NP - The Leftovers

[John Bailey]

I thought Blood Meridian was deliberately taxing. I got the sense that
the Judge wasn't just a figure of Evil but was related to technology
and modernity in ways that are really Pynchonian. The pre-lapsarian
non-modern world is just as violent, though, and there's no grace
anywhere. Just different modes of horror. Such a depressing book.

The Road is much, much more readable and less dispiriting (though it
made me cry twice!) I can totally understand not being drawn to read
anything more, though. I haven't picked up anything else of his
despite enjoying those two.

On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 9:46 AM, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
> You'll have no invective from me. I'm actually surprised it took this long
> for someone to say something critical about Mccarthy.
>
> On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 10:28 AM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>
>> I've been following the discussion on Cormac McCarthy - and have to weigh
>> in as not being a fan. Admittedly, I've only read Blood Meridian and seen
>> the movie version of No Country For Old Men, which may not be a
>> representative sampling. But I read his primary theme as Evil, and Man's
>> need to reckon with or otherwise atone for or own up to it. Yes, the
>> language is poetic, but it doesn't send my brain into thought-provoking
>> areas. If the Judge is a representation of the Evil That Men Do, well, at
>> the end of it all, so what? [Pause, to get pelted with invective]
>>
>> I recently binge-watched the first two seasons (a third and final one is
>> in the offing) of the HBO series, The Leftovers. And in some ways, it does a
>> more interesting job of setting up a metaphor for Man reckoning with Death.
>> The premise of the show is that, one day, 2% of the wor'd's population
>> randomly disappears, and those left behind must make sense of it. Is it the
>> Rapture, a punishment, a conspiracy or just a random, meaningless event? The
>> point of the show is that there will never be an answer. A strange cult that
>> arises seems (to me) to be a stand-in for organized religion.
>>
>> Anyone seen it?
>>
>> Laura
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
>
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l