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Outer Dark Paperback – June 29, 1993

by Cormac McCarthy (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,563 ratings
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From the bestselling author of The Passenger and the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Road • A novel at once fabular and starkly evocative, set is an unspecified place in Appalachia, sometime around the turn of the century.

A woman bears her brother's child, a boy; he leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander separately through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying and elusive strangers, headlong toward an eerie, apocalyptic resolution.

Look for Cormac McCarthy's latest bestselling novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    June 29, 1993
  4. Dimensions
    5.12 x 0.51 x 7.96 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0679728732
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0679728733
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vintage will rerelease these previous novels from McCarthy to coincide with the paperback appearance of All The Pretty Horses : Outer Dark is a mysterious tale of an Appalachian family, while Child of God , also set in the hill country, tells of a violent ex-convict.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

To coincide with the paperback release of McCarthy's National Book Award winner, All the Pretty Horses ( LJ 5/15/92), Vintage is reissuing these two earlier novels. Relating the story of a mother's search for her lost child, Outer Dark was described by LJ 's reviewer as a "novel full of horror and pathos" ( LJ 9/15/68). Child of God tells an equally bleak story with characters that comprise a "sad human compost heap" ( LJ 1/15/74). For serious fiction collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (June 29, 1993)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679728732
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679728733
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 0.51 x 7.96 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,563 ratings

About the author

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Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy

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Cormac McCarthy was born in Rhode Island. He later went to Chicago, where he worked as an auto mechanic while writing his first novel, The Orchard Keeper. The Orchard Keeper was published by Random House in 1965; McCarthy's editor there was Albert Erskine, William Faulkner's long-time editor. Before publication, McCarthy received a travelling fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which he used to travel to Ireland. In 1966 he also received the Rockefeller Foundation Grant, with which he continued to tour Europe, settling on the island of Ibiza. Here, McCarthy completed revisions of his next novel, Outer Dark. In 1967, McCarthy returned to the United States, moving to Tennessee. Outer Dark was published in 1968, and McCarthy received the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Writing in 1969. His next novel, Child of God, was published in 1973. From 1974 to 1975, McCarthy worked on the screenplay for a PBS film called The Gardener's Son, which premiered in 1977. A revised version of the screenplay was later published by Ecco Press. In the late 1970s, McCarthy moved to Texas, and in 1979 published his fourth novel, Suttree, a book that had occupied his writing life on and off for twenty years. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1981, and published his fifth novel, Blood Meridian, in 1985. All the Pretty Horses, the first volume of The Border Trilogy, was published in 1992. It won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and was later turned into a feature film. The Stonemason, a play that McCarthy had written in the mid-1970s and subsequently revised, was published by Ecco Press in 1994. Soon thereafter, the second volume of The Border Trilogy, The Crossing, was published with the third volume, Cities of the Plain, following in 1998. McCarthy's next novel, No Country for Old Men, was published in 2005. This was followed in 2006 by a novel in dramatic form, The Sunset Limited, originally performed by Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. McCarthy's most recent novel, The Road, was published in 2006 and won the Pulitzer Prize.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
1,563 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ernest Ohlmeyer
5.0 out of 5 stars A dark but gripping Cormac McCarthy novel
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2023
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Another exceptional book by Cormac McCarthy. It is admittedly gloomy and rather violent. In some ways it seems like a precursor to Blood Meridian. As usual with Cormac, one must think hard and delve deep to answer "What is the meaning?" It is highly allegorical, with many allusions to Biblical and other literary sources. It is in the form of a quest journey. A brother and sister, Culla and Rinthy, conceive a child. After its birth, Culla tries to get rid of the child by leaving him in the wilderness, but he is rescued by an itinerant tinker. When Rinthy discovers this she goes in search of the child. Culla, full of guilt for his incest and attempted infanticide, goes on his own quest whose purpose is unclear. It may be to find the child or to find Rinthy or just to assuage his guilt. An image that comes to mind is the Garden of Eden and the expulsion of Adam and Eve due to their original sin. Along the way, both Culla and Rinthy experience a variety of encounters with strangers. Rinthy is mainly treated with kindness by those she meets. Culla, on the other hand, keeps getting into trouble, is falsely accused of a variety of crimes, and is pursued by a mob trying to kill him. The culmination of his troubles is when he runs into an evil trio of killers. They are a murderous lot, terrorizing the countryside, and seem bent on extracting retribution for Culla's sins. Some critics think the novel has a distinct Gnostic overtone, where humans are entraped in an evil world ruled by malevolent demigods or archons. The true, benevolent, God is hidden, but tries to keep a spark of knowledge about him alive in the hearts of men. In this respect, the evil trio may represents archons who persecute Culla. In terms of responding to the proffered interior light, the hapless Culla seems to miss the invitation completely, while Rinthy is responsive to it and maintains her hope and optimism throughout her ordeal. The dramatic culmination of the novel will be left for the reader to discover. The meaning or moral point of this story is somewhat obscure and Cormac leaves it to the reader to figure out. However, as is usual with Cormac, the writing is brilliant with many graphic and penetrating scenes that grip the reader. This is a very significant work. It begs for a re-reading, which I hope to do in the future.
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AMH
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, bleak and brutal.
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2023
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After their incestuous relationship results in the birth of a child, a brother and sister embark on separate quests. The split POVs work well to tell different sides of the story. Who are the victims? Who are the villains? Evil is a matter of perspective, and no one in this hardscrabble world is truly good. The novel gets more twisted as you delve into the poetic prose. OUTER DARK isn't my favorite Cormac McCarthy novel, but it's beautifully written, bleak and brutal.
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Rick O
5.0 out of 5 stars This 1968 novel written by Cormac McCarthy is brilliant...
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2013
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This 1968 novel written by Cormac McCarthy is brilliant, but also one of the most disheartening stories that I've ever read. Warning: If you are suffering from depression, don't even think about reading this somber book. Cormac is truly the gloom and doom master. A quote from 'All the Pretty Horses' sums up Mr. McCarthy's thoughts on life:" It was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all." One of Cormac's Outer Dark quotes is:"Ive seen the meanness of humans till I dont know why God aint put out the sun and gone away." One of the two main characters, Culla states bleakness best when talking to the mysterious bearded man and says:" I never give nobody nothin, I never had nothin. Never figured nothin, never had nothin, never was nothin, the man said. He was looking at nothin at all." I added the quote marks, but Cormac doesn't use them, or any other basic elements of prose in his novels. If you have read any of my reviews, you know that I'm not a fan of his famous novel 'The Road', however I am an admirer of this novel. He has stated in the past that if the story is good enough, the author doesn't have to be grammatically correct. I hear you loud and clear! This story will stay with me for awhile.

Even though Cormac doesn't mention a time, or place, I did some basic research and it seems that this story takes place in the Appalachia mountains of east Tennessee. I can't find a time period, but it felt like I was reading a novel set in the early 1900s. It's the story of a brother and sister, Culla and Rinthy, who have an incestious relationship resulting in a baby. Both of these people are destitute mountain people of low education living in a rural cabin. As Rinthy recovers from the birth, she hears a tinker ( a travelling seller of pots and pans ) outside talking to her brother. The tinker leaves, and while Rinthy sleeps, Culla goes in the woods and leaves the baby in the glade to die. When Culla goes home, he chops a fake grave with his axe. The tinker, in his travels, finds the baby. When Rinthy wakes, Culla says the baby died. She discovers that the grave is fake and thinking that her brother sold her baby to the tinker, she leaves on foot pursuing the tinker. Culla also leaves on foot seemingly looking for his sister, but more likely because he is fleeing from his sins and just wants to get away. To complicate matters for Culla, three mysterious men apparently follow Culla causing death and mayhem in his wake. Rinthy, in her travels, finds people mostly accommodating to her plight. Culla, Rinthy, the baby, the tinker, and the three mysterious men are heading for a collision of monumental and unguessable fruition. You must read this precocious second novel by Cormac McCarthy, it is stunning.

I find this story full of symbolism and metaphors. For instance, Culla and the three mysterious men seem to have nothing in common. But why do the three men appear to follow Culla from town to town, causing Culla many troubles. The leader of the men wears black, which is a symbol of evil and death. Culla seems to be running from his sins and the three men are in pursuit to mete out punishment. Evil looms all around Culla. Are the three men emissaries of the devil? Rinthy, on the other hand, receives food and shelter from most of the people she meets on her quest to find her baby. Are these people representing the Archangels of God? I don't know, but I do know when I'm reading a book full of symbolism. And what about the mean tinker? Who does he portray? And finally, who is the blind man Culla meets at the end of the novel who says:"But I knowed I'd seen ye afore." Culla wants to know if the blind man is a preacher, and the blind man says:"No. No preacher. What is they to preach? It's all plain enough. Word and flesh. I don't hold much with preachin."Is this the Grim Reaper, now hot on Culla's trail? I don't know, but it's fun conjecturing on a Cormac McCarthy novel.
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Top reviews from other countries

Darren
5.0 out of 5 stars Another classic
Reviewed in Australia on May 22, 2019
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Another great read from this author. Even though this novel is one of his earlier one it is classic McCarthy with amazing descriptions of the landscape and full characters you can love and loath. Highly recommend.
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Tommy Dooley
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, Bleak and the work of a true Master of English Literature
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2016
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I am biased her as I consider Cormac McCarthy to be the best living writer in the English language. This dark story of incest is set as a parable in a time not specified and in a place of landless intent. The brother and sister plough two different paths – one in search of a child that should never have been. The other to escape the sin that can not be admitted to.

The journeys take two different paths but the roads are full of decrepitude, filth, hopelessness and a cast of characters that make the term ‘a grotesquery’ seem somewhat lame. The language used is pure poetry; describing scenes that are often beyond the want to witness and painting a terrible picture with words that add bring an inner beauty to the whole ensemble.

This is a book I devoured in a few readings as it is truly astounding and is the only book of his that I had yet to read. I hope he has many more of this ilk still to offer the World.
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James M. Slade
5.0 out of 5 stars Outer dark
Reviewed in Canada on March 1, 2013
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Classic Cormac MeCarthy, a very dark tale, wonderfully told. Guaranteed to give you shivers and to horrify. I recommend it.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in Spain on June 1, 2013
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Excellent service, did as they said and gave prompt, fast delivery with no problems. Recommended, and I would use them again..
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lucie
5.0 out of 5 stars super
Reviewed in France on November 19, 2011
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Thank you very much for this nice experience. Quick delivery, perfect state of the product and very interesting book will shop again sometime
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