I must admit, I have not read any of Mccarthey's work. But Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a book I know well - though, as you rightly say, times have moved on from when that was written (and some of the other underlying themes are a bit uncomfortable nowadays.)
So it is fascinating to learn more about another book that shares similar themes - and you capture the intensity of the prose here really well.
In a way I’m jealous you still get to experience reading it for the first time! Or any McCarthy work for that matter, his prose really is unlike anything else I’ve ever read.
Blood Meridian was the first novel I read whose prose felt biblical in proportion and importance (followed by Moby-Dick, one of McCarthy’s named influences). The feeling comes from its gravity of tone and subject, and it is really difficult to do honestly and without pretension.
100%. I don’t think anyone other than McCarthy would have been able to pull off a book like this. It’s so utterly unlike anything I’d ever read then or since, it completely shattered what I thought a novel could be.
Wow. This was a really fantastic read.
I must admit, I have not read any of Mccarthey's work. But Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a book I know well - though, as you rightly say, times have moved on from when that was written (and some of the other underlying themes are a bit uncomfortable nowadays.)
So it is fascinating to learn more about another book that shares similar themes - and you capture the intensity of the prose here really well.
In a way I’m jealous you still get to experience reading it for the first time! Or any McCarthy work for that matter, his prose really is unlike anything else I’ve ever read.
Blood Meridian was the first novel I read whose prose felt biblical in proportion and importance (followed by Moby-Dick, one of McCarthy’s named influences). The feeling comes from its gravity of tone and subject, and it is really difficult to do honestly and without pretension.
100%. I don’t think anyone other than McCarthy would have been able to pull off a book like this. It’s so utterly unlike anything I’d ever read then or since, it completely shattered what I thought a novel could be.
Gasping for air is the perfect way of putting it.