A MacArthur Fellowship enabled him to travel to the American Southwest, where he researched and wrote his fifth novel, Blood Meridian (1985). Suttree (1979), like his other early novels, received generally positive reviews, but was not a commercial success. Awarded literary grants, McCarthy was able to travel to southern Europe, where he wrote his second novel, Outer Dark (1968). His debut novel, The Orchard Keeper, was published in 1965. In 1951, he enrolled in the University of Tennessee, but dropped out to join the US Air Force. McCarthy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, although he was raised primarily in Tennessee. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. He is well known for his graphic depictions of violence and his unique writing style, recognizable by a sparse use of punctuation and attribution.
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and two short stories, spanning the Western and post-apocalyptic genres.