror, without supernatural monsters to elicit dread.Β
The Orchard Keeper, now known as merely a part of McCarthyβs back catalog, was the debut of a magnificent career.Β