qantarot on Nostr: Erik Hoel says his goodbye to Cormac McCarthy, a fellow novelist who wanted to be a ...
Erik Hoel says his goodbye to Cormac McCarthy, a fellow novelist who wanted to be a scientist
"What makes McCarthy feel like a figure from an older era is precisely this polymathy. In fact, I almost used this quote from Blood Meridian in The World Behind the World, since it’s about the limits of science:
'The universe is no narrow thing and the order within it is not constrained by any latitude in its conception to repeat what exists in one part in any other part. Even in this world more things exist without our knowledge than with it and the order in creation which you see is that which you have put there, like a string in a maze, so that you shall not lose your way. For existence has its own order and that no man's mind can compass, that mind itself being but a fact among others.'
In many ways, McCarthy was a novelist who wanted to be a scientist. He had my personal sympathies—it is a tough position to be in, no matter which way the desire runs."
https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/desiderata-13-links-and-commentary
"What makes McCarthy feel like a figure from an older era is precisely this polymathy. In fact, I almost used this quote from Blood Meridian in The World Behind the World, since it’s about the limits of science:
'The universe is no narrow thing and the order within it is not constrained by any latitude in its conception to repeat what exists in one part in any other part. Even in this world more things exist without our knowledge than with it and the order in creation which you see is that which you have put there, like a string in a maze, so that you shall not lose your way. For existence has its own order and that no man's mind can compass, that mind itself being but a fact among others.'
In many ways, McCarthy was a novelist who wanted to be a scientist. He had my personal sympathies—it is a tough position to be in, no matter which way the desire runs."
https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/desiderata-13-links-and-commentary