4 ms·

This article makes me want to cry. I'm an unbelievably big Cormac McCarthy fan and the findings in his library shed so much light on many inscrutable and poetic

This article makes me want to cry. I'm an unbelievably big Cormac McCarthy fan and the findings in his library shed so much light on many inscrutable and poetic passages from his books. I think for example about the following quote from the judge, an insatiably curious (and evil) character from Blood Meridian: > Whatever exists, he said. Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent. Cormac's personal library contained "upwards of 20,000 volumes." Turns out, that wasn't the judge speaking but McCarthy himself.

aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 1y ago
I think that’s an allusion to the Gnostic demiurge.
- metadat 1y ago
  For the uninitiated (like me!): TL;DR: An old testament reference to the "malevolent god". E.g. "god in the old testament wasn't so nice or forgiving.." > In Gnosticism, the Demiurge is the lesser creator god who fashioned the material world and is often seen as the God of the Old Testament, Yahweh. Unlike the supreme, unknowable God, the Demiurge is ignorant, imperfect, and sometimes malevolent, responsible for the flaws of the physical world and the imprisonment of the divine spark within humans. Gnostic beliefs see a spiritual journey not as submitting to the Demiurge, but as a process of escaping his creation to return to the true, good God. See also: https://gnosticismexplained.org/the-gnostic-demiurge/ https://gnosticismexplained.org/the-gnostic-demiurge/
  - 47282847 1y ago
    The allegorical parents and the internalized judge to overcome.
  - reedlaw 1y ago
    Not an Old Testament reference, but a Gnostic belief. 1 John addresses Gnosticism by refuting some of its claims such as Jesus only appearing to be human. While John doesn't reference the Demiurge, the concept goes hand in hand with this Gnostic teaching that Jesus was a pure spiritual being. Gnostics considered material things evil, so Jesus coming in the flesh and a benevolent creator God did not fit their worldview.
  - CGMthrowaway 1y ago
    If you want to learn more about the demiurge, this guy provides a good simple explanation and puts it in context. Without ever mentioning gnosticism, by the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgGfQdv_rPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgGfQdv_rPc
- ixaxaar 1y ago
  Or maybe he was searching for "structure", the way Grothendieck was - in pure math, in systems biology, in complex networks (e.g. civilizations, culture, occult) and in individual behaviors
layman51 1y ago
I hope that wasn't Cormac McCarthy's stand-in because the Judge character is like some type of supernatural violent being.
- aloha2436 1y ago
  It doesn't have to be a direct stand-in. It's mentioned in the article that people suspect McCarthy of reveling in the violence in his novels. Whether he does or does not he would certainly have been aware of that perception. Judge Holden as a character embodies many distasteful qualities of mankind, it would make sense that the qualities he embodies the most distinctly are the ones McCarthy sees in himself.
- nylonstrung 1y ago
  The only "self-insert" he's done is the main character of Suttree which is semi-autobiographical The judge is an incarnation of evil and a pedophile so I don't think that's his Mary sue
  - knodi123 1y ago
    > The judge is an incarnation of evil and a pedophile so I don't think that's his Mary sue Although... he did rather famously have a thing for underage girls... https://medium.com/belover/cormac-mccarthy-was-a-pedophile-and-his-friends-tried-to-conceal-it-96c6d5b08a62 https://medium.com/belover/cormac-mccarthy-was-a-pedophile-a...
vallejo 1y ago
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aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 1y ago

I think that’s an allusion to the Gnostic demiurge.

metadat 1y ago
For the uninitiated (like me!): TL;DR: An old testament reference to the "malevolent god". E.g. "god in the old testament wasn't so nice or forgiving.." > In Gnosticism, the Demiurge is the lesser creator god who fashioned the material world and is often seen as the God of the Old Testament, Yahweh. Unlike the supreme, unknowable God, the Demiurge is ignorant, imperfect, and sometimes malevolent, responsible for the flaws of the physical world and the imprisonment of the divine spark within humans. Gnostic beliefs see a spiritual journey not as submitting to the Demiurge, but as a process of escaping his creation to return to the true, good God. See also: https://gnosticismexplained.org/the-gnostic-demiurge/ https://gnosticismexplained.org/the-gnostic-demiurge/
- 47282847 1y ago
  The allegorical parents and the internalized judge to overcome.
- reedlaw 1y ago
  Not an Old Testament reference, but a Gnostic belief. 1 John addresses Gnosticism by refuting some of its claims such as Jesus only appearing to be human. While John doesn't reference the Demiurge, the concept goes hand in hand with this Gnostic teaching that Jesus was a pure spiritual being. Gnostics considered material things evil, so Jesus coming in the flesh and a benevolent creator God did not fit their worldview.
- CGMthrowaway 1y ago
  If you want to learn more about the demiurge, this guy provides a good simple explanation and puts it in context. Without ever mentioning gnosticism, by the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgGfQdv_rPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgGfQdv_rPc
ixaxaar 1y ago
Or maybe he was searching for "structure", the way Grothendieck was - in pure math, in systems biology, in complex networks (e.g. civilizations, culture, occult) and in individual behaviors

layman51 1y ago

I hope that wasn't Cormac McCarthy's stand-in because the Judge character is like some type of supernatural violent being.

aloha2436 1y ago
It doesn't have to be a direct stand-in. It's mentioned in the article that people suspect McCarthy of reveling in the violence in his novels. Whether he does or does not he would certainly have been aware of that perception. Judge Holden as a character embodies many distasteful qualities of mankind, it would make sense that the qualities he embodies the most distinctly are the ones McCarthy sees in himself.
nylonstrung 1y ago
The only "self-insert" he's done is the main character of Suttree which is semi-autobiographical The judge is an incarnation of evil and a pedophile so I don't think that's his Mary sue
- knodi123 1y ago
  > The judge is an incarnation of evil and a pedophile so I don't think that's his Mary sue Although... he did rather famously have a thing for underage girls... https://medium.com/belover/cormac-mccarthy-was-a-pedophile-and-his-friends-tried-to-conceal-it-96c6d5b08a62 https://medium.com/belover/cormac-mccarthy-was-a-pedophile-a...

vallejo 1y ago

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