Blood Meridian
A brutal tale of violence and survival in the American West
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Pan Macmillan
Published:17th Feb '22
Should be back in stock very soon
Set in the violent American West, Blood Meridian follows a teenage runaway caught in a brutal gang's hunt for scalps, exploring the depths of human nature.
In Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy presents a hauntingly beautiful narrative set against the backdrop of the violent American West in the 19th century. The story follows a teenage runaway known as the Kid, who becomes embroiled in a brutal gang, the Glanton gang, notorious for their merciless hunts of Indigenous Americans. This novel is not just a tale of violence; it explores the depths of human nature and the chaos that lurks beneath the surface of civilization. McCarthy's prose is both sparse and ornate, creating a vivid imagery that captures the starkness of the landscape and the brutality of the gang's actions.
At the center of the chaos is Judge Holden, a larger-than-life figure whose enigmatic presence looms over the narrative. He embodies a terrifying blend of intellect and savagery, challenging the Kid and his companions with philosophical musings that reveal the moral void of their existence. As the story unfolds, the Kid's journey through the hostile terrain becomes a profound exploration of violence, survival, and the human condition.
Blood Meridian is widely regarded as McCarthy's magnum opus, a work that transcends the traditional Western genre. It is both a subversion and a blazing example of that form, offering readers a mesmerizing experience that is as beautiful as it is horrifying. This novel stands as one of the most significant contributions to American literature in the last century, showcasing McCarthy's unique ability to confront the darker impulses of humanity.
Blood Meridian is his masterpiece . . . An astonishing sanguinary epic dealing with the Indian wars of the 1840s in West Texas and Mexico . . . Unlike anything I have ever read in recent years, an extraordinary, breathtaking achievement -- John Banville, author of The Sea
A bloody and starkly beautiful tale -- Stephen Amidon * Sunday Times *
Possibly the greatest American novel of the past 25 years -- Aleksandar Hemon, author of The World and All That It Holds and The Lazarus Project
I have rarely encountered anything as powerful, as unsettling, or as memorable as Blood Meridian . . . A nightmare odyssey * Evening Standard *
The Judge is the book, and the Judge is, short of Moby Dick, the most monstrous apparition in all of American literature -- Harlold Bloom, on the character of Judge Holden in Blood Meridian
McCarthy distances us not only from the historical past, not only from our cowboy-and-Indian images of it, but also revisionist theories that make white men the villains and Indians the victims. All men are unremittingly bloodthirsty here, poised at a peak of violence, the "meridian" from which their civilization will quickly fall * New York Times Book Review *
In Blood Meridian, McCarthy reaches the peak of his style: spare and ornate at once, repetitious but endlessly readable * Guardian *
Blood Meridian, published in 1985, is a brilliant, uncompromising work of fiction – imagine if the authors of the King James Bible, their hands guided Satan, wrote a western * The Times *
ISBN: 9781529077162
Dimensions: 197mm x 130mm x 25mm
Weight: 264g
384 pages