Cormac McCarthy's Interviews in Tennessee and Kentucky, 1968-1980

In this article, we reprint McCarthy's interviews from newspapers of East Tennessee and Lexington, Kentucky, including five newly discovered ones, all granted between 1968 and 1980, when McCarthy was still a relatively unknown author. In contrast with his usual reticence, these pieces provide candid glimpses of McCarthy's ideas about his writing. Together, they suggest that McCarthy was often willing to be interviewed when it would please his friends and neighbors.