Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy is an American writer who has received much attention from the public in these recent years, one because of the Oscar-winning novel adaptation by the Coen brothers, No Country for Old Man, the other for McCarthy's most recent comeback work The Road, which has been selected by the Opera Book Club and received many awards. Cormac is known for his treatment of borderline issue and violence that often embodies his work. Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, regarded by some critics as his masterpiece, is yet another novel from McCarthy that deals with the similar themes. The plotless novel, which abounds highly in obscure literary allusions, American-Mexican warring history, jargons and even un-translated Spanish, is a great challenge for any reader who does not have enough background knowledge and whose patience cannot outlast the constant frustration in the reading experience.
The difficulty in understanding the text lies mostly in its language, rather than its allusions and backgrounds, for, even though both are complex and challenging, they do not barricade readers in the understanding the tale. It is McCarthy’s meticulous and often archaic word choice, together with the dialectical, sometimes foreign usage in language, that make Blood Meridian a difficult read. There are often passages that one cannot understand without referring constantly to the dictionary, not to mention the Spanish that is repeatedly used by the characters. The literary allusions from Bible, Paradise Lost, Moby-Dick, and possibly other works, once acknowledged, only help in the appreciation of the novel, as the warring history does.
Another major fact that might dissuade the reader from reading is the seemingly lack of plot in McCarthy’s narration. The violent plot tends to get repetitive at some point, and the barren landscape for some might only serves as an irony to the plot, as the party goes from one killing to another. The narrator introduces the reader all kinds of brutal ways in the killing of mankind but never goes into detail, which prevents the feeling of compassion and numbs the reader even before halfway through.
Difficult as it is, one cannot disregard the importance of Blood Meridian and McCarthy’s success in American and world literature simply because one fails to recognize it. Selected by Time magazine as one of the most important novels in American literature, Blood Meridian is a challenge for all readers, no matter because of its content or techniques. It is a book worthy of a second and even a third-try; even though not very likely in any time soon, for those who just have their first failure may really want to escape a bit form this nightmarish experience and come back a while later. Meanwhile, maybe one can relax a bit and try the previous movie adaptation or, better then, The Road starring Charlize Theron and Viggo Mortensen that will hit the local cinema later this year.
Note: I lost track of the plot and decided to give up reading the novel at page 198, just half way through it. The interpretation on the allusions I learned from a live recording lecture from Yale by Professor Amy Hungerford, the links listed as below.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment