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Outer Dark
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Outer Dark Paperback - 1993

by McCarthy, Cormac

  • Used
  • Paperback

Set in Appalachia around the turn of the century, this evocative novel tells of a woman who bears her brother's child. The father hides the baby in the woods and tells his sister the baby died of natural causes. When she discovers the lie, she sets out to find her son and both parents move headlong toward an apocalyptic resolution. Out of print since 1984.

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Description

Vintage, 1993-06-29. paperback. Used: Good.
Used: Good
NZ$21.24
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Details

  • Title Outer Dark
  • Author McCarthy, Cormac
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Condition Used: Good
  • Pages 256
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Vintage, New York
  • Date 1993-06-29
  • Bookseller's Inventory # SONG0679728732
  • ISBN 9780679728733 / 0679728732
  • Weight 0.47 lbs (0.21 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.08 x 5.14 x 0.55 in (20.52 x 13.06 x 1.40 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Southeast U.S.
    • Cultural Region: Western U.S.
    • Topical: Country/Cowboy
  • Library of Congress subjects Domestic fiction, Brothers and sisters
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 92050588
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

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About this book

Cormac McCarthy was born in Rhode Island in1933 and spent most of his childhood near Knoxville, Tennessee, where his first novels are set. The Orchard Keeper (1965) won the Faulkner Award for a first novel; it was followed by Outer Dark (1968) McCarthy's scarce second novel.

Outer Dark was published by Random House in 1968. The story involves Rinthy Holme, who bears her brother's child. Her brother, Culla, then takes the baby out to the woods to die, telling his sister the child died of natural causes. She spends the novel looking for the child while her brother tries to outrun his sin. Although published to great critical reviews, it sold poorly - a modest 2,705 copies.

From the publisher

Cormac McCarthy was born in Rhode Island in1933 and spent most of his childhood near Knoxville, Tennessee. He served in the U.S. Air Force and later studied at the University of Tennessee. In 1976 he moved to El Paso, Texas, where he lives today.  McCarthy's fiction parallels his movement from the Southeast to the West--the first four novels being set in Tennessee, the last three in the Southwest and Mexico. The Orchard Keeper (1965) won the Faulkner Award for a first novel; it was followed by Outer Dark (1968),  Child of God (1973), Suttree (1979), Blood Meridian (1985), All the Pretty Horses, which won both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award for fiction in 1992, and The Crossing.

From the jacket flap

Outer Dark is a novel at once fabular and starkly evocative, set is an unspecified place in Appalachia, sometime around the turn of the century. A woman bears her brother's child, a boy; he leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander separately through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying and elusive strangers, headlong toward an eerie, apocalyptic resolution.

First Edition Identification

First editions of Outer Dark have$4.95 on the front flap of the dust jacket and 'First Printing' stated on the copyright page. The back of the dust jacket has eight reviews from print sources. 


Categories

Media reviews

Citations

  • Library Journal, 01/01/1994, Page 0
  • Publishers Weekly, 05/17/1993, Page 0

About the author

The novels of the American writer, Cormac McCarthy, have received a number of literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men--the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. He died in 2023.

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