From Chapter XVII of Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian— They grew gaunted and lank under the white suns of those days and their hollow burnedout eyes were like those of noctambulants surprised by day. Crouched under their hats they seemed fugitives on some grander scale, like beings for whom the sun hungered. Even the judge grew… Continue reading Judge Holden holds forth on war (Blood Meridian)
From Chapter XVII of Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian— They grew gaunted and lank under the white suns of those days and their hollow burnedout eyes were like those of noctambulants surprised by day. Crouched under their hats they seemed fugitives on some grander scale, like beings for whom the sun hungered. Even the judge grew… Continue reading Judge Holden Holds Forth on War (Blood Meridian)
Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is larded with strange little pockets of the black humor, humor so black that it’s hard to catch on the first or second reading. Re-reading the book again this week, I was struck by how funny a passage in Chapter XI is. The passage comes immediately after one of the more… Continue reading Blood Meridian — Judge Holden on the Raising of Children
He’d bought a small ruled notebook at the stationer’s in Ibiza. Cheap pulp paper that would soon yellow and crumble. He took it out and wrote in it with his pencil. Vor mir keine Zeit, nach mir wird keine Sein. The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy In the second paragraph of the last chapter of Cormac McCarthy’s… Continue reading White Meridian | More scattered thoughts on Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Passenger
In his 1992 interview with The New York Times, Cormac McCarthy said, “The ugly fact is books are made out of books. The novel depends for its life on the novels that have been written.” McCarthy’s masterpiece Blood Meridian, as many critics have noted, is made of some of the finest literature out there–the King… Continue reading “Books are made out of books” | Blood Meridian and Samuel Chamberlain
Harold Bloom’s esteem for Blood Meridian may have done much to advance the novel’s reputation since its publication, especially in pre-social media outlets, like Goodreads, Twitter, or Facebook. His essay on the book, first published in his 2000 collection How to Read and Why and later included as the preface to Random House’s Modern Library… Continue reading The authentic American apocalyptic novel | Harold Bloom and Blood Meridian
As they rode that night upon the mesa they saw come toward them much like their own image a party of riders pieced out of the darkness by the intermittent flare of the dry lightning to the north. Glanton halted and sat his horse and the company halted behind him. The silent riders hove on. When they were… Continue reading Inversions without end (Blood Meridian)
The captain watched through the glass. I suppose they’ve seen us, he said. They’ve seen us. How many riders do you make it? A dozen maybe. The captain tapped the instrument in his gloved hand. They dont seem concerned, do they? No sir. They dont. The captain smiled grimly. We may see a little sport… Continue reading Fabled horde, legion of horribles | Blood Meridian riff
Watching (again) Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 film There Will Be Blood last night, it struck me that the film can be read as an expansion of the epilogue to Cormac McCarthy’s 1985 novel Blood Meridian. Here is that infamously perplexing passage, a strange note that punctuates the devastating infanticidal horror at the novel’s core: In the dawn there is… Continue reading Reading There Will Be Blood as the expanded epilogue to Blood Meridian
The part where Ahab says he’d strike at the sun if it insulted him. The fight at Ennet halfway house. When Bloom stands up to the cyclops. Judge Holden directing the men to make gunpowder. Pretty much all of “The Bear.” When Raskolnikov does the second murder. Janie kills Teacake. The chapter where Netley drives… Continue reading List with No Name #19
We often identify genre simply by its conventions and tropes, and, when October rolls round and we want scary stories, we look for vampires and haunted houses and psycho killers and such. And while there’s plenty of great stuff that adheres to the standard conventions of horror (Lovecraft and Poe come immediately to mind) let’s… Continue reading Seven Horror Stories Masquerading In Other Genres
From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s epic revision of the Jack the Ripper murders, posits Sir William Gull, a physician to Queen Victoria, as the orchestrator of the Jack the Ripper murders that terrified Londoners at the end of the 19th century. The murders initially arise out of the need to cover up the knowledge of the existence… Continue reading From Hell — Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
Earlier this week, I pulled out From Hell with the bold intention of re-reviewing it for this site. I love Halloween and I love Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s epic revision of the Jack the Ripper murders, so this seemed as good an occasion as any for a reread (especially considering the “review” I wrote back… Continue reading From Hell — Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian begins as a strange, violent picaresque bildungsroman, detailing the adventures of a teenage runaway known only as “the kid.” When the Kid falls in with John Glanton’s marauders, the narrative lens expands and pulls back; Glanton’s gang essentially envelopes the Kid’s personality. The pronoun “they” dominates the Kid’s own agency, for… Continue reading “It was a lone tree burning on the desert” — Blood Meridian’s Moral Core
Harold Bloom’s esteem for Blood Meridian may have done much to advance the novel’s reputation over the past decade. His essay on the book, first published in his 2000 collection How to Read and Why and later included as the preface to Random House’s Modern Library editions, makes a strong case for Blood Meridian’s canonical… Continue reading “The Authentic American Apocalyptic Novel” — Harold Bloom on Blood Meridian
In his 1992 interview with The New York Times, Cormac McCarthy said, “The ugly fact is books are made out of books. The novel depends for its life on the novels that have been written.” McCarthy’s masterpiece Blood Meridian, as many critics have noted, is made of some of the finest literature out there–the King… Continue reading “Books Are Made out of Books” — Blood Meridian and Samuel Chamberlain
Critic James Wood wrote extensively about Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian in his 2005 essay for The New Yorker, “Red Planet.” Here’s his lede– To read Cormac McCarthy is to enter a climate of frustration: a good day is so mysteriously followed by a bad one. McCarthy is a colossally gifted writer, certainly one of the… Continue reading James Wood (Is Wrong) on Blood Meridian
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