Loved the essay! I do want to offer a small observation that might help illuminate the middle of the love affair between Grady Cole and Alejandra. I don’t believe it’s something inexpressible, or something literature has yet to articulate. Rather, it’s that a love affair—truly shared between two people—is a kind of divine mystery. We can describe what they do, how they move, what they think. But the thing itself—that luminous, burning center—is only ever approached apophatically, through what it is not.
I believed it because I’d lived something similar—an experience that made the story feel deeply familiar. And yet, just as I could never fully grasp what passed between Grady Cole and Alejandra, I can barely make sense of that episode from my own youth.
Thaddeus, you've got me wanting to read "All the Pretty Horses." After "Blood Meridian," I thought I'd never put myself through another McCarthy books, but after I finished INFINITE JEST for a substack book club, I'll dive into "....the Horses." Thanks.
Hey man this offered a new perspective for me. Thank you.
Loved the essay! I do want to offer a small observation that might help illuminate the middle of the love affair between Grady Cole and Alejandra. I don’t believe it’s something inexpressible, or something literature has yet to articulate. Rather, it’s that a love affair—truly shared between two people—is a kind of divine mystery. We can describe what they do, how they move, what they think. But the thing itself—that luminous, burning center—is only ever approached apophatically, through what it is not.
I believed it because I’d lived something similar—an experience that made the story feel deeply familiar. And yet, just as I could never fully grasp what passed between Grady Cole and Alejandra, I can barely make sense of that episode from my own youth.
That's a beautiful insight
I enjoy your analysis. I am not a literary reader by any means but I like to see the layered nuances that you bring out in these works. Thank you.
I appreciate that.
Thaddeus, you've got me wanting to read "All the Pretty Horses." After "Blood Meridian," I thought I'd never put myself through another McCarthy books, but after I finished INFINITE JEST for a substack book club, I'll dive into "....the Horses." Thanks.
It's much easier on the soul than Blood Meridian.
That's good to know. My soul was like shredded wheat after "...Meridian."
Truth - I tossed No Country for Old Men because of McCarthy’s self congratulatory wank style descriptions. And got bored of The Road far too quickly.
I appreciate his strengths, but nah… His work’s not for me.
Yet to try Suttree, which might be more my flavour. Or All the Pretty Horses.
I remain unconvinced.