NP:Blood Meridian

[Chuck Oliveros]

As a long-time lurker, I feel compelled to comment on Blood Meridian, one of my favorite novels. The argument can be made that it is a retelling of the old selling one's soul to Satan story. The Judge is the Satan figure. The ending of the novel is the key to that. According to the traditional tales, when Satan comes to claim the soul, he doesn't just kill the one with whom he has made the deal. He violently dismembers him. There are lots of scenes in the book that confirm the Judge as a Satan figure. My favorite is the one where he makes gunpowder.

I wasn't bothered by the lack of character development, since it isn't a conventional narrative. I see it as something more along the lines of The lliad, a mythic narrative. In fact, I would argue that it makes more sense when considered as an epic prose poem, rather than what is usually understood as a novel.

Chuck Oliveros

Blogging at: http://chuckoliveros.blogspot.com
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