Excerpt from Shortlist about The Ultimate KEEP KNOXVILLE SCRUFFY ! Writer: A Literary Travel Guide To The USA (eight of the very best literary pilgrimages you can take this summer and beyond): Cormac McCarthy – Knoxville, Tennessee So entwined with the formative years of Cormac McCarthy are the city and surroundings of Knoxville, that to visit is to better understand why his work is regularly awash with southern authenticity. While the skyline might have grown since he penned the ‘50s set semi-autobiographical classic Suttree, those intimidating Appalachian hillsides still abound, as do the ramshackle premises, embodying precisely what gave McCarthy’s colourful writing its gritty detail. Furthermore, if you’re dead set on looking for those places where the notoriously reclusive author placed his equally reclusive character Cornelius Buddy Suttree, you can trace some of the best haunts from the book using this smashing map: web.utk.edu/~wmorgan/Suttree/suttree.htm Must-see: Hed a mind to see the station with the fireplaces and the inscriptions from Burns on the mantels... Rivalling the LEGO-shaped exterior found outside the Southern Terminal for memorable sights, this inscription mentioned in Suttree is etched into an impressive fireplace to this day. It was also here, still on the cusp of international fame, McCarthy had a snap taken of him by biographer Mark Marrow in 1981. Upon being asked by Marrow why he liked the landmark so much, “This is where you get a ticket with the destination left blank,” came the wryly delivered reply, foretelling the writer’s own eventual move away from the city. 306 West Depot Avenue, TN 37917 Where to stay? With the 5102 Kingston Pike’s Colony Motel (where the author, living on money gained through a MacArthur Fellows Grant in 1981, holed himself up writing Blood Meridian) long since demolished, you’ll want to head downtown, near Gay St, referenced not only in 1965’s The Orchard Keeper but numerous other works sure to keep you busy in the bustling area. The nearby upmarket The Oliver Hotel is a chic place to recharge the batteries but totally in keeping with that historic ‘50s vibe. 407 Union Avenue, TN 37902 Theoliverhotel shortlist/entertainment/books/a-literary-travel-guide-to-the-usa
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 16:10:59 +0000
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