A little help here (No Country For Old Men)
So I'm going through the a book of short stories titled 'Inspecting the Vaults' by Eric McCormack (thanks a ton Marsjams13, and a merry Christmas to you!!!) and I find a 4 page short entitled "No Country For Old Men" in which an old man at a party is remembering and retelling a story from his days in the war in which he wrongly murders a German soldier. At first I thought the title was coincidental or that this was a popular phrase that I had somehow missed out on until I saw this on the NCFOM (by Cormac McCarthy) Wikipedia page...
[QUOTE]Sheriff Ed Tom Bell investigates the drug crime while trying to protect Moss and his young wife with the aid of other law enforcement. [B][I]The sheriff is haunted by his actions in World War II, for which he received the Bronze Star Medal. Now in his late 50s, Bell has spent most of his life attempting to make up for the incident when he was a 21 year-old soldier.[/B][/I] He makes it his quest to resolve the case and save Moss.[/QUOTE]
Can someone explain the correlation between these two stories, these two authors. Is all of this common knowledge or did I stumble upon something? Which one came first? Which one is based on which one?
A little help please!!!!
You might've stumbled upon something. I've only heard of Cormac McCarthy and I only know of his story No Country...
Man I wish you could read this story. Or I wish that I had seen the movie. It's got to be the same character!! I think Marsjams13 holds the key to this. He must've know what he was doing.
It's a really good 4 page story though. And if the McCarthy book/Coen movie never elaborates on what the incident actually was...
I know!!!!
[URL=http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1575/]Read this.[/URL]
There's no mention of WWII in the movie as far as I remember.
As I pointed out, it's a line from a Yeats poem. It's about thematic devices Cassun.
I'm not following.
[QUOTE=corellion;1125588][URL=http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1575/]Read this.[/URL][/QUOTE]That's really good. Though it doesn't help much.
[QUOTE=alex cassun;1125590]There's no mention of WWII in the movie as far as I remember.[/QUOTE]
So they don't make a big deal/side plot of the sheriff's internal struggle? I only ask because of the wiki entry.
They only mention that his father and grandfather were lawmen, and then never really delve into his past. And I agree that the poem does nothing to solve this riddle.
[QUOTE]"Of those I killed, I remember clearly only one German soldier, a boy as young as myself. I was on sentry duty on Christman day. I woke from a doze and found him leaning over me in his alien helmet. His hand was reaching into his kitbag. I stabbed upwards, as I had been taught, thrusting till I saw the blood appear on his lips. I pulled down. The blood drained along the bayonet's gutter neatly, as it should. As he fell, his kitbag spilled out a bottle of wine and a loaf of white bread. Too late, my comrades came running to tell me there was a Christmas truce amongst us, no war for the day. We hid the murdered soldier so that they would not stop bringing the wine and bread."[/QUOTE]
Huh.
That's good writing. I especially like the detail about the gutter in the bayonet that drains the blood as it was designed to do.
Pretty good book so far, though each story is but 4 or 5 pages long. Never even heard of the author.
Fuck it. I'm going to sleep.
Thanks dudes.
Cassun have you read the book or just seen the film? In the book there are large chunks of italics, especially near the end, where the sheriff and his dad talk about the theatre of war - as you mentoned the guilt of doing wrong and learning from it. It's a thematic thing to do with the poem Mike, war and learning - it's in the novel too. The story sounds interesting though, I'm gonna check out the book sometime.
Never read the book. I'm going to start reading McCarthy's stuff from the beginning, so I suppose I'll know what you're talking about eventually, all this thematic mumbo jumbo.
Cool. How're the films going? Is work a little scarce from the strike? Is the strike still on?
There's no work to be had. I've tried explaining that to the creditors, but they don't seem to care. Tomorrow I'm shooting a couple more insert shots for Marvin's Lament, and hopefully progressing some of the sound design. It's slow, I'm broke and everyone is distracted by this Christmas bullshit.
[QUOTE=bigshrimpn;1125585]Man I wish you could read this story. Or I wish that I had seen the movie. It's got to be the same character!! I think Marsjams13 holds the key to this. He must've know what he was doing.
It's a really good 4 page story though. And if the McCarthy book/Coen movie never elaborates on what the incident actually was...
I know!!!![/QUOTE]
i wish i could take credit for knowing what i was doing, But truly, i can't. I haven't ready McCarthy's book or seen the movie yet. What a weird fucking coincidence. It's actually been a few years since i read the McCormack book too, so i forgot about that story.
It must be an old saying of some sort. To my knowledge the authors aren't related.
McCormack is a little known Scottish-Canadian author that a co-worker recommended to me years ago. I really like his stories, so i try to spread the word about him. He also has a few novels, most of which i have read, which are also quite good.
Damn, i wish i did hold the key to this mystery.
As I said it's not an old saying, it's a line from a fucking Yeats poem. Do you read other people's posts?
Surely it get's boring just replying to messages which mention your name.
I don't know about any of you guys, but I'm pretty sure that No country for old men is some sort of old saying or something. I wish someone knew for sure where it came from, though...
[QUOTE=corellion;1125731]As I said it's not an old saying, it's a line from a fucking Yeats poem. Do you read other people's posts?
Surely it get's boring just replying to messages which mention your name.[/QUOTE]
No need to be a cunt.
The other posts said the poem did nothing to solve the riddle, so maybe there is more to it than that.
But actually, i think you are probably right, in both cases its probably just a thematic nod to Yeats.
sorry, shrimpn.. ive never read nor even ever heard of that book
idve typed this last night, but i was way too inebriated for thought
but i gaurantee you ill get this book if not this month then january
kabol
..
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play hard, like it's work to be done.
[QUOTE=corellion;1125731]As I said it's not an old saying, it's a line from a fucking Yeats poem. Do you read other people's posts?
Surely it get's boring just replying to messages which mention your name.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=alex cassun;1125732]I don't know about any of you guys, but I'm pretty sure that No country for old men is some sort of old saying or something. I wish someone knew for sure where it came from, though...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=marsjams13;1125735]No need to be a cunt.
The other posts said the poem did nothing to solve the riddle, so maybe there is more to it than that.
But actually, i think you are probably right, in both cases its probably just a thematic nod to Yeats.[/QUOTE]
I get that. No Country For Old Men, as a title, solved. Now, what about the content from two different authors who publish work under the same title that seem to be about the same character yet make no mention of it anywhere until bigshrimpn comes along and busts this bitch wide open.
Or something.
Okay sooooo....
1. Eric McCormack publishes a short story entitled No Country For Old Men in 1987 about an old man retelling a tale of a tragic incident that happened to him when we was a young man during World War II.
2. Cormac McCarthy publishes a novel in 2005 under the same title. One of the central characters, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, is, qoute, "[I] haunted by his actions in World War II, for which he received the Bronze Star Medal. Now in his late 50s, Bell has spent most of his life attempting to make up for the incident when he was a 21 year-old soldier.[/I] Pretty close huh?
3. Eric [U]Mc[/U][B]Cormack[/B] = [B]Cormac[/B] [U]Mc[/U]Carthy?
I'd be willing to type out the entire McCormack story if someone who had read the McCarthy novel can tell me if the styles are the same.
Is this a psuedonym?
Is this a short story inspired character who was used with no credit given to the originator?
i don't think they are the same person. i'd even be surprised if McCarthy has ever heard or McCormack.
As far as typing out the story - it would be easier to scan it or even take pictures than type out the whole thing, don't you think?
Maybe there is something to it, but it might just be an incredible example of literary synchronicity.
Please fuckers!!!!!
I have to sleep at some point tonight.