{"id":144054,"date":"2023-06-19T10:28:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T15:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=144054"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:50:27","slug":"podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/books\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #760: Cormac McCarthy, The Road, and Carrying the Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Note: Cormac McCarthy died last week at the age of 89. To <span class=\"il\">commemorate<\/span>&nbsp;his passing, we&#8217;re rebroadcasting&nbsp;one of my favorite episodes about one of my favorite books: The Road. Please enjoy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Once a year, I read <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3cV0jYK\"><em>The Road<\/em> <\/a>by Cormac McCarthy. It&#8217;s a cathartic annual ritual for me. What is it about this novel that has such an impact on my soul and those of other readers? Who is the man who wrote it, and what was he trying to do with this story of a father and son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic landscape?<\/p>\n<p>For answers to these questions, I decided to talk to a foremost expert on McCarthy&#8217;s work, as well as the literature of the American West in general. His name is Steven Frye and he&#8217;s a professor of English, a novelist in his own right, and the author and editor of several books about the reclusive, philosophical author, including <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/31iFoMA\"><em>Understanding Cormac McCarthy<\/em><\/a>. We begin our conversation with some background on McCarthy and a discussion of his distinctive style and themes, and why he avoids the limelight and prefers to hang out with scientists over fellow artists. We then dive into <em>The Road<\/em>, and Steve unpacks what inspired it, as well as the authors and books that influenced it. We then dig into the big themes of <em>The Road<\/em>, and how it can be read as a biblical allegory that wrestles with the existence of God. We delve into the tension which exists between the father and son in the book, and what it means to &#8220;carry the fire.&#8221; We end our conversation with why reading <em>The Road<\/em> makes you feel both depressed and hopeful at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>A spoiler alert here: If you haven&#8217;t read <em>The Road<\/em> yet, we do reveal some of the plot points in this discussion. Also, why haven&#8217;t you read <em>The Road<\/em> yet?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: Cormac McCarthy died last week at the age of 89. To commemorate&nbsp;his passing, we&#8217;re rebroadcasting&nbsp;one of my favorite episodes about one of my favorite books: The Road. Please enjoy. Once a year, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It&#8217;s a cathartic annual ritual for me. What is it about this novel that has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42384,42376,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-culture","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/760-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/760-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/760-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/760-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/760-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Podcast #760: Cormac McCarthy, The Road, and Carrying the Fire | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/books\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #760: Cormac McCarthy, The Road, and Carrying the Fire | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Note: Cormac McCarthy died last week at the age of 89. To commemorate&nbsp;his passing, we&#8217;re rebroadcasting&nbsp;one of my favorite episodes about one of my favorite books: The Road. Please enjoy. Once a year, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It&#8217;s a cathartic annual ritual for me. What is it about this novel that has [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/books\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-19T15:28:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-07T19:50:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/760.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #760: Cormac McCarthy, The Road, and Carrying the Fire\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-19T15:28:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-07T19:50:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":332,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/760.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Culture\",\"Podcast\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2023\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Podcast #760: Cormac McCarthy, The Road, and Carrying the Fire | The Art of Manliness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/760.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-19T15:28:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-07T19:50:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/760.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/760.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/podcast-760-cormac-mccarthy-the-road-and-carrying-the-fire\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Podcast #760: Cormac McCarthy, The Road, and Carrying the Fire\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Manliness\",\"description\":\"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\",\"name\":\"Brett &amp; 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