Cormac McCarthy’s long-secret muse revealed to be a 16-year-old girl’s
Augusta Britt was just 16 when she met 42-year-old Cormac McCarthy at a Tucson motel pool. At the time, she was in and out of foster care – where she faced a lot of abuse and inappropriate attention from men – and saw some sense of security in McCarthy.

In a recent interview with Vanity FairShe recalls their long-standing relationship, which inspired many of the highly acclaimed author’s stories and characters. Some characters seem to reflect the unfair power dynamics that existed between Britt and McCarthy.

And, despite her slight discomfort in labeling McCarthy a complete groomer – although she called him out twice during the interview, and pointed out that he had been convicted of statutory rape (she was 17 and he was 43) and human trafficking. How the police were after her – she feels like they violated her, at least emotionally.

when he sent her the manuscript all the beautiful horsesShe expressed how sad it felt to see so much of her trauma on the page.

“The first thing I look at, obviously, is the title. And I thought, Oh my God! I started reading it, and it’s so full of me, and yet I’m not. It was very confusing. Very sad to read about Blevins being killed. I cried for many days. And I remember thinking to myself that being such a lover of books, I was surprised that writing about it didn’t seem romantic. I felt kind of violated. All these painful experiences resurfaced and turned into fantasy. I didn’t know how to talk to Cormac about this because Cormac was the most important person in my life. I wondered, was that all I was to him, a train wreck to write about?

“I was trying so hard to grow up and fix what was broken about me. I still thought I could be fixed. And that felt like the opposite of healing to me.

However, McCarthy isn’t the only person who should be looked at with a slant here. overall tone of Vanity Fair The article is closed. At times, it feels like it unnecessarily legitimizes McCarthy’s relationship and attraction to the teenager by saying things like “Cormac McCarthy fell in love with a 16-year-old girl when he was 42”, and It is sympathetic to McCarthy’s “dilemma.” There was “a beautiful 16-year-old runaway” sitting next to him at a motel pool.

It’s been around, and if you want to read the primary interview to see what we mean, visit Vanity Fair, Guardian is also a good summary,


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