tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post912368830246397830..comments2024-02-08T05:04:18.484-08:00Comments on J'S THEATER: WaPo on the Dark Lord + Platanos & Collard Greens Anyone?John Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-86469648167413262122007-06-27T21:03:00.000-07:002007-06-27T21:03:00.000-07:00Kai, I think you're reading to much into my questi...Kai, I think you're reading to much into my questions, but I'm off for a few days, so I'll reply when I return. But the novel does pose a number of aesthetic issues I'll definitely try to discuss soon....John Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-5940277321348463072007-06-27T14:23:00.000-07:002007-06-27T14:23:00.000-07:00I seem to have read Blood Meridian differently fro...I seem to have read Blood Meridian differently from you. I found the violence awesome, in the old sense of the word, but at the same time motivated by a deep, subtle current of moral investigation. More than anything else (apart, of course, from an aesthetic tour de force--the authoritative and vivid mix of neologism and mot juste he writes with compares only to Shakespeare in my experience; but what do I know) the novel struck me as a (learned this word from reading you!) "recomplication" of our simplistic notions of how Indians (Apaches) and various encroachers interacted: the victimized and legitimately wronged became, in some instances, marauders nonpareil, and those we held up as heroes never were, but despicably self interested. I thought he put forth the arguemnt subtlely, for sure, but it seemed clear enough to me: morally rigorous and, though appalling, convincing--not as you suggest amoral, or, or, "problematically" moral (how should one designate the moral argument of another which one feels is inadequate, or faulty?--I didn't find MacCarthy's so). Certainly, in the grand Judeo-Christian tradition, all those who lived by the sword got their just deserts in the end. But the novel's ambiguity was profound, and certainly admits variant readings--one reason I was so keen to turn right back to the first page and begin again, thinking I might see much differently.<BR/><BR/>Maybe you could expand on what troubled you?<BR/><BR/>I have read only the one by Bolano (and not completely yet!), but the Strand has discounted copies of At Night in Chile, so I'm very tempted. But my summer list is so long already!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com