Why was the boy found dead in the toilet by the squatters?
>>8150432
You mean the one that had its neck broken, most likely after being raped horribly by The Judge?
>>8150432
In the middle of reading this now, really liking it so far. Are there any more westerns /lit/ would recommend if I enjoy this?
>>8151105
Warlock
Last Go Round
Butcher's Crossing
haven't read any of them but I hear them get mentioned a lot.
He took a poop so big that he strained too hard and popped a blood vessel in his brain
>>8150565
How do people jump to the conclusion that he was raped? Someone killed him and The Judge is naked, but the Judge is kinda always naked.
>>8151105
His other westerns are good, The Crossing is my favorite novel ever.
>>8151314
He has this obsession with children that makes it an easy conclusion to come to. Read it how you like tho.
>>8151316
Mine too, I wish we were friends anon. We could act out the interchanges of Billy and the wise sages he meets
>>8150432
Without the memers in this thread, we can all agree that this is god-tier right?
>>8151328
yes it is incredible. Now run while you still have the chance
>>8151313
/thread
>>8151105
lonesome dove
>>8151328
We don't have to.
McCarthy was awarded the Macarthur grant for his work and is one of the most critically acclaimed living writers. Bloom is all about Blood Meridian and in a group interview Werner Herzog damn near blows his load over McCarthy.
Of course he's god-tier.
I hate not being able to discuss him here, although I appreciate this thread
>>8151328
There's no shitposters (at the moment) because OP asked a question that people would only understand if they read the book.
But yeah, it's a fantastic book for certain.
>>8150432
It probably was The Judge for fuck knows what reason. We already know he's willing to do malicious acts without being antagonised due to having that reverend chased out of the town by slandering his name.
>>8151371
I don't think he wrote a book that isn't "worth reading" tbhfamilia
who fucking knows. he wrote it so you can fill in the faggy little details yourself. such a shit book. Muh corncob tortillas YeCarthy corncobber get corncobbed you fucking faggot ass pseuds. this book is utter genre fiction trash. you want a good western read lonesome dove.
well mates it was fun while it lasted, abandon thread
>>8151391
true, his reason for rallying the town against that preacher was simply because he could.
Do you guys have a favourite passage/quote/paragraph/sentence from Blood Meridian?
Mine is between:
> The jagged mountains were pure blue in the dawn and everywhere birds twittered and the sun when it rose caught the moon in the west so that they lay opposed to each other across the earth, the sun white hot and the moon a pale replica, as if they were the ends of a common bore beyond whose terminals burned worlds past all reckoning.
Or:
> A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners, coats of slain dragoons, frogged and braided cavalry jackets, one in a stovepipe hat and one with an umbrella and one in white stockings and a bloodstained weddingveil and some in headgear of cranefeathers or rawhide helmets that bore the horns of bull or buffalo and one in a pigeontailed coat worn backwards and otherwise naked and one in the armor of a spanish conquistador, the breastplate and pauldrons deeply dented with old blows of mace or saber done in another country by men whose very bones were dust and many with their braids spliced up with the hair of other beasts until they trailed upon the ground and their horses’ ears and tails worked with bits of brightly colored cloth and one whose horse’s whole head was painted crimson red and all the horsemen’s faces gaudy and grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools.
>>8151450
> like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools.
Always sends shivers down my spine, that.
>>8151450
don't know the exact quote, but it was something about them riding through a lightning storm at night. It is described like the creation of the cosmos
>>8151450
>The jagged mountains were pure blue in the dawn and everywhere birds twittered and the sun when it rose caught the moon in the west so that they lay opposed to each other across the earth
Heh, brings back memories of the great Comma Famine of 1864.
Strangely, we had a surplus of conjunctives that year.
>>8151391
I don't think it was the judge. You rarely see the judge actually do violent acts himself. I think he is more about influencing others to do them. Personally I think it was the gang member that was found dead shortly after. This is part of a larger theory I have about the whole book.
>>8151464
I remember that. It was a wonderful moment.
I loved the first time the kid was riding into the desert where people were dying by the day and the wagon was deteriorating. It's not so much the use of language though, it was more the tension gradually building that I liked about that moment. Although it expressed effectively how tiring and dehydrating their journey was.
>>8151477
I can't remember where I heard it, maybe it was from a recording from Harold Bloom, where it was discussed that The Judge could be seen as the voice of God or the voice of the Devil. That'd make more sense if you see his character more as an influence to those around him.
This book is a prime example of an author trying too hard to emulate Melville.
>>8151470
>He didn't attend the James Joyce School of Grammar
>>8151470
True, McCarthy relies aplenty on conjunctives, but I personally believe (and you can call me a bullshitting pseud or captain obvious for this if you want) that, as it's one sentence, it should be read quickly so the images appear brief, a blur, yet beautiful.
Kind of like this example: >>8151450
That larger sentence relies on conjunctives for its length, but it makes sense for its scenery: it's all happening so fast at such a scale that there's so many terrifying and unsettling details. If, as a witness, we were experiencing what that lengthy sentence detailed, we probably wouldn't be able to register all the details outside of brief blurry moments. As the sentence is read, some of the details may blend into others.
What are some other books that characters like the judge?
>>8150432
I enjoyed The Road, will I like this?
>>8151371
I found The Crossing to be far superior to All The Pretty Horses, which is actually my least favorite of all his novels despite being one of his most well known. Cities of the Plain was great but I only read it once and need to read it again before discussing it. The Crossing can be read by itself, and if you liked it then its worth reading Cities of the Plain (which does require reading All the Pretty Horses, so you can become familiar with Cole), because it concludes Parham's story in such an incredible way.
>>8151537
You'll probably like McCarthy in general then. I personally found The Road to be easier to read than Blood Meridian, but I'm sure you'd enjoy it nonetheless.
Maybe read some of his other works first, just to familiarise yourself more with his aesthetic and prose style. I found Child of God and Outer Dark accessible and a good entry into his works since they're fairly short.
>>8151537
They are incredibly different. If you LOVED The Road, rather than kinda liked it, then you should enjoy all of his work.
>>8151537
Maybe? It's quite a bit more difficult than The Road. All of McCarthy's eccentricities in his writing are there in full force where in The Road they are toned down quite a bit. The writing is much more ambitious and it's what takes it from being just "pretty good" to "great". If you can get past the scaled up difficulty, then it is a much more rewarding experience than The Road imo.
>>8151533
Part of the Judge is supposed to be drawn from the depiction of Satan in Paradise Lost. I personally haven't read it though.
I found that the first time I read Blood Meridian, I didn't enjoy it much but reflecting upon it, I admired and appreciated a lot of what it did.
I think it was my second time round where it started to cement itself as one of my favourite novels and I can understand why Bloom considers it part of the American canon.
>>8151533
No Country for Old Men, another incredible villain which acts as another personification of the world's inescapable shit.
>>8151328
>it's a corncob tortillas yecarthy poster tries to meme people into read this drivel episode
boy was found dead in the toilet cause the judge raped him because tortillas yecarthy can't write anything other than genre fiction trash that stuns with shock value. there's no meaning or sophistication to it.
Will McCarthy ever finish his final novel?
>>8151755
>final novel
he's working on three, familia
>>8151749
>Shock value
Just because you couldn't stomach it doesn't mean it was written to shock you. Don't cheapen it just because you can't digest it. Bloom couldn't read it the first two times before it became one of his favorite works.
Stick around long enough for your eyes to become acclimated to the dark and you'll be able to see clearly that it has depth and profundity
>>8151777
I'd be happy if he managed to complete one of those three during his lifetime.
>>8151777
are you serious? it reads like an onion article
>>8150432
It's a metaphor for the death of innocence. Been a while since I read this, so I'm probably wrong, but figured I'd throw in my two cents.
>>8151777
>cant digest it
there are much more shocking moments in literature, but mccarthy's target audience is stephen king-tier. so it's the perfect amount of "shock value" for a mass market genre audience. i'm not saying it's too edgy, i'm saying its shock value for the sake of it with nothing of substance beneath it
corncobbers stay buttblasted
>>8151799
I'm not buttblasted, I just don't understand how you think the way that you do. you sound like you don't know anything about the book and haven't read it.
Especially with your "shock value" claim. He doesn't write anything for the simple purpose of shocking the reader, although he often writes about shocking events. The rest of his works back that up.
The biblical allusions and philosophical themes are very heavy-handed, they're impossible to miss. The latter half of the book is peppered with the gang sitting around the campfire listening to the Judge's philosophical discourse, banter between Judge and Ex-priest, literal lectures. And the rest of its symbolism and allusions, or "substance", are subject to lectures at Ivy League colleges. Comparing McCarthy to King is only reinforcing my suspicion that you have read little to none of his work.
Also my trips > your dubs
>>8151477
I thought it was the judge but I could be wrong. Its definitely implied that somebody or something in the group scalpers is a danger to children. There's another point in the book where they're tearing apart another town after a victory and a little girl goes missing. If I remember correctly they leave town before anyone finds her.
>>8151858
are you even listenign to yourself right now
>The biblical allusions and philosophical themes are very heavy-handed, they're impossible to miss
that's not a good thing. why are you saying that like it's a good thing. he literally shoves his point down your throat "DUDE CHAOS OF THE WORLD AND SHIT, LATENT EVIL OF MAN LMAO"
>The latter half of the book is peppered with the gang sitting around the campfire listening to the Judge's philosophical discourse, banter between Judge and Ex-priest, literal lectures
heavy handed shlock. "look at me i'm so deep" tier.
>And the rest of its symbolism and allusions, or "substance", are subject to lectures at Ivy League colleges.
yea and so's 4chan what's your point
corncobbers don't read real literature and get so mad and defensive when their hack god gets called out. Ye.
-spits-
I'm just a regular guy who got memed by Corncob "Tortilla" YeCarthy. Avoid this book. Check out my video.
>>8151314
I think people assume it was rape because supposedly the Judge violated him in some way that really fucked with the people that found him. Rape is the go-to because it is and action that fucks with body and identity/mind.
>>8151923
I don't even like YeCarthy but that meme review is genuine cringe.
>>8151941
>cringe
>>8151965
> using a word to describe the uncomfortable sensation of experiencing an awkward encounter such as your meme review
> the word is supposedly "reddit" even though it is appropriate to the context
Thank you for confirming my suspicions about you, anon.
>>8151533
The Joker from the Batman franchise.
>>8151755
I'd love to see a new book by him before he passes away (although I'd be OK with a posthumous release too, it's just I'd prefer it while he was still with us so the book wasn't left unfinished/finished by the editor). Unfortunately I don't know how likely it'll be for him to finish it: he's an old guy and he's often working years on each book of his.
Also off-topic but I wish there were more interviews with him. He comes across as very modest and polite but never quite wanting to dwell too much on himself.
How come McCarthy critics on /lit/ only speak exclusively through memes and hostility?
Feel free to discuss why you don't like the author, anons. To each their own, as they say.
>>8151749
>corncob tortillas yecarthy
Will never fail to make me laugh.
Lol it was only a matter of time. Stay mad Yeposter
>>8152065
>there is only one ye poster
kek
>>8151349
Just looked this up. Seems like the series it's from could be interesting. How are the other books in the Lonesome Dove series? What makes Lonesome Dove stand out from the others (I assume it does because it won a pulitizer prize)? v. interested
>>8151981
>blob of mad greentext over his meme term getting criticized
Kek, didn't read
>>8152065
Original Yeposter here, as in, the guy who came up with Corncob "tortillas" YeCarthy in the frist place. This is actually my first post in this thread.
>>8152084
yeah it's you, Stay mad :)
>>8151176
last go round sounds like brokeback mountain but less romance and more puckered tushies
>>8150432
Someone in the group of scalpers is not to be trusted. The Judge is probably the most believable suspect since he's been portrayed as capable of malicious acts without motivation before. Have you read the rest of the book, OP?
>>8151489
No, anon, you silly. It's said by the ex-priest in the chapter where he speaks to the kid about The Judge, how The Judge is a genius on a variety of subjects and how they fought off an overwhelming amount of native americans using brimstone and piss. It was one of my favorite chapters in the book.
>>8152110
Not him, and I'm also a Yeposter.
I have however noticed that most of the buttmad posts that come in retaliation to Yeposting have very similar formatting, of which you are displaying right now. Care to explain?
>>8151892
this sounds like a combination of you just disliking the book while also assuming he's using his characters as a mouthpiece or posturing intelligence.
Disliking the book's style is completely fine, there's a lot I don't like about it, but that doesn't justify your attempts at invalidating it's merit, and especially the merit of the writer based on your distaste of a singular work.
You're obviously trying really hard to push the "general-audience-targeting-genre-trash" thing but the world outside of 4chan is different than what you're trying to convince, so that's not going to blow over very well.
so this thread went to shit.
>>8151105
lonesome dove
>>8152158
it's Oprah book club tier.
>>8152093
dead mans walk is the only other in the series that i read. i enjoyed it also. havent gotten around to the others in the series but you don't have to read them to enjoy LD.
>>8152171
next time start one about a book other than Meridian.
>>8152190
that's not even a joke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh0C5z79apA
>>8152196
Of course, I heard they are fine to read alone. It's just I'm interested in picking up the others if I enjoyed one of them. Thanks for the heads up, anon.
>>8152093
the characters are so genuine and likable that you get attached to them almost. it definitely deserved the Pulitzer
>>8152201
But people want to discuss Blood Meridian so it's fine to have a thread on it.
Because Tortillas "Rode on" YeCarthy is a hack fraud
>>8151328
It's uneducated trash.
>>8152218
I'm very curious now, will check it out. Amazon seems to have it for £4-ish so i'll probably pick it up next time i get paid. thanks for the heads up, anon.
>>8151391
Psychopaths don't need a reason, they lack any remorse.
>>8150432
Because that's where either died or was left to die.
>>8152379
Are you intending to be facetious?
>>8152154
I think it's more rational to assume one or a couple incessant contrarian memers than it is to assume there are one to a few people who enjoy an author widely venerated and considered of the highest calibur
>>8150432
The author likes to kill off characters and wallow in general carnage.
>>8151450
>It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting the ultimate practitioner.
>>8150432
The Judge probably performed sodomy on him.
Sometimes I think it's not the kid who lies there but the bear girl who was missing. Since he is now "the man" not the kid, he could be the pissing dude beside and the Judge being kind of a darkness symbol was assimilated into him and so the kid (now the man) killed the bear girl, instead of being the kid raped and killed.
I just reread this one. I attempted it last year and didn't really enjoy it, the language was just too dense for me, but something really clicked this time around. It's just so beautifully written, I get chills at his description of the natural world and feel physically ill at some of the violent scenes. I love the characters and how there's so much /lore/ behind the judge. Really a cool character.
I wasn't sure of what to make of the final scene with the kid/man though. I don't think he raped him, since even though it was implied he'd done it to the child(ren) in the story it wouldn't explain the horror the townspeople expressed; it was mentioned that the gang freely raped the whores in the towns, and that the Comanches raped the dead, and none of the gang had much of a reaction to thismaybe since they were all dead but idk
Which McCarthy should I read next? I'm about a quarter through No Country but I'm not really itching to finish it since it's almost word for word the same as the film (which I love and should have put off until I read the book, but too late).
Second question, who are some other authors who use such grandiose language and descriptions like he does on Blood Meridian? I'm a semi-newfag to literature so any recs are welcome
>Which McCarthy should I read next?
The Road, then All The Pretty Horses. If you want something completely different, try The Sunset Limited.
> I'm about a quarter through No Country but I'm not really itching to finish it since it's almost word for word the same as the film (which I love and should have put off until I read the book, but too late).
IMO the film was better than the book, and much more so.
>Second question, who are some other authors who use such grandiose language and descriptions like he does on Blood Meridian? I'm a semi-newfag to literature so any recs are welcome
Faulkner is your man. His stories are a bit less metaphysical/worldly and more personal though. They often focus on southern families enduring tremendous violence and disintegration.
>>8153418
>Faulkner
Nice, where should I start? I recognize a few of these titles
>>8153495
as I lay dying, the sound and the fury, absalom
>>8151450
the simplest shit in corncob's books gives me the chills
>He bows to the fiddlers and sashays backwards and throws back his head and laughs deep in his throat and he is a great favorite, the judge.
>>8153495
go down, moses is real good imo. it's pretty underrated in his ouvre but an excellent book.
>>8153407
>I'm about a quarter through No Country
Loved this one. It's a lot less serious than bloodmeme but it almost feels like a modern retelling of the same primordial themes.
>>8151450
There was one passage about the cold mountain region that I thought was beautiful, but now I can't find it. The Comanche one you posted is also great.
>>8150432
I know the kid was special and everyone could tell it because why didn't the Comanche kill him?
>>8153700
Him and the dude with the arm wound (and a few other people who weren't mentioned again) either hid or were missed when the Comanches were cutting up/raping everybody else
>>8153407
Honestly, if Blood Meridian is the first you've read by him, and you love it, then you're basically safe with everything else he's done. The Crossing, All The Pretty Horses, Outer Dark, etc.
>>8151342
Never implied to be sexual? might want to re-read
>>8153562
Even something as jovial and playful as that, The Judge gives me the heebie-jeebies.
>>8153295
What the fuck does that even mean? It starts off well and I can get behind what it says, but then it wants to become even deeper, add just one more layer there, and just becomes dumb. War waited for man? The idea, the concept of war? No it didn't. It did not float around before man was here to conceive it. Or does he mean strife, in the most crude, physical sense, was at the center of existence for all living beings, well before man? Well, duh: outside of most plants, that's what organisms do, they live off one another. I would hardly call that "war".
But it sounds good, so he put it there. The ultimate trade, the ultimate practitioner--woah. Deep, somber, philosophical, austere. Just don't scratch the surface too much.
>>8153966
Well it clearly doesn't mean literal war, it's more regarding conflict and strife. "That's what organisms do, they live off one another" is what the passage means. The point doesn't need to necessarily be deep, it fits thematically with the book though.
Pa. Why are eggs breakfast?
What.
You can put bacon on lunch.
Ye.
But if you put eggs on stuff it becomes breakfast?
The man spat and said the eggs are not for this world or from this world they come from the chicken but the chicken knows it not.
He wiped his chin and spat.
I wish McCarthy did more interviews. He seems like such a polite man.
>>8154006
>The man spat and said the eggs are not for this world or from this world they come from the chicken but the chicken knows it not.
So deep, man. It's like, biblical and shit.
>>8151314
>How do people jump to the conclusion that he was raped? Someone killed him and The Judge is naked, but the Judge is kinda always naked.
Ok maybe not raped, maybe the Judge didn't kill him, but someone from the gang did and a few children go missing throughout the book in particular a young girl with The Judge & The Idiot near the end.
>>8151477
>This is part of a larger theory I have about the whole book.
Which is?
>>8153407
>Which McCarthy should I read next?
Suttree is very good. Not as great as BM but has some very memorable moments and is just a great story.
Boarder Trilogy will make you depressed and want to move to Texas as a rancher.
>>8154006
Not including a female character to play the mom. You got McCarthy dead to rights.
>>8151323
The kid was full grown man at this point, though
>>8151450
The description of The Kid who fell asleep in a snow. That One massacre scene. The ending.
Great book. Fuck all of you "yecarthy" posters.
>>8154655
I don't understand YeCarthy memeposters. If you dislike the author, that's fair and I'm always open to hearing what aspects people are not keen on, be those guys seem to speak exclusively through memes and seem to be very irritated that people dare enjoy something they don't. I just don't quite understand it myself, but oh well.
They don't even say "ye" other than once or twice, and they only eat tortillas in three scenes that I can remember
reading this book makes me never want to leave the forest.
>>8153241
Do you always type with a thesaurus open on your lap? Who are you trying to impress?
ah, blood meridian, monsieur?
>>8153418
i dont see how anyone could think the film was better unless they didnt actually read the book
>>8153241
>an author widely venerated and considered of the highest calibur
You could literally be describing how most people think of Stephen King right now.
>>8154859
maize-based food and beans were eaten a lot for a reason. It's cheap, compact food that is produced in the rural American southwest and Mexico and provides you with energy and protein that is desperately needed in desert climate. If they were in the north they would be eating rabbit and berries all the time
>>8154006
This is again the greatest thing ever posted on /lit/
>>8155953
>I should have said that he was held in high esteem by authors and literary scholars
"No"
-spits-
>>8156216
> Blood Meridian seen as sublime by Harold Bloom
> McCarthy winning the Pulitzer Prize
> considered to be one of the greatest living American writers of our time by scholars at Yale and Harvard
Keep memeing, my friend.
>>8151450
i liked
when the lambs is lost in the mountains, he said. they is cry. sometime come the mother. sometime the wolf.
