Cormac McCarthy profile

In The Independent, Boyd Tonkin profiles Cormac McCarthy who, after the success of the Coen brothers' adaptation of his novel No Country For Old Men, could become as influential in film as he is in the world of literature.

Interpretations of his work will spawn like salmon in the stream. And, for the most part, McCarthy will sit tight, look after his son and read more hard science. It seems plausible to state that, whatever its other qualities, his work poses as tough a challenge to the American ideology of optimism, and "the pursuit of happiness", as any major writer in the national canon. Taking its mood and its words from the Old Testament, that frontiersman's dread has long haunted American culture, a gloomy ghost at the feast. Social trauma, and environmental risk, have given it another lease of life.

Next up for the big screen are, according to IMDB, The Road and Blood Meridian.