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McCarthy lists Moby-Dick as his favorite book [1]. The otherwise-impenetrable sentence "The Dipper stove." from the first page of Blood Meridian will be immedia
by defen 5y ago
McCarthy lists Moby-Dick as his favorite book [1]. The otherwise-impenetrable sentence "The Dipper stove." from the first page of Blood Meridian will be immediately understandable to anyone familiar with early 19th century whaling expeditions.
[1] https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/mccarthy-venom.html?_r=2 https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/s...
- everybodyknows 5y agoI don't know what Melville thought of Shakespeare, but we can trace a stylistic line through Meridian, Moby Dick, Macbeth. All three have a mad project of egotistic ambition, sooth-sayers of doom, and great helpings of gore along the way to the catastrophe foretold. Sooth-sayers are of course, always correct, whether they appear as a trio of witches, world-weary Parsee, or a decrepit "disordered Mennonite".
- scop 5y ago“otherwise-impenetrable” is a great way of characterizing McCarthy and Melville. Often I am left mystified at what I just read, but have sensed something of great weight and gravity…I suppose that’s life, eh?