Larry McMurtry may retire from novel writing

Claiming his well of fictional inspiration may be running dry, 73-year-old Texan novelist Larry McMurtry has stated at a recent gathering that his new book--to be released on August 11--will probably be his last novel.

Rhino Ranch will be the thirtieth novel in a corpus that includes Terms of Endearment, The Last Picture Show, and Lonesome Dove, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986. Centering around an attempt to protect the endangered African black rhinoceros by importing it to the United States, Rhino Ranch will be the fifth installment in a series of novels set his native North Texas which began in 1966 with The Last Picture Show. Most of McMurtry's novels, which are often labeled as modern westerns, are set in Texas.

In addition to being a novelist, McMurty is a screenwriter--he co-won an Academy Award for his screenplay to Brokeback Mountain--and an avid reader and book collector. His collection of over 300,000 books can be perused and purchased at Booked Up in Archer City, Texas.

From the Dallas Morning News:

"It's a finite gift, for sure," he says of novel writing. "I'm about at the end of it. I can write certain things. I don't think I can write fiction any more. I think I've used it up over 30 novels. That's a lot of novels."

McMurtry made the remarks during a recent visit at his home in Archer City. He huddled almost an hour with invited guests from the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, which is sponsored by the author's alma mater, the University of North Texas.

"Most great novels are written by people between 40 and 60, or 35 and 60," he says. "Not too many great novels are written by people over 75. Hardly any. Maybe Tolstoy."