I heard Aaron on the art of darkness podcast (thoroughly recommend it) and had not read any McCarthy. His passion and enthusiasm for the works lead me to thus far read 6 of Cormac’s oeuvre. Thank Aaron, I’m forever indebted to you
Finally had a chance to start your lectures after finishing the book. I haven't had the satisfaction of reading a novel with an accompanying lecture providing context since college...I forgot how much I miss that, especially after reading something like BM where I would constantly read something insane, and ask myself "What the fuck did I just read. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!" Thank you for taking the time to make this incredible resource available to the public. Big shout out to the Lemon Party boys for introducing me to Cormac McCarthy and your channel!
McCarthy calls the Comanche war party a Mongol horde when they attack the military expedition. It's impossible to really say who were the better horsemen but I'd assume that thousands of years riding the Steppe would make the difference.
The first time I read Blood Meridian and The Kid meets The Judge I laughed because I thought he was going to be one of the "one-shot" characters McCarthy loves to have in his books. But when The Kid joins the Glanton Gang and The Judge is there my blood ran cold. I've heard theories that Chagur is meant to embody death or chaos but The Judge makes him look utterly mundane.
Excellent lecture. Thank you for sharing this as well as the No Country for Old Men. A good summary of Texas history as well. I like looking into literature-both works from the time period and more modern historical fictions as well-to gain insight into what things were like in the past. Looking forward to the next lectures.
Wonderful! CM does direct us, so true, to see the truth about the dark side of our nation, its roots, and of all " nations"... of humanity. Nice to find you!
Bro you're spoiling us Love this channel of yours Thank You so much Watched them all the past 2 days. Was thinking ah shucks...be a week or two before he uploads more Then this just landed Amazing stuff you're doing Thank You
Wonderful Free as a Comanche who just found the horses The southern border and plains history is mindblowingly interesting bro Fuckin lovin this I'm in Ireland Lots of Irish names involved But the whole thing And the upper hand changing with tech/horses/fence posts! Endlessly fascinating Will be tuned in Thanks again God bless ya
You've got the voices perfect! I no longer have a copy of this book but the local bookstore has it, and I'll be picking up a copy and following your lectures. They're great, thank you! I'm also waiting for the Library of America editions, fingers crossed that won't be too long! (They should've done them before Cormac died in my opinion, I mean Philip Roth got his...just saying)
Obsessed with this channel, loving this lecture series, hoping to see more from you! I know you’re focused on Blood Meridian here but I would love to hear more analysis of other literature from you! I really enjoy the way you discuss the themes of the book with your students and they’ve been contributing to the discussion very well.
I definitely agree, his voice suits the tone of the story perfectly. The existing audio book works pretty well, with the guy who reads it, but I've always thought it worked best if you listen to it while reading the book at the same time, which I've done a couple of times. Especially if you don't speak Spanish. As huge fan of blood meridian this has become one of my all time favorite RU-vid channels. Thank you sir for making it
I feel like I need a cliff notes version of this book, have me read the passage then give plain context and explanation of what I read. Kind of like Dante's Inferno (another book I had no business reading). I completely missed how the judge had stolen the revenerends offering hat on my first read through. I just know it'll feel like a different book the next time I read it
When the judge tells the traveler story by the fire to the Glanton gang is that related to the young boy "the man" kills before walking into the final bar for his reunion with the judge? I remember one of the boy's friends says after he's been shot something to the effect of, "it's not his fault he's crazy mister, his father was hit over the head by a maniac and buried in the woods." I couldn't help but make that connection considering it ends the penultimate scene, providing some sense of closure before the final confrontation with the judge. Does anybody know if the two were meant to be connected, or just a coincidence?
Loving all your content thank you for putting this out there! I’m still trying to understand the significance of the story of the harness maker, hopefully it’s covered somewhere in here
HOLY crap these recent comments are oddly hateful... Everyone has their opinions hahaha. Anyways, I loved the narration it helps get into the story and the beginning was great where you provided a much needed context AND showed that the Natives were just as brutal. Also the white jokes are fun hahaha what the f**k are these people complaining about!!! Thanks for sharing I'll definitely be listening to the rest of the lectures for some reason this book makes me want to go back to college courses and have an hour long discussion on one chapter, I miss it!
love these! thank you! BUT "texas had a serious comanche problem" is an incredible thing to say. it's like saying "hawaii had a serious hawaiians problem".
Apparently UNC Charlotte, are the young dirty white boys in his class just supposed to listen to his race baiting leftist pledge of allegiance? Diversity of thought not really welcome at these "institutions of higher learning"
Apparently UNC Charlotte, are young dirty white boys in his class just supposed to listen to his race baiting leftist pledge of allegiance? Diversity of thought not welcomed at these "institutions of higher learning"
I agree, talks about dirty white boys but pretends the natives were actually all good and not unwashed savages. It’s the noble savage bullshit that they’ve tried to peddle for decades
@dongvermine Makes sense why college kids these days are degenerate invalids who whine about student loans they can't pay for because their degrees are worthless.
Horses evolved in North America and spread across the land bridge with Russia...so when the land bridge melted the horses went extinct in north America. Crazy to think how long it took for the horses to be reunited with their ancestral land.
Great lecture but the radio theatre reading of the book seems a bit reductive. Perhaps the college kids enjoy it, but it seems to take away any weight the actual words have. Imagine reading Thus Spake Zarathustra in this manner; I see McCarthy in the same light.
"Once upon a time, Texas had a serious Comanche problem. Alright? This was before Texas was in the hands of the Anglo, and Texas was a part of Mexico." ive got to thank you for putting the white supremacist, settler-colonial perspective out front so i dont have to waste time with the rest of your lecture. another, more accurate way of beginning, might have been: once upon a time, texas had a settler-colonial problem...
Strange how you glossed over the part where Santa Anna suspended the Mexican Constitution and declared himself dictator. The Mexican Constitution that guys like Jim Bowie had sworn to abide by as a Mexican citizen. The 18th and 19th Century American mind would've automatically dismissed an aurocrat like Santa Ana. And that is what happened. The Mexican Constitution was legitimate, in their mind. Santa Anna wasn't.
Yeah, it's funny how he'd talk about how "dirty" white people are, especially when they're being contrasted to a savage tribe like Comanche, who were even filthier than the whites
@@AmericanGwyn Some might get the impression you might be Judge Holden, trying to increase your reach, trying to nab a new kid. Too bad Judge, I am a middle aged man.
