Blood Meridian, Or the Evening Redness in the West

Blood Meridian, Or the Evening Redness in the West is a 1985-published novel by prize-winning American author Cormac McCarthy. The novel tells the story of a young runaway, only named as "the Kid", in the company of the Glanton Gang, a group of scalp-hunters who massacred Indians on the Texas-Mexico border during the 1840s. It is the first novel that McCarthy set in the South-West, making a move from the Appalachian settings of his earlier work. The famous American literary critic, Harold Bloom has acclaimed the novel as perhaps the greatest by a living American writer.

Related Topics:
1985 - Novel - American - Cormac McCarthy - Scalp-hunters - Indians - Texas - Mexico - 1840s - South-West - Appalachian - Harold Bloom

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The novel is notable for its bleakness (innocents and combatants are massacred alike), its Faulkneresque (and, indeed, Old Testament influenced) use of language and its apparent exploration of Gnostic themes. The last has earned the novel comparisons with Moby-Dick, which has a clear influence on the novel. Critics have noted that the novel's antagonist, the Judge, embodies the traits of a gnostic archon, while the protagonist, the Kid, is a Christ-like figure. There is also the setting and background of the novel, which clearly parallels the Gnostic concept of the world as deeply flawed and violent.

Related Topics:
Faulkner - Old Testament - Gnostic - Moby-Dick

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The book is to a degree based on actual history, Samuel Chamberlain's My Confession being an obvious source. Further, the novel's principal antagonist, the demonic Judge Holden, was in fact an actual person.

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The notoriously reclusive McCarthy has not granted any interviews regarding the novel, but a major theme seems to be the warlike nature of man. Violence is present from the early pages of the novel, when "the kid" is shot in the chest, through to the end, when the Kid is brutally murdered by the Judge. Moreover, the judge expounds his views on the warlike nature of human beings, more or less stating that there is little more to human existence. This violence has lead many to criticise the novel, but McCarthy's defenders have made the point that he is attempting to represent the indiscrimate slaughter of the time.

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Producer Scott Rudin ,writer William Monahan and director Ridley Scott are working on a film adaptation.

Related Topics:
Scott Rudin - William Monahan - Ridley Scott

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