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30-year anniversary of Blood Meridian and Lonesome Dove

Anodyne

Heisman Candidate
Mar 29, 2004
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Here is a solid short essay about the significance of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, the two anti-mythic Western novels published a few weeks apart in 1985. I would like to have a discussion on what it was about the culture and politics of the mid to late 1980s that made these novels possible, and allowed them to resonate.

A clip:

"But when the Western gave up its promise of empty entertainment, it finally could achieve its true destiny. The cowboy story could now take its place as the authentic American epic, raw and unapologetic. When writers gave up the pulp formulas that had charmed readers during the first three-quarters of the 20th century, a new honesty and complexity could emerge in their works. Only after we stopped assigning roles on the basis of white hats and black hats could we come to grips with what was really wild in the Wild West."
 
In my opinion, Blood Meridian is one of the greatest books of all time. It's so dark and violent, but the writing is as good as it gets. The Judge is such a great character. A few years ago, James Franco was going to make the film adaptation. He filmed a test version that's in the link below. The guy who owns the movie rights to the novel turned him down. I'm not sure anyone could make a film to do this book justice.

Somewhat related, I am a fan of Modest Mouse (especially their earlier stuff). Isaac Brock was reading this book while writing the album The Moon and Antarctica and said it was a major influence on the album. I thought that was cool since I am a fan of both.

I've never read Lonesome Dove. I've seen the miniseries as a kid and thought it was great.

I was very young when these both came out so I'm not sure that I could speak accurately as to the culture and the politics that made these anti-spaghetti western novels possible. I'd be interested to here others' opinions.

Franco's Blood Meridian Test
 
I guess I'm not smart enough to understand it. But I read Blood Meridian...I don't know 6 or 7 years ago...not long after the movie version of No Country for Old Men was released. Frankly, prior to that, I had never heard of Cormac McCarthy.

I thought the book sucked. I read the whole damn thing...just could not understand it. Wasn't there some albino guy who seemed to have a thing for boys? It was probably just over my head...I don't know.

Now, on the flip side, I also read The Road and love it.
 
I haven't read Blood M. Actually never heard of it prior to reading this thread. But, I loved LD, so have just added BM to my reading list.
 
Originally posted by Been Jammin:

I haven't read Blood M. Actually never heard of it prior to reading this thread. But, I loved LD, so have just added BM to my reading list.
You should also read All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. It's really good, and more of a regular-type western. I think that Blood Meridian is awesome, but it's not for everyone. I don't want to say too much as to why because I don't want to ruin it for you.
 
I had to read Blood Meridian very slowly, must slower than I usually read. Too easy to miss stuff. Lonesome Dove is fantastic, too, and a much easier read, in my opinion.
 
Started reading BM a few days ago. So far I like it, but it is really tough to read with the way it is written. I spend a lot of time re-reading paragraphs. At the end of the paragraph, I realize that I misinterpreted some of it as I read it the first time. No quotation marks, when other characters speak, causes confusion at times.
 
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