THE DATE: 8/22/08
THE LOCALE: JILLIAN'S IN BOSTON (NOT OUR TOUGHEST VENUE)
SCORP APPROVED? YES, SOME MIGHT SAY BEST BOOK WE'VE READ
Recently, when the Wall Street Journal
suggested that Blood Meridian is unfilmable because of the books "sheer darkness and violence," McCarthy responded:
"That's all crap. The fact that's it's a bleak and bloody story has nothing to do with whether or not you can put it on the screen. That's not the issue. The issue is it would be very difficult to do and would require someone with a bountiful imagination and a lot of balls."
Needless to say, McCarthy is one of the SCORPIONS patron saints, and Blood Meridian a guiding text.
The book is American Mythology at its purest, rawest and bloodiest, with an unthinkable atrocity on nearly every page to let you know how the west was really won. It is, simply, a masterpiece that forces the reader to ask him/herself to stare at pure evil in the world and contemplate what it means. Beyond that, the exploits of the Glanton Gang during the 1800's made me feel cheated that I was raised to admire the likes of The Lone Ranger, Paul Bunyon or Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick. The Glanton Gang was no joke. And I'm pretty sure The Judge - one of the best characters in literature, the total embodiment of this evil- would fuck Johnny Appleseed in the eye socket and play the fiddle while he did it. And I can't imagine what he'd do to Blue the Ox. (Davy Crockett, for the record, still seems like a badass).
Speaking of The Judge (also a self-proclaimed namesake of a fellow SCORP member who admired him greatly but has yet to really live up to the moniker), below you'll find a few choice lines of his from Blood Meridian to drop at your next holiday gathering with friends and family when the conversation turns dull. Or, these could be great for a wedding toast!
"If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of mankind would he not have done so by now? Wolves cull themselves, man....The way of the world is to bloom and to flower and die but in the affairs of men there is no waning and the noon of his expression signals the onset of night. His spirit is exhausted at the peak of its achievement. His meridian is at once his darkening and the evening of his day. He loves games? Let him play for stakes."
"Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent....The freedom of birds is an insult to me."
"Men are born for games...Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill 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."
"Moral law is an invention of mankind for the disenfranchisement of the powerful in favor of the weak."
For the SCORP outing to discuss Blood Meridian, it was decided we'd explore evil in all forms, and met up at the dark, soulless center of the Boston bar/club scene: Jillians on Lansdowne. And we bowled, aspiring to the conditions of war. No blood was shed and no one was scalped alive, but we did receive several free drinks without explanation from a hot waitress. Evil? Maybe. Or maybe she just caught a glimpse of Shackelton's necklace of dried human ears and decided it was her safest bet.