Blood Meridian
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| + | “The truth about the world, he said, is that anything is possible. Had you not seen it from birth and thereby bled it of its strangeness it would appear to you for what it is, a hat trick in a medicine show, a fevered dream, a trance bepopulate with chimeras having neither analogue nor precedent, an itinerant carnival, a migratory tentshow whose ultimate destination after many a pitch in many a mudded field is unspeakable and calamitous beyond reckoning."--''[[Blood Meridian]]'' (1985) | ||
| - | The "'''Great American Novel'''" is the concept of a [[novel]] that is distinguished in both craft and theme as being the most accurate representation of the [[Zeitgeist|spirit of the age]] in the United States at the time of its writing or in the time it is set. It is presumed to be written by an American author who is knowledgeable about the state, culture, and perspective of the common American citizen. The author uses the literary work to identify and exhibit the language used by the American people of the time and to capture the unique American experience, especially as it is perceived for the time. In historical terms, it is sometimes equated as being the American response to the [[national epic]]. | + | <hr> |
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| - | ==History== | + | |
| - | While fiction was written in colonial America as early as the 17th century, it was not until a distinct "American" identity developed during the 18th century that what is understood to be "Ameri | + | |
| - | can literature" began. America's identity as a nation was reflected alongside the development of its literature. | + | |
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| - | The term "Great American Novel" derives from the title of an essay by [[American Civil War]] novelist [[John William De Forest]]. More broadly, however, the concept originated in [[American nationalism]] and the call for American counterparts to great British authors. | + | |
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| - | In modern usage, the term is often figurative and represents a [[Western canon|canonical]] writing, a literary benchmark emblematic of what defines American literature in a given era. Aspiring writers of all ages, but especially students, are often said to be driven to write "the Great American Novel". Theoretically, such is, presumably, the greatest American book ever written, or which could ever be written. Thus, "Great American Novel" is a metaphor for identity, a [[Platonic ideal]] that is not achieved in any specific texts, but whose aim writers strive to mirror in their work. | + | |
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| - | ==Authors and books referred to as "Great American Novel"== | + | |
| - | At one time or another, the following works have been considered to be a Great American Novel: | + | |
| - | ;19th century | + | |
| - | *1851: [[Herman Melville]]'s ''[[Moby-Dick]]'' | + | |
| - | *1884: [[Mark Twain]]'s ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' | + | |
| - | ;20th century | + | |
| - | *1925: [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]'s ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' | + | |
| - | *1929: [[William Faulkner]]'s ''[[The Sound and the Fury]]'' | + | |
| - | *1936: [[William Faulkner]]'s ''[[Absalom, Absalom!]]'' | + | |
| - | *1936: [[Margaret Mitchell]]'s ''[[Gone With the Wind]]'' | + | |
| - | *1938: [[John Dos Passos]]'s [[U.S.A. trilogy|''U.S.A.'' trilogy]] | + | |
| - | *1939: [[John Steinbeck]]'s ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' | + | |
| - | *1951: [[J. D. Salinger]]'s ''[[The Catcher in the Rye]]'' | + | |
| - | *1952: [[Ralph Ellison]]'s ''[[Invisible Man]]'' | + | |
| - | *1953: [[Saul Bellow]]'s ''[[The Adventures of Augie March]]'' | + | |
| - | *1955: [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s ''[[Lolita]]'' | + | |
| - | *1960: [[Harper Lee]]'s ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' | + | |
| - | *1960: [[John Updike]]'s ''[[Rabbit, Run]]'' and sequels | + | |
| - | *1973: [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''[[Gravity's Rainbow]]'' | + | |
| - | *1975: [[William Gaddis]]'s ''[[J R]]'' | + | |
| - | *1985: [[Cormac McCarthy]]'s ''[[Blood Meridian|Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West]]'' | + | |
| - | *1987: [[Toni Morrison]]'s ''[[Beloved (novel)|Beloved]]'' | + | |
| - | *1996: [[David Foster Wallace]]'s ''[[Infinite Jest]]'' | + | |
| - | *1997: [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''[[Mason & Dixon]]'' | + | |
| - | *1997: [[Philip Roth]]'s ''[[American Pastoral]]'' | + | |
| - | *1997: [[Don DeLillo]]'s ''[[Underworld (DeLillo novel)|Underworld]]'' | + | |
| + | “… the order in creation which you see is that which you have put there, like a string in a maze, so that you shall not lose your way. For existence has its own order and that no man’s mind can compass, that mind itself being but a fact among others.”--''[[Blood Meridian]]'' (1985) | ||
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| + | '''''Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West''''' is a [[1985 in literature|1985]] [[Epic (genre)|epic]] novel by American author [[Cormac McCarthy]], classified under the [[Western (genre)|Western]], or sometimes the [[Revisionist Western|anti-Western]], genre. | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[List of films considered the best]] | + | *[[Blood]] |
| - | *[[National epic]] | + | *[[Meridian]] |
| - | *[[The American Scholar]] | + | |
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“The truth about the world, he said, is that anything is possible. Had you not seen it from birth and thereby bled it of its strangeness it would appear to you for what it is, a hat trick in a medicine show, a fevered dream, a trance bepopulate with chimeras having neither analogue nor precedent, an itinerant carnival, a migratory tentshow whose ultimate destination after many a pitch in many a mudded field is unspeakable and calamitous beyond reckoning."--Blood Meridian (1985) “… the order in creation which you see is that which you have put there, like a string in a maze, so that you shall not lose your way. For existence has its own order and that no man’s mind can compass, that mind itself being but a fact among others.”--Blood Meridian (1985) |
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Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West is a 1985 epic novel by American author Cormac McCarthy, classified under the Western, or sometimes the anti-Western, genre.
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