He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
The road that I want to talk about is not the one McCarthy shows us in his dark and terrifying novel. I had to work in a quote because I love the book. If Cormac McCarthy wrote a phone book, I would read it.
Today’s journey took us along the road to the almost-empty Blackball. Once a busy mining town, the town almost disappeared when the mine closed in 1961. As the miners left the hippies arrived, attracted by the lure of abandoned housing. Their artistic and oddball influence are reflected in the town today.
We ended our day’s journey in Otira, near the western side of the Southern Alps. Here, the Quirky dial was turned up a notch or two.
The Road contains some of the most horrifying depictions of human depravity that I have ever read – the sort of thing that made afraid to close my eyes at night.
Cormac’s death several years ago deprivd us of an awesome genius – especially in his rendering of the Western lifestyle of a century ago. It’s good to find another reader who appreciates his talent.
BTW, Golub is alive and well, running something called DOGE.
Thankfully, our trip couldn’t be more different from “The Road” !
I believe Hilton was the name of the Mine owner, not an attempt to mock the US (?) Hotel chain.
Perplexity says:
The Blackball Hilton (now known as “Formerly the Blackball Hilton”) faced legal action from the multinational Hilton Hotels chain in the 1990s. The dispute arose when the international hotel corporation objected to the small New Zealand pub using the “Hilton” name, which had been adopted in the 1970s as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Hilton Street in Blackball and a parody of luxury branding.
The conflict escalated when Hilton Hotels sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding the name be dropped. In true West Coast spirit, the Blackball establishment refused to back down completely. After negotiations, they agreed to modify the name to “Formerly the Blackball Hilton” in 1994.
Hilton St was named after the mine owner a/c Wikipedia so maybe it was a bit of both …
I’m drooling over those baked goods!