I'm enjoying these McCarthy reviews. I read "The Road" after having seen the movie and having read "Blood Meridian", so I think those coloured my reading, although I did enjoy the book more than the film. Bleak as all hell. The Road felt monotone and grey but not boring, and as you said it's deliberate and works to create the barren hollow world. You say that in the world of The Road "Death is" and that pairs with the feeling I got of total ahistoricity, cessation of time and any purpose beyond basic physical survival. No past/future, only present=death. It's also interesting to think about what innocence means in a world like that (the boy lives only in the post-apocalyptic world, the man is nostalgic and suffers for the world left behind). On my next readings of McCarthy I'll try to keep some of the Gnostic beliefs in mind as reference (as with Blood Meridian).
James is slowly turning into the Judge
Had no idea he died. Didn’t see any news about it. I got into his writing from your channel. RIP.
I'm enjoying these McCarthy reviews. I read "The Road" after having seen the movie and having read "Blood Meridian", so I think those coloured my reading, although I did enjoy the book more than the film. Bleak as all hell.
The Road felt monotone and grey but not boring, and as you said it's deliberate and works to create the barren hollow world. You say that in the world of The Road "Death is" and that pairs with the feeling I got of total ahistoricity, cessation of time and any purpose beyond basic physical survival. No past/future, only present=death. It's also interesting to think about what innocence means in a world like that (the boy lives only in the post-apocalyptic world, the man is nostalgic and suffers for the world left behind).
On my next readings of McCarthy I'll try to keep some of the Gnostic beliefs in mind as reference (as with Blood Meridian).
Best analysis of this novel.