What are you reading?

[Faust]

No Country is definately worth a read - you'll laugh having seen the film as every decent shot that the critics gave the Coen's accolades for comes straight from the text (Scuff marks of the shoes on the floor in a struggle...etc). I don't think ANYONE is capable of making Blood Meridian.
PS. How incredible of a book is it, eh? It is the greatest book ever written in my opinion. McCarthy is a better master of langauge than Joyce or Kafka or anyone. I think THE JUDGE is one of the greatest characters ever created. How would one even CAST that? Its a film that should not and can not be made.
PPS. Everyone should read OUTER DARK. It would be fair to call it a "prelude" to Blood Meridian.
Cheers.
m.

Funny you should ask. I went through that mental exercise and the only one I could come up with is Brando circa Apocalypse Now.

AKA, Blood Meridian is a much more complex book in terms of language, but not less visceral than The Road. This is the book that should've gotten the Pulitzer, but I guess he wasn't serious on the Pulitzer radar at the time. I still think The Road is an astounding book worthy of Hemingway. Still, I wouldn't go as far as entroducing in assessment of McCarthy's merits as a writer. I can't judge Kafka's mastery of language, because I think that requires reading him in German, but saying McCarthy is a more prolific writer than Joyce takes some balls.

[kira]

Funny you should ask. I went through that mental exercise and the only one I could come up with is Brando circa Apocalypse Now.

AKA, Blood Meridian is a much more complex book in terms of language, but not less visceral than The Road. This is the book that should've gotten the Pulitzer, but I guess he wasn't serious on the Pulitzer radar at the time. I still think The Road is an astounding book worthy of Hemingway. Still, I wouldn't go as far as entroducing in assessment of McCarthy's merits as a writer. I can't judge Kafka's mastery of language, because I think that requires reading him in German, but saying McCarthy is a more prolific writer than Joyce takes some balls.

I was just told to read Blood Meridian next, that it was one of the best. Just finished The Road on the plane ride over. should have read it before, considering on the projects i am working on... but knew so much about it, before reading it...

[mamaboy]

i love reading fashion magazines ,buy a bunch at a time,is it only me..?

[Faust]

i love reading fashion magazines ,buy a bunch at a time,is it only me..?

Dude, you are in fucking France. Stop trolling and go have some nice wine and just chill. That's what I would do.

[maldoror]

Why are we talking about Kafka and Joyce? McCarthy's debt, both stylistic and otherwise, is owed more definitely, and obviously, to Faulkner and Melville than anyone else. It's their legacies (esp. Faulkner's) inside the shadow of which he is writing, and though I personally might enjoy McCarthy's work more than either of his forebears, a better writer and more accomplished stylist he is not.

[Faust]

Why are we talking about Kafka and Joyce? McCarthy's debt, both stylistic and otherwise, is owed more definitely, and obviously, to Faulkner and Melville than anyone else. It's their legacies (esp. Faulkner's) inside the shadow of which he is writing, and though I personally might enjoy McCarthy's work more than either of his forebears, a better writer and more accomplished stylist he is not.

Don't know how Kafka got in there, but he probably meant to take a stab at Joyce because he is considered the master of the English language.

[Staton Viguier]

I'm currently getting through the Gulag Archipelago volume one

Recently finished 'broken mirrors/broken minds' a fascinating look at the films of Italian horror film-maker Dario Argento. Definately recommended if you're a fan of his films. I think its out of print unfortunately

[maldoror]

do they talk about what exactly caused his mind to "break" and prevent him from making a single good movie since opera?

[endtroducing]

Don't know how Kafka got in there, but he probably meant to take a stab at Joyce because he is considered the master of the English language.

I stand by my assessment of McCarthy. I think that Maldoror is only partially correct in considering McCarthy as writing from within the shadows of Melville and Faulkner - His earlier works (Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark...etc) have a clear bond with Faulkner, but McCarthy has been able to transcend such comparisions with his consistently fantastic and growing canon of work having utilized myriad styles. Faulkner could not be as stylistically adaptive as McCarthy. Blood Meridian is closer to Nietzsche's Zarathustra than it is Faulkner. And I think that the comparison to Melville is somewhat purile - expansive prose is by no means the mark of a single literary auteur. The Road is essentially a series of poetic vignettes (my intimation to Kafka lies somewhere in there) and No Country may as well have been written in screenplay form - the entire story is told through dialogue. McCarthy is a master of language; I, in truth, think it is absurd and silly to claim one great artist better than another - I was just doing so to express just how great CM is - and am tired of the notion that the greatness of a work of art needs a sort of period after the life of the artist to be compared to what weve collectively deemed as great.
BLOOD MERIDIAN, however, is a masterpiece which I consider more enjoyable and more valuable in regard to what it achieves than any work of the aforementioned authors.
And I mentioned Kafka because (in addition to the poetic quality I spoke of earlier) of the audacity of his prose. There is something incredible about starting your story off by saying "...transformed into a giant vermin," and pulling it off. McCarthy continually brings about these "shocks" but in a shockless way - they just exist as the objective statement of the story and must be dealt with by the reader as an account of the narrative. VERY FEW authors have been able to acheive this before or after the little Czech and McCarthy has made it one of his greatest qualities - imagine Joyce or Faulkner trying to describe a man shading his head with a "bone umbrella."
Much love for the discussion...
Sorry if my response is a bit "all over the place."
Cheers.
m.

[maldoror]

Faulkner could not be as stylistically adaptive as McCarthy. Blood Meridian is closer to Nietzsche's Zarathustra than it is Faulkner.

When I read something like this, I wonder if you've really read much Faulkner. And all because the Judge, a character in BM, happens to follow a (largely misconstrued) Nietzchean philosophy, it does not follow that the text itself is explicating a similar theory. I'm not going to say that it necessarily is not, but rather that that conclusion is not a given, it needs to be argued.

And I think that the comparison to Melville is somewhat purile - expansive prose is by no means the mark of a single literary auteur.

The word is puerile, and, again, saying something like this makes me wonder how much melville you've read (or theory/criticism on McCarthy). If you'd like to follow up on this, the relationship between McCarthy and Melville's work was the theme of the SCMLA conference ~10 years ago, and a lot of literature can be easily found through that context.

Generally speaking, the McCarthy-Melville-Faulkner trinity is not primarily about prose, but rather the notion of writing a certain kind of America. There is, however, a definite stylistic component, and if we are going to talk about stylistic versatility, then please read the combination of Bartleby the Srivener and The Confidence Man or As I Lay Dying and Absalom, Absalom! and see if you still feel the same way. Hell, I think that The Sound and The Fury alone contains more varied writing than the entirety of McCarthy's body of work.

None of this is to knock McCarthy though. Man is a genius, and if you prefer him to Faulkner and Melville than who am I to disagree? I just get the sense that you have much more extensive experience with McCarthy than his forebears, and suggest that maybe you give them a more thorough look before making these sorts of claims.

[Real Real]

VERY FEW authors have been able to acheive this before or after the little Czech and McCarthy has made it one of his greatest qualities - imagine Joyce or Faulkner trying to describe a man shading his head with a "bone umbrella." .

Blurgh, what Joyce novels have you head?

Generally speaking, the McCarthy-Melville-Faulkner trinity is not primarily about prose, but rather the notion of writing a certain kind of America.

Don't forget Flannery O'Connor.

[maldoror]

Don't forget Flannery O'Connor.

great point! a topic worthy of further thought.

[Faust]

Jean Amery - At the Mind's Limits

[Quincy Hoist]

RIP DFW

Not actually reading anything by him at the moment, but didn't want to jack the depressing-enough financial worries being aired in the "Important" thread.

Just wanted to say RIP for David Foster-Wallace. I was deeply moved by his writing, the whole tangled mess of it, and I'm sad to see him go. Really, truly bummed.

I'd like to think he's discussing diagonalization with G.F.P. Cantor out there somewhere...

What a crappy week this is starting off as.

[Bosozoku]

Joachim Fest --- Der Untergang (in German)