Notes on Blood Meridian (Southwestern Writers Collection) | Date: 30 April 2011, 08:56
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Notes on Blood Meridian (Southwestern Writers Collection)
By John Sepich
* Publisher: University of Texas Press
* Number Of Pages: 236
* Publication Date: 2008-09-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0292718209
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780292718203
Product Description:
"Blood Meridian reads like a conflation of the Inferno, the Iliad, and Moby-Dick . . . an extraordinary, breathtaking achievement."
--Independent (London)
"Sepich lets us see how Cormac McCarthy went about crafting what he built, with the result that Blood Meridian . . . becomes more a wonderment than ever. This is constructive scholarship at its best."
--Shelby Foote
Blood Meridian (1985), Cormac McCarthy's epic tale of an otherwise nameless "kid" who in his teens joins a gang of licensed scalp hunters whose marauding adventures take place across Texas, Chihuahua, Sonora, Arizona, and California during 1849 and 1850, is widely considered to be one of the finest novels of the Old West, as well as McCarthy's greatest work. The New York Times Book Review ranked it third in a 2006 survey of the "best work of American fiction published in the last twenty-five years," and in 2005 Time chose it as one of the 100 best novels published since 1923. Yet Blood Meridian's complexity, as well as its sheer bloodiness, makes it difficult for some readers. To guide all its readers and help them appreciate the novel's wealth of historically verifiable characters, places, and events, John Sepich compiled what has become the classic reference work, Notes on Blood Meridian.
Tracing many of the nineteenth-century primary sources that McCarthy used, Notes uncovers the historical roots of Blood Meridian. Originally published in 1993, Notes remained in print for only a few years and has become highly sought-after in the rare book market, with used copies selling for hundreds of dollars. In bringing the book back into print to make it more widely available, Sepich has revised and expanded Notes with a new preface and two new essays that explore key themes and issues in the work. This amplified edition of Notes on Blood Meridian is the essential guide for all who seek a fuller understanding and appreciation of McCarthy's finest work.
Summary: Glad I Got It
Rating: 5
After seven or eight reads of BLOOD MERIDIAN, this was a must. The character background is worth the price of the book. It is definitely for the BLOOD MERIDIAN fans. Not bedside reading. The only down side, if there really is one is the print size. Can't have everything.
Summary: I finally got my hands on a copy, and it's great!
Rating: 5
After years of hearing about Notes On Blood Meridan by John Sepich, but not wanting to pay US$400 for a copy, I finally went down to my local branch of the public library and requested a copy through the inter-library loan department. In a few weeks a copy was delivered and now I have the copy right in front of me. (The inter-library loan fee was $10.00 but that's better than paying someone $400 if all you're after is the information in the book).
The book goes into great detail explaining the sources McCarthy used for Blood Meridian. Translations are provided for the non-English dialog. I plan to go back and re-read Blood Meridian after a careful study of Sepich's work. I think I can convey what's in the book best by setting out the table of contents:
Preface
INTRODUCTION
The Problem of Information--1; Three Sections--4; Scalp Hunting and The Glanton Gang--5; Indian Haters--9.
BIOGRAPHIES
Reverend Green--13; Judge Holden--14; Captain White--24; John Joel Glanton--27; Albert Speyer--42; Consul Bennett Riddells--44; Governor Angel Trias--45; Grannyrat--46; Bathcat--47; Mangas Colorado--48; Sarah Borginnis--51; Yuma Chiefs--53; Callaghan--56.
ADDENDA
Leonids--57; Comanche Attack--61; Ciboleros--66; Hueco Tanks--68; Jesus Maria--68; Wild Bull--70; Meteorite--71; Fort Griffin--72; Chamberlain--74; Ruxton--76; Audubon--81; Bartlett--84; Wislizenus--88; Hughes--94; Reid--96; Dobie--97; Ober--98; Bourke--99.
ESSAYS
Tarot and Divination--105; Judge Holden's Gunpowder.
APPENDICES
A: Massacre Accounts--129
B: Concordances: Narrative Voice--141; Hallunicatory Void--142; Wolves--145; Apes--146; Blindness--146; Celestial--148; Marine--151; Carnival--152; Religious--154; Smiles and Laughter--159; Egg and Dome--161; Ritual, Music and Dance--162; Fools and Crazies--163; Chance, Fortune, and Deception--164.
C: Languages: Spanish--167; French--171; German--171.
D: Map Citations--173.
BIBLIOGRAPHY--175
INDEX--187
Summary: An amazing, eye-popping study of McCarthy's masterpiece.
Rating: 5
Out of print for many years, copies of the first edition of this book sold on Ebay for hundreds of dollars. There was an outcry for a new edition, but John Sepich seemed to be as reclusive as Cormac McCarthy during the 1990s, and so we waited.
Finally, at long last, here it is. Scholars everywhere will delight in this new edition.
McCarthy's masterpiece, BLOOD MERIDIAN, is based upon historical sources, not just Chamberlain's MY CONFESSSION, but a whole library of western memoirs and documents. John Sepich documents and annotates the work here. The real histories of many of McCarthy's characters are examined. This edition features an easy-to-map of the locations named in the novel.
In addition, the literary, mythic, and cosmological allusions are itemized, discussed, explained, and indexed. John Sepich, in association with other scholars, now maintains his own website and presents a concordance of the work which, last time I checked, was available for free.
I only wish the original cover artwork had been retained for the dustjacket, as the romantic picture here, so recently used on Per Petterson's Pulitzer-nominated OUT STEALING HORSES just has the wrong feel. It may grow on me in time. But the text of the book is magnificently presented.
Those who already treasure BLOOD MERIDIAN will want to purchase the expanded hardcover edition of this work, which features two new essays by Sepich, "Knitting The Winds," and "Why Believe The Judge?" They are a definite treat.
All in all, the amazing work of scholarship worthy of the masterpiece it illuminates.
Summary: Truly excellent overview.
Rating: 4
John Sepich, Notes on Blood Meridian (Bellarmine College Press, 1983)
Isn't it always the way? The first truly indispensable book of 2001 and it's impossible to find. Even bookfinder.com doesn't list a copy.
Cormac McCarthy's 1985 novel Blood Meridian is one of the finest novels in the English language, and the realization that much of the book is based on true events of 1849-1850 makes McCarthy's achievement even more harrowing. John Sepich gives us an overview of Mcarthy's cources as well as a look into some of the other conceits that tie the book together. Whether you take all of Sepich's assertions at face value or not (and he certainly does stretch things a little with his Tarot interpretations), the end result of reading Notes on Blood Meridian is an even deeper appreciation for the genius of Cormac McCarthy. Sepich hunted down obscure references by the score, source material that's been out of print for a century and a half, authors of critical works, unpublished dissertations, you name it. It's all here. You'd have to spend years doing the research yourself. Why not let Sepich hand it to you on a silver platter? This is great stuff, and as a companion to Blood Meridian itself, it's indispensable.
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