To go by Kinky Friedman’s formulation, Cormac McCarthy must be a real cowboy, because Cormac McCarthy doesn’t tweet. But for the better part of Monday, the Twitterverse was wondering (and hoping) otherwise.
An account belonging to “@CormacCMcCarthy” came to life at 4:29 a.m. on Monday morning with an “@” message to fellow author Margaret Atwood. Atwood, who would later explain that it took three months to get her own Twitter acount “verified,” took it at face value:
@CormacCMcCarthy: Hello! I’ve long enjoyed your work! T-pals, please welcome Cormac McCarthy! @neilhimself @jack @GreatDismal @AmyTanWriter
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) January 23, 2012
Hey, stranger things have happened. Like, say, Margaret Atwood writing 7,464 tweets (she’s actually quite eloquent about its value). Or Cormac McCarthy penning an original screenplay.
On my own Twitter, I suggested to magazine writer Jason Fagone that the odds of it actually being McCarthy was about the same as the odds of a Ron Paul presidency. He replied, “if a famous recluse really did join Twitter, he would spend the first couple of weeks just f-cking with people though, right?”
“McCarthy” had his own take on the subject, and with a pretty decent turn of phrase to boot: “How do I verify myself? Is this a must? Let the doubters doubt and walk past. I prefer that.”
The Huffington Post played it straight but also hedged their bets, with a story headlined, “Cormac McCarthy apparently joins Twitter, Gets Abuse.” HuffPo recounted McCarthy’s fame for still using a typewriter, which turned out to be a salient detail when publishing journalist Sarah Weinman got the scoop, via a tweet from one of McCarthy’s publishers:
Not to worry, @sarahw, he doesn’t own a computer; we’ve verified the @CormacCMcCarthy handle is not the real deal.
— Vintage & Anchor (@VintageAnchor) January 23, 2012
To be fair, the tweets were coming from an Android mobile phone not a computer, but even that seems something of a stretch. For one thing, have you ever tried to get a 3G signal in the mountains of New Mexico? Impossible.
Jason Boog of Galley Cat helped spread the word from there, prompting “McCarthy” to dig in and stand his ground (but with a peevishness that clearly says “imposter”):
@GalleyCat I joined Twitter on a phone my son knows better than I. When you denounce me you hurt fine people. Bare that on your back.
— Cormac McCarthy (@CormacCMcCarthy) January 23, 2012
Larry McMurtry: Perhaps it’s your time?
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