American Inferno
Apr. 16th, 2009 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

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.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-16 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-16 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-16 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-16 10:07 pm (UTC)That was me....
Date: 2009-04-17 04:14 am (UTC)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)This sentence should read "And there is NO nobility."
James B. Wyler
Re: That was me....
Date: 2009-04-17 11:38 am (UTC)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!
no subject
Date: 2009-04-16 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-16 11:04 pm (UTC)I've been recommended these lecture series on the book - they are quite interesting. Here's the link.