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/lit/ - Literature

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8433892 No.8433892 [Reply] [Original]

Holy shit this was absolutely based. Why didn't you tell me /lit/?

>dat Judge
>dat Toadvine'
>dat everything

>> No.8433903

>>8433892
You gotta learn how to read between the memes.

>> No.8433910

man do u have anything worthwhile to start a discussion about or is this just clutter

>> No.8433917

>>8433910
Sure. Did anybody else find McCarthy's descriptions of scenery to be a bit overwrought? I know that's half the point but after the fifth description of how shadow's stretch across the ground it gets a bit much.

>> No.8433918

Stop violating my privacy.

>> No.8433943

>>8433917
its been about four years since I read it but I would agree that it did seem the whole work was a bit over-done but I actually think that about every McCarthy I've read. I always feel he is trying a bit hard either with his early stuff to appear literary and his late stuff to fit his genre and gain popularity.
He always felt a bit force and without the ease that Faulkner or Milton achieve the same effects.

>> No.8434379

>>8433943
Faulkner had overdone prose all the time tho

>> No.8435064

> He says that he will never die.

>> No.8435071

>>8433892
t. harold bloom

>> No.8435200

>>8433917
>Did anybody else find McCarthy's descriptions of scenery to be a bit overwrought?
No.

>> No.8435241

>>8433917
>>8433943
This exactly.
I find that he tries to hard to paint this landscape and communicate so much through it that it becomes cluttered and forced. Whereas the things that should have more explanation (first thing I can think of is the judge and the Apache boy) are done in one quick sentence.
I understand the point behind it but some of the Indian raid scenes are almost too chaotic to be coherent.

Also I swear he drops 'meridian' in at least every chapter.

>> No.8435856

>>8433892

>Why didn't you tell me /lit/?

This book is spammed here literally every single day.

>> No.8435917

>>8435200
Why not?

>> No.8435925

The book was based in it's entirety, but the walking through the mesas and deserts was tedious tbqhfam.

>> No.8436010

>>8433892
>You gotta learn how to read between the memes.

They should put this sentence in the sticky

>> No.8436552

>>8435925
>not enjoying autistic descriptions of bleached cattle bones

>> No.8436935

>>8433892
read butcher's crossing
it's better

>> No.8436966
File: 77 KB, 190x300, IMG_13092013_220904.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8436966

I've only read two McCarthy novels (this and The Crossing), but I kinda get the impression that, while he has one of best, and most readily identifiable, prose styles of any contemporary writer, it's almost like he isn't doing it deliberately. Like you'll get passages that are absolutely stunning, right next to undergrad-level stuff (and the descriptions of the environment except in rare cases usually belong to the latter). And the level of repetitions is p. fucking comical at times (they rode on he spat etc.), though maybe I'm missing something here.

Mind you, this book is an absolute ten. And also pretty cinematic. I don't get why all the plebby Debbies call it "unfilmable"; I think it'd make a dope movie, esp. if you can find a real good filmmaker to do it, someone who'll have respect for the source material.

>> No.8436967

Awesome Book. More wicked than the walking dead

>> No.8436969

Based on what? I didn't realise it was an adaption

>> No.8438234

>>8435064
The Judge would never explicitly mention his immortality, faggot.

>> No.8438255

>>8436966
Most books where the prose is considered one of the best aspects are instantly deemed unfilmable.
It also doesn't help that it's incredibly brutal.

>> No.8438260

>corncobbers are taking over /lit/ again

further proof we've been infested by r/books and tumblerinas

>> No.8438265

>>8438260
Fuck off. /lit/ was very into McCarthy in the earlier years of the board.

>> No.8438296

Why don't you guys like his descriptions of scenery? It's the closest to poetry we'll get from one of our greatest current writers.

>> No.8438301

>>8433892
I love BM but in terms of prose Child Of God takes the cake for me. However, the former is still superior if only through virtue of just having such a tight and consistent eerie atmosphere

>>8436966
This, actually

>> No.8438308

>>8438260
>being this new

>> No.8438312

>>8433917
Not at all. It fit the mood the tale. Every god damn sentence in Blood Meridian is sterling.

>Why didn't you tell me /lit/?

/lit/ brings up Blood Meridian quite a bit, actually.

>> No.8438803

>>8436966
I absolutely agree, the only two problems the book has are the insane repetitions (he spat, they rode on, he drove it home etc) and the overdoing it with description of the environment, most of the parts when they were traveling and things were being described were sometimes unbearable to me.
Paradoxically enough I really love the book.

>>8438296
There's only so much you can do with describing a desert, and it can get boring if it's described so many times, no matter how many plateaus and other things he adds.

>> No.8438956

>>8436935
No it isn't. Stop spaming this unfunny maymay.

>> No.8440205

>>8436966
You must have dark with light otherwise you wouldn't know when the good parts came.

>> No.8440228

Read Warlock. Dense-as-fuck (yet brilliant) dialogue replaces overwrought scenery and other heavy-handed imageries of BM.

BM is still 10/10 tho

>> No.8440791

>>8438255
Well, this is true, but much of the best prose in Blood Meridian describes things which are tangible and real (like the landscape etc.) rather than abstract. As such, I think it'd possible to replicate the feel of the prose through beautiful, aesthetic cinematography, in a way that wouldn't be possible for more psychological or abstract texts like To The Lighthouse or other books famous for their prose style

>> No.8440812

What is the appeal of this book ? People keep saying good things about it, and it's making me curious.

>> No.8440893

>>8440812
It's got a lot going for it man.

The characters aren't what you could call realistic, but they are for the most part memorable and strong. What most people take from it is the antagonist, The Judge, and the ideas that he represents and espouses, which are ambiguous (there are many interpretations of his character) but fascinating.

McCarthy has a strong style in his novels, and Blood Meridian is pretty consistant in that department. The prose at its best is on a level with Melville and Faulkner, his obvious idols.

People mostly mention the violence, not because it's especially traumatizing or seriously grisly, especially for the modern reader, but because it lacks the symbolic blunting that fictional violence usually has. Violence for McCarthy is just violence, and this is why it makes such an impression on most readers. It's a very effective creative decision.

>> No.8440904

>>8438956
it's not a maymay, guy

>> No.8440996

>>8438234
Doesn't he repeat that line over and over while dancing?