MAY 1997

A harmonic convergence of recluses: McCarthy, Pynchon, and Salinger

Dear Burning Questions:
I have long admired Cormac McCarthy and count All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing among my favorite books of all time. When is the third volume of this trilogy due? And why don't we see Mr. McCarthy on the Oprah Winfrey show? Is he some kind of recluse?
Sheldon Grace
Galveston, Texas

BQ:
Well, McCarthy keeps to himself, but he isn't on the level of, say, Thomas Pynchon, the only picture of whom we've seen is from his Navy days circa 1952 or something. There are photographs of Cormac McCarthy, and they don't look like those Loch Ness monsterish pix of J.D. Salinger that crop up from time to time‹-you know, those blurry photographs of some guy in a raincoat going into a grocery store. Could be anybody in the universe, for heaven's sake. No, McCarthy's a sturdy-looking fella, a bandy one, the kind of guy who'd write stuff like this:

"Dark and cold and no wind and a thin gray reef beginning along the eastern rim of the world. He walked out on the prairie and stood holding his hat like some supplicant to the darkness over them all and he stood there for a long time." Alfred A. Knopf tells us that the third volume of The Border Trilogy, Cities of the Plain, will again deal with John Grady Cole, the main character of All the Pretty Horses. This time out, the book will allegedly center on Cole's relationship with a Mexican prostitute. The book is currently set for publication in January 1998.

The inevitable www.cormacmccarthy.com Web site is full of conversation about the author, for those who want to contemplate this earthbound writer in a virtual way.

Speaking of Salinger and Pynchon, they've both (remarkably) surfaced in the past month themselves. Pynchon's Mason & Dixon is just out from Henry Holt, as big as a house and as easy to read. Nominally it's the story of the British surveyors who came up with the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland. But anyone who's curled up with Mr. P knows what to expect: literature on a vast scale. In this case, it's an eighteenth-century novel written by a very twentieth-century writer. Bon voyage to those who have the stamina to make it through all 773 pages.

As for Salinger, the mysteries continue. Back in January it was announced that wee Orchises Press (run by a George Mason University English Professor named Roger Lathbury) would soon publish a 1965 Salinger story, "Hapworth 16, 1924," in book form. Previously published in The New Yorker, the story continues the story of Salinger's fictional Glass family. But at the moment, Lathbury is playing coy and won't say much of anything: how the book ended up in his lap, when the book will be available, why Salinger has decided to publish this old story. Lathbury says the book is definitely on the way, but he won't confirm any publication date this year.

In short, Lathbury falls into the category of Burning Questions Holdout, and we hate that.

Jean Auel, Jean Auel, Jean AUEL

Dear Burning Questions:
Is Jean Auel who wrote the Clan of the Cave Bear series planning a new book in the near future? The last one certainly hinted at a sequel.
Janet Landsberg
via the Internet

BQ:
First of all, the rumors about Auel's health continue to amaze us. Strokes, heart attacks, death, attacks by swarms of killer bees (no fooling)--the poor woman gets killed off twice a week in our Burning Questions mail.

The Internet is ripe ground for rumor, Auel's agent's office tells us with a rueful laugh. According to those folks, she's said to be clicking away on the next installment in the adventures of Ayla, cavewoman extraordinaire. She's already discovered most of the modern conveniences. We understand that the next book will find her trying to figure out how to leave her vehicle behind and get to the next level.

No publication date has been set, so while you wait we recommend you bone up on the previous four books in the series: The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Valley of the Horses, The Mammoth Hunters, and The Plains of Passage. We're taking bets on the next book's title--our guess: The Home of the Tigers. No wait, that was painted on our high school gym wall. Anyway . . . send in those suggestions.

The odder the better, we say

Dear Burning Questions:
Over the years I have been an avid fan of Phyllis A. Whitney's novels. Her style of prose is engaging and thoroughly enjoyable. But it has been some time since her last novel Daughter of the Stars was released. I know that she is up in years. But do you know if she will have another book out in the near future, or is she still writing at all?
Jathan E. Fink
Texarkana, Arkansas

BQ:
This queen of romantic suspense (40 million copies of 38 novels in print) has a new book coming in July: Amethyst Dreams (Crown). It's of the friend-looking-for-missing-friend variety, set in a peaceful-only-on-the-outside seaside town filled with a bunch of creepy, odd relatives.

Is he friends with Jean Auel?

Dear Burning Questions:
I read in a local newspaper approximately three years ago that Robin Cook died of cancer. Is this true? I have tried to find this out but have been unable to.
Janice
via the oh-so-informal Internet

BQ:
No, according to his publisher, Putnam, Dr. Cook is "quite alive, thank you." He's been busy, that's all, working on the TV movie of Invasion (premiering May 4 and 5 on NBC), and enjoying that rare phenomenon, the appearance of simultaneous bestsellers: Chromosome 6 on the hardcover list, Invasion on the paperback.

Hold Not Your Breath Dept.

Dear Burning Questions:
I have patiently waited for over five years for Thomas Harris to come up with a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. Would you happen to know if he has written anything within the past five years, or is planning to do so? I have periodically checked at the library, but it seems he hasn't been writing much. An answer would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.
Somebody with a long email address
via the "what happened to plain-old names?" Internet

BQ:
Word has it that Harris is taking his sweet time on his next book, which may or may not be a Lamb sequel. Sorry for the unhelpful response. But sometimes, that's the Way It Is.

What BQ is reading

Like everyone else, we have been dying for a book from Bill Clinton's former Secretary of Labor, just as we have been waiting for our basement to flood again. As it turns out, to our surprise, Robert Reich is a feisty little raconteur, and his memoir of his four years working with the out-of-control (according to him) President from Hope makes very funny reading. Locked in the Cabinet (Alfred A. Knopf) has its self-serving moments, but the immediacy of it reminds us of Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan's What I Saw at the Revolution. The difference here is that Noonan idolized her president, while Reich finds his old Rhodes-scholarship-days pal more waffly than a Sunday breakfast at the IHOP.

And of course, in the Oprah corner

Not to brag or anything, but we have done a fair job of reviewing books that Oprah has picked. We like to think that wešre on her wavelength. OK, if we were really on Oprah's wavelength, we'd be telling you about her picks before she tells you. And we'd have a lot of friends in the publishing community. If you'd like to read our comments about the latest anointed novel, Sheri Reynolds's The Rapture of Canaan, check out our review on our Web site, the place where book reviews never die: http://www.bookpage.com/9601bp/fiction/theraptureofcanaan.html

Wondering why your favorite writer doesn't call, doesn't write anymore? Want to send us e-mail no. 9,001 about Jean Auel? Inquire with us, and we'll try to find out what's up: Burning Questions, 2501 21st Ave. South, Suite 5, Nashville, TN 37212. Or better yet, e-mail us at Burning_Questions@bookpage.com.

Alas, we regret that personal replies are not possible.

©1997, ProMotion, inc.

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