That ingeniously elliptical novel-in-stories is the epitome of the quiet literary work, populated with well-meaning characters whose lives hinge on grief and love. Whether the transformation takes is one of the tantalizing aspects of “The Passage.”Ĭronin’s pre-”Passage” career isn’t as well-known as McCarthy’s pre-”Road” oeuvre was, though his debut, “Mary and O’Neil,” won the 2002 PEN/Hemingway Prize. Justin Cronin’s ample vampire-virus saga “The Passage” also presents a vivid eschatology, while its title indicates an even more profound transformation of one sort of literary sensibility into another.
Should die-hard fans of a genre (in this case science fiction) be honored or annoyed when an interloper wanders onto their creative territory? The title of McCarthy’s book indicates the path its father-and-son protagonists follow, but it might also symbolize the author’s journey from revered offshoot of the Melville-Hemingway-Faulkner axis to de facto practitioner of end-of-the-world lit.
Chosen for both the Pulitzer Prize and coverage on “Oprah,” Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel “The Road” regularly appears in debates over genre carpetbagging.
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