Episode 27: McCarthy and Race with Lydia Cooper

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Episode 27 of READING MCCARTHY is a thorough consideration of Race in the Works of Cormac McCarthy.  The guest for this thoughtful and engaging discussion is Lydia Cooper; Dr. Cooper is a professor of American literature at Creighton University. Her specializations include Native American literature, Western and Southwestern literature, gender studies, and Cormac McCarthy. Her most recent book is Cormac McCarthy: A Complexity Theory of Literature, published by Manchester University Press.  Other books includes Masculinities in Literature of the American West; No More Heroes: Narrative Perspective and Morality in the Novels (those novels being the ones by McCarthy); her work on McCarthy and on other modern and contemporary American and Native American writers has appeared in numerous academic journals such as Studies in the Novel, Studies in American Indian Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment.

Thanks to Thomas Frye, who composed, performed, and produced the theme music and interludes for READING MCCARTHY.  Included in this episode are “The World to Come,” “Toadvine,” “Running with Wolves,” and “Blues for Blevins.”  

The views of the host and his guests do not necessarily reflect the views of their home institutions or the Cormac McCarthy Society. To contact me, please reach out to readingmccarthy(@)gmail.com. Find us on Twitter and Facebook; the website is at readingmccarthy.buzzsprout.com, and if you’d like to support the show you can click on the little heart symbol at the top of the page to buy the show a cappuccino, or you can support us at www.patreon.com/readingmccarthy.

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New! A book adaptation of many of the episodes focusing on McCarthy's Southern novels is forthcoming in October 2026.  Click the link for details on Reading Cormac McCarthy: Scholars Discuss the Southern Novels.

Starting in spring of 2023, the podcast began accepting minor sponsorship offers to offset the costs of the podcast.  This may cause a mild disconnect in earlier podcasts where the host asks for patrons in lieu of sponsorships.   But if we compare it to a very large and naked bald man in the middle of the desert who leads you to an extinct volcano to create gunpowder, it seems pretty minor...

As always, the views of the host and his guests do not constitute the views of the Cormac McCarthy society, or their employers or institutions, or their pets or favorite sporting teams.