commonpeople1: (Tom)
[personal profile] commonpeople1
Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, 1985
I wish I could open McCarthy's chest and pour a little light into his heart. No matter how beautiful his writing may be, the lack of hope in there is a soul crushing thing to behold. There's also the question of Hell and the images McCarthy so easily conjures in his books; scenes as depraved, horrifying and poetic as a Hieronymus Bosch painting come alive. As a sinner, I now get an idea where I'll be going to when I die.

McCarthy is, hands down, the great master of the western genre alive today - but a western doused with horror - sublime and nauseating, unlike anything you'd find in actual horror sections of bookshops. Set in the 1840s, Blood Meridian is an epic quest across America's wild west by a group of degenerate, murderous scalp hunters after Apaches (or anyone, really, that gets in their way.) Scalps mean money, whores and whiskey. Scalps are in high demand in a world where "injins" are a constant terror threat. Like the horsemen of the apocalypse, these riders bring with them death and destruction to every corner of the wilderness they pass through, indiscriminately so. Their quest is a senseless, orgiastic descent into extreme violence and terror.

There's a mysterious and unknowable force at the centre of the story in the shape of Judge Holden, a large albino with alopecia who knows various languages, studies the sciences of the time, talks philosophy, and yet is the most cruel and insane man of the lot. Standing against him is a fourteen-year-old boy (The Kid), who shows a tiny fraction of clemency in his heart and is, therefore, a betrayer of God in the judge's eyes.

This is the first book I ever read which I wanted to re-read as soon as I was finished. Most of the sentences in it are so evocative they hint at entire separate stories/novels by themselves. And there's so much beauty between the cruelty that, perhaps, there lies the secret on how to find light in McCarthy.

Discussion at Wyler Nation.

Date: 2009-04-16 03:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aeonflux.livejournal.com
I love Cormac McCarthy's work, but you're right, it is totally soul-crushing. The first one I read was The Road, but more recently Child of God and No Country for Old Men. Such amazing writing, but not so good for one's mood, no?

Date: 2009-04-16 10:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] commonpeople.livejournal.com
It definitely hits one's mood hard. Same goes for The Crossing, which is just sooooo melancholy and haunting.

Date: 2009-04-16 06:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wwidsith.livejournal.com
Yeah! This is a good assessment of him. Although I'm sure when I wrote about how bleak his work is, you told me off.

Date: 2009-04-16 10:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] commonpeople.livejournal.com
I think we were discussing The Road, weren't we? With that one, I suffered more reading it, and wanted so badly to believe in some hope in the end - so that's where my stubborness came in.

That was me....

Date: 2009-04-17 04:14 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Don't blame Common for that. I think it was me who told you off! LOL. Not because your assessment about McCarthy is way off, but I think "The Road" is a whole lot more hopeful than "Blood Meridian." Sure the father dies and the boy has seen stuff in The Road that is simply horrific, but look what happens to him at the end. No such ending for the Kid in "BM."

I think I'm a fan of "Blood Meridian" because McCarthy takes the genre of the western and shakes it upside down. Gary Cooper and John Wayne wouldn't last more than 10 seconds with the Glanton Gang (might make a good riff if Hollywood makes the movie). The landscape and people are soaked in blood and mayhem. In fact, as Common noted, mayhem is the only currency that matters.

And there is nobility. "The injins" are just as crazy as Glanton and his crew.

What it all means is beyond me, and a bit scary, But I want this book near when my eyes close for the last time.

James B. Wyler

Re: That was me....

Date: 2009-04-17 04:23 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
"And there is nobility. "The injins" are just as crazy as Glanton and his crew."

This sentence should read "And there is NO nobility."

James B. Wyler

Re: That was me....

Date: 2009-04-17 11:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] commonpeople.livejournal.com
Hey James,

since I've finished reading it, I've been thinking about the judge. I've read some comments and reviews on the net that have strong arguments for him being the devil... I'm starting to agree with them! I'm waiting for you to post your review of the book on your blog so I can go into more detail. Thanks by the way for the link to that professor at Yale! Very interesting lecture... I'll be watching the second part tonight.

As for Hollywood, it appears that Riddley Scott is onto it... dont' know if he'll be able to do it justice though - the material is too dark and will probably suffer cuts. I've also seen photos of the upcoming adaptation of "The Road" and it doesn't look at all like the images in my head... and preparing myself for disappointment!

Date: 2009-04-16 07:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petercampbell.livejournal.com
I love Blood Meridian - it's almost like an apocalyptic vision. Ridley Scott's apparently making an attempt to film it, though I can't see how he'd succeed because it's as much a mood piece as anything else. Now I'm tempted to go off and re-read it...

Date: 2009-04-16 11:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] commonpeople.livejournal.com
It's filmable, but it would become something completely different from the book. I couldn't see any film company, for example, going along with the pedophilia, or much of the extreme violence, in which case its mood would be different.

I've been recommended these lecture series on the book - they are quite interesting. Here's the link.

April 2017

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 26th, 2025 02:47 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios