I'm not sure McCullers message is entirely nihilistic... perhaps its just my disposition to the world, but I felt that the characters remained hopeful for change, for better things to come, and despite all odds, they still had dreams, desires, things that motivated them even at the end of the book, after many a great tragedy. For Doctor Copeland, he was going to the farm to recover - this is a hopeful ending, yet we know he likely will die there - what a beautiful place to die. Blount moves on to a new town with new beginnings. Mick still dreams about saving up enough for a piano.. from the last page of the novel, "For in a swift radiance of illumination he saw a glimpse of human struggle and valor. of the endless fluid passage of humanity through endless time. and of those who labor and who -- one word -- love. his soul expanded. but for a moment only. for in him, he felt a warning, a shaft of terror. between the two worlds he was suspended. he saw that he was looking at his own face in the counter glass before him. sweat glistened on his temples and his face was contorted. one eye was opened wider than the other. the left eye delved narrowly into the past while the right gazed wide and affrighted into a future of blackness, error, and ruin. and he was suspended with between radiance and darkness. between bitter irony and faith." ... I do agree that there is a good amount of nihilism and defeat by/ acceptance of "the way things are" (a phrase repeated throughout the novel), i think there's always hope - and that's what faith is... and being "sensible" is to be both suspended between radiance and darkness... not entirely nihilistic. this is a ramble lol i just finished the book.
Great analysis, you made me appreciate the book a lot more. There are so few videos on The Heart is a Lonely Hunter on RU-vid. Thank you for making this!
I just finished up this book and really enjoyed it, even though it was fairly depressing. I’m glad you included some of her backstory here, it makes the novel makes even more sense.
“”God is love”: those three words could hardly be more bouncy. They seem lively, lovely and as warming as a crackling fire. But “God is a Trinity”? No, hardly the same effect: that just sounds cold and stodgy. All quite understandable, but the aim of this book is to stop the madness. Yes, the Trinity can be presented as a fusty and irrelevant dogma, but the truth is that God is love because God is a Trinity.” -Michael Reeves in Delighting in the Trinity
I just picked this book up a couple of weekends ago in a funky Metaphysical bookstore. They had a small selection of classics. I have recently discovered a few people on RU-vid talking about classics and how to read them. It’s been very helpful. I found your when I searched “how to read” this book. I loved your review and did mind the spoilers. Though I knew who she was I had no idea what the book was about. This was very helpful! Thank you and I have subscribed.
Thoughtful articulate review of McCullers' novel and Augustine's volume. Refreshed me to find someone who seems to have read, and thought through, the worldviews of both writers and their works you considered. Well done.
Picked it up yesterday. Read Reflections, and have seen the film Member Of The Wedding. I'll watch this when done. Reflections Of A Golden Eye was revelatory. I was in the military and discovered a society off base that I thought had a sickness to it. Busted officers, loose wives, crummy minds. I was the outsider lured in by very attractive girls. But they wanted me to reenlist. I was gone in 3 years.
Wow, Caleb I was just explaining to my son why The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is my favorite book, but you did so in such a profound way. I’ve only read excerpts of Confessions,but now I want to read it all. By the way, I never found the book nihilistic RATHER it points to our shared need for connection.
You can watch the movie here on RU-vid for free, which I suggest Seeing these actors as you then listen to the audio version of the book, here on RU-vid for free, works out well I was pleased with seeing Sandra lock playing the lead, and was surprised Hard to believe she never made a name for herself as a Category A Hollywood actor Having grown up in the area Carson McCullers lived, I can report she was spot-on with her descriptions This book discovery puts it right behind "To Kill a Mocking Bird" Amazing book Carson McCullers, R.I.P.
Very thoughtful. Many thanks indeed. This intertextual stuff is great too - perhaps you could dialogue The Ladder of Perfection by Walter Hinton and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I thought the bringing in of Augustine here was so cool
Nice review. I've got the same edition of the book. I thought The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was an ok book. The prose is pretty straightforward, but McCullers was great at portraying the psyches of disparate characters. All in all a pretty good read.
In this place, this reality, can a man truly be alone? Even absent all other humans, this world is teeming with life. One can find happiness and fulfilment helping other creatures. Saving a life, helping creatures with whom we share this planet live their lives out, is as meaningful as any other path.
I find meaning to life in ending the abuse of animals in factory farms, in ending the slaughter of baby seals, the wholesale slaughter of billions of just-born male chicks, the ending of whale and seal killing.
"Funnes", "fun almost magical feel", "fun magical feel"? I read that same edition that you hold in your hand and it would never occur to me to use these words to describe the experience of this reading. On the other hand, I couldn't use the word "boring" either. Nietzsche was not a nihilist. Nietzsche's philosophy is not nihilistic. McCuller is totally nihilistic and does not follow any Nietzsche mandate as you mention, but quite the opposite, this novel precisely represents everything that Nietzsche criticized.
The search for meaning. I find it in agitating for an end to animal cruelty, such as the barbarism of baby seal slaughter, the killing of wolves, the terrible slaughter of just-born male c
@@CalebSmith3 love them. I have 4! Found you searching Wright videos and love your book reviews. Your overview of TRotSoG really helped me understand what I was reading. I’m not an academic but I can typically understand complex arguments. I just don’t read them well. Your synopsis really helped give me context to the portions I was reading.
Nihilism is fun! LOL. This story is, of course, her story. SHE was profoundly lonely. I think the theme of her life, overriding her writing, is that her path is the wrong path. Do you want to pattern your life after hers? She drove her husband to suicide, and then drank herself to death. And many lives do reach a happy conclusion, with children and grandchildren, knowing they are forging their own paths, in humanity's grand parade.
No that's actually an artist's rendering of what Augustine would look like in modern day. Haha now that you've mentioned Kanye though I'm going to look at art in my own home differently.
@@CalebSmith3 that’s so cool! Sorry if that comment was insensitive tho, I kinda just said what was on the top of my mind. Where did you get it if you don’t mind me asking?
