Mike: Well, I wasn't trying to argue, but think now I may've
been argumentative anyway. Will try not to be so here.
Was not trashing McCarthy at all, nor BM--I have been
teaching the book for years at various universities &
consider it a true masterwork. Also was not talking about
McCarthy's style, merely that of the narrator he chose to
create for the book (they're obviously not the same).
Criticism I have heard of this style is that it too closely
echoes Faulkner in things like Absalom, Absalom!; I think
that read is a bit unfair & simplistic, as I find the
prose suited to the book's time & purpose, but that's
just me (As to my 19th century remark, citing only one
instance from what you've put down: in 1847, "child the
father of the man" is still only a line from Wordsworth; by
1985 it has become a worn cliché©®
Unsure what you mean by your "Twain" reference--usually
Clemens is heralded as being the first U.S. writer to
actually get something like the real speech of characters
into his prose with Huck Finn. How does McCarthy fit into
this?
BM's portrayal of the inherent animal nature of humanity in
such an unflinching and unromantic fashion suggests of course
that humans can choose not to be like this, and as it is tied
to actual historical events & set in a historical
context, also suggests that perhaps the first step might be
to start to see historical events for what they are instead
of as children's fairytales about cardboard heroes. I don't
find this even close to the glorification of power/exercise
of power so dear to the insecurity of the fascist mindset.
But you were half-kidding anyway, and I'm sounding too
strident, so I'll stop there with BM.
I agree on the excellence of Hammett, yet Hammett doesn't
indulge in anatomizations of brutality, merely chooses
(influenced of course by the guidelines under which he wrote)
instead to leave some things to the imagination. Wouldn't
call that "stark" in the sense of extreme/complete, though if
you mean instead
"stark" as stripped down/minimized I'd agree. But the last
doesn't apply to the tenor of BM very much.
R
--- Michael Robison <
miker_zspider@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Robert Elkin wrote:
>
> Sidenote: this "florid style" is really just
the
> voice
> of a nineteenth-century narrator cast in the
prose
> of
> his time. Perhaps stark brutality contrasts
any
> medium of representation?--equally polar is
American
> Psycho, to cite only one example. By the way,
&
> referring to an earlier post, why do you
think
> McCarthy a "fascist," whether you love him for it
or
> not?
>
> *****************
> Your comment about his style being "really just
the
> voice of a 19th century narrator cast in the
prose
> of
> his time" is like saying Mark Twain is "just
writing
> in the colloquial patois of the era." Even if
true
> to
> a degree, it trivializes a significant and
potent
> accomplishment in style. Here's the first
three
> paragraphs of BLOOD MERIDIAN:
>
> "See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears
a
> thin
> and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the
scullery
> fire.
> Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow
and
> darker woods beyond that harbor yet a few
last
> wolves.
> His folk are known for hewers of wood and
drawers
> of
> water but in truth his father has been a
> schoolmaster.
> He lies in drink, he quotes from poets whose
names
> are now lost. The boy crouches by the fire
and
> watches him.
>
> Night of your birth. Thirty-three. The
Leonids
> they
> were called. God how the stars did fall. I
looked
> for the blackness, holes in the heavens. The
Dipper
> stove.
>
> The mother dead these fourteen years did incubate
in
> her own bosom the creature who would carry her
off.
> The father never speaks her name, the child does
not
> know it. He has a sister in this world that he
will
> not see again. He watches, pale and unwashed.
He
> can
> neither read nor write and in him broods already
a
> taste for mindless violence. All history present
in
> that visage, the child the father of the
man."
>
> The fascist comment was somewhat in jest, but
not
> totally. Blood Meridian portrays man as
naturally
> violent, born to war. Rather than offer
some
> salvation from this predicament or, at a
minimum,
> condemn this deplorable state, McCarthy
embellishes
> it
> with a savage grace.
>
> And no, I don't think stark brutality contrasts
any
> medium of representation. Hammett's terse style
in
> RED HARVEST is perfectly matched to the
content.
>
> miker
>
>
>
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