the take

Oprah’s Cormac McCarthy Interview Is June 5

Photos: Getty Images (Winfrey), Courtesy of Knopf Publicity (McCarthy)

Oprah has finally scheduled her interview with Cormac McCarthy, author of the most recent Oprah’s Book Club pick, post-apocalyptic nightmare The Road. The talk-show host and the famously reclusive author will finally talk on June 5. Anchor’s paperback has been hovering near the top of the New York Times Bestseller List since the announcement back in March, and by now thousands upon thousands of women ages 39 to 55 have recoiled in horror at all the cannibalism and child-rape.

But what will an interview between Winfrey and McCarthy be like? It’s hard to imagine …

te>The woman sat up straighter. She looked the man in the eye.

Your novel clearly shows the haunting legacy violence can leave in those who witness it, she said. What is your vision for how we as a nation can overcome our tragic past?

The man looked off into the distance where the trees were bowed with the force of the desert wind.

There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed, he said. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea. Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom. Your desire that it be that way will enslave you and make your life vacuous.

The woman nodded. Cormac, she said. Your novel is the touching story of the love of one father for his son. Tell me about your father, and the relationship you had with him.

The man looked off into the distance where a child’s paper toy was fluttering across the plain. Mojave rattlesnakes have a neurotoxic poison, almost like a cobra’s, he said. It’s very interesting to see an animal out in the wild that can kill you graveyard dead.

His voice was quiet. He was absolved forever of memory in the mind of any living thing.