This is great, and Blood Meridian is my favorite book. Upon finishing it, I wrote myself a 13k word essay just to help myself understand it.
One element of McCarthy's prose that I don't see spoken of frequently is his use of core vocab adverbs (yes, those blighted adverbs) like here, there, these, etc. It's subtle and easy to overlook, bu…
This is great, and Blood Meridian is my favorite book. Upon finishing it, I wrote myself a 13k word essay just to help myself understand it.
One element of McCarthy's prose that I don't see spoken of frequently is his use of core vocab adverbs (yes, those blighted adverbs) like here, there, these, etc. It's subtle and easy to overlook, but using orienting terms like these help position not only the subjective thing being looked at, but also the SUBJECT doing the observing. The narrator is free, but referring to "these mountains that reared along the horizon" vs simply "the mountains rearing on the horizon" grounds the reader where the character is. It makes their eyes yours, even when you might not realize it.
This is great, and Blood Meridian is my favorite book. Upon finishing it, I wrote myself a 13k word essay just to help myself understand it.
One element of McCarthy's prose that I don't see spoken of frequently is his use of core vocab adverbs (yes, those blighted adverbs) like here, there, these, etc. It's subtle and easy to overlook, but using orienting terms like these help position not only the subjective thing being looked at, but also the SUBJECT doing the observing. The narrator is free, but referring to "these mountains that reared along the horizon" vs simply "the mountains rearing on the horizon" grounds the reader where the character is. It makes their eyes yours, even when you might not realize it.
I love that insight!