I’ve been musing lately on sport. Watching the fallout from scandal at Penn State, we’re reminded that football is god and country at most major American universities. By the end of this week, the whole world will turn its eyes toward London for the Olympics. And here at home, I’m ridiculously invested in a summer-long death battle on the tennis courts with my buddy Brad.
Why this obsession with sport?
The Judge has something to say about it:
“Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance require a wager to have any meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skills and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all.”
— “Blood Meridian,” Cormac McCarthy
I fear that that malevolent bald bastard has the right of it…
While I’m on “Blood Meridian”:
I’ve recently gotten into the alt-country band Lucero — and discovered something astonishingly good. The band’s writer and singer Ben Nichols released a solo album back in 2009 based upon “Blood Meridian.” The Kid, The Judge, Toadvine, Davy Brown, Tobin — all get their moment in “The Last Pale Light in the West.” Check out the title cut here.
Oscar Case says
I have Cormac McCarthy on my list to pick up. I’ve heard good and bad about his writing, but will check it out for myself.
JimC says
McCarthy is unquestionably brilliant and his work rewards deep reading — but it ain’t easy and it ain’t to everybody’s taste. The remarkable thing about Blood Meridian, from my perspective, is that it is so fantastical, yet so historically rooted. If you decide to tackle BM, you’d appreciate getting John Sepich’s Notes on Blood Meridian as a companion. It casts a lot of light on the historical and material culture references that are in the narrative and left for the reader to decipher.
Reading CMC is not entertainment — it’s more like a hard workout that gives you a lot of satisfaction. I can’t say I “like” McCarthy, even, but aspects are very important to me. Hard to explain. I’ll be interested to hear what you think.
John Maddox Roberts says
I recently bought Samuel Chamberlain’s “U.S. Dragoon.” It has most of the text of “My Confession” but without the illustrations, many of which can be found on Google Images. McCarthy drew heavily on Chamberlain for BM. He is the only source for Judge Holden (whom he may have made up) Tobin, Doc Irving and Glanton are all there, too. It’s great reading, but Chamberlain was a prodigious liar, which I’m sure The Judge would have appreciated.
Incidentally, I saw McCarthy in a Santa Fe restaurant last year. It was like an Elvis sighting.
JimC says
I read My Confession years ago, before I’d heard of BM, which didn’t come on my radar until after All the Pretty Horses went big. I don’t know what became of the book. I’ll have to check out U.S. Dragoon — I imagine it’s cheaper.
McCarthy has certainly added to his mystique by so sparse in interviews and such. Hell, I bet he doesn’t even have a Facebook page or a Twitter account. Imagine!