Episode VII: Moby-Dick & Blood Meridian

[@euphegenia]

Both of these masterpieces hit me like a brick wall. There are few books that, as you’re reading them, you never want to end. These are two books that do. I wish I could read them again for the first time. These are books that, when you finish, give you a certain sensation that other books do elicit.

[@shoresofpatmos]

Great stuff

[@yttriumbagel]

“Call me Ishmael” and “See the child” strike me as very similar first sentences

[@scribblerjohn1]

Exactly. Each is a three-word imperative sentence.

[@ElvingsMusings]

Great reading. I will say that the major difference between the two is that the characters in Moby-Dick for all their symbolism are also more real. Like Ishmael the narrator also makes sense as a sailor aboard the Pequod. Ahab is a great larger than life figure but he's also a Nantucket Quaker with a long record of sailing who finally goes off the deep-end. There's a social identity of Ahab, himself as a real guy, and Ahab the hunter of the whale. Whereas while Blood Meridian is in part historical, it's also more directly allegorical. The Kid is maybe not entirely a realistic character and the Judge is obviously a very abstract figure as you point out.

[@AmericanGwyn]

Interesting!

[@stephen8342]

I think the boy is very realistic for it’s time period. Young boys with no family and no prospects going west and becoming violent would’ve been pretty common

[@ElvingsMusings]

@@stephen8342 He's a believable TYPE but as an unnamed character who tags along a gang of scalphunters and yet somehow doesn't seem to participate in many of the on-page war crimes, he's probably not realistic. Him being a fictional stand-in for the real-life Samuel Chamberlain whose biography is attested historical fact, likewise heightens the allegorical nature of The Kid. Blood Meridian converts history into allegory, as Gwyn addressed when he discussed the "What is The Judge the judge of" passage.

[@horseface31]

Love these. Never stop

[@AmericanGwyn]

I ain’t.

[@TheMrTJWhite]

You speak truer than you know.

[@_.Sparky._]

Soooo good. Thank u for this! Food for the soul

[@AmericanGwyn]

Thank you!

[@sidDkid87]

*_"It is not down on any map; true places never are"_* ~ Ishmael

[@reedyma]

I was hoping that you would discuss anything related to Moby Dick, thanks for your lectures I really enjoy them.

[@bobboberson2736]

Really enjoyed this video one. Always felt like Glanton was hunting the natives for a reason not related to money similar to Ahab’s motivations.

[@CaravanCzar]

Once you finish all your lectures and videos, you should go about the Earth and destroy every copy of Blood Meridian so that only your version of it exists.

[@AmericanGwyn]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 This would make a good final video.

[@TheMrTJWhite]

So I understand (from google) Cormac stopped drinking at some point but I'm not sure when. Does anyone know if he was still drinking around the time he wrote Blood Meridian? If anyone has info, it would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[@TheMrTJWhite]

Also, I have an unrelated question. Does the Judge ever eat?

[@AmericanGwyn]

Yes.

[@TheMrTJWhite]

@@AmericanGwyn care to elaborate? I love your lectures btw

[@TheMrTJWhite]

Why has no one ever asked this question?

[@TheMrTJWhite]

He's not going to answer me, is he?

[@AmericanGwyn]

@@TheMrTJWhite Google “Blood Meridian” and “he cracked with an axe the shinbone of an antelope.”

[@Boz0O]

Ya GIT R DUNNNN

[@folkestrid5923]

You know I love you man - I haven't been following anything with such fervor since the first season of True Detective - but one thing has been bugging me for some time and I can't get it out of my head: ever since high school I've been taught to never ever refer to an author (or person at all) solely by their first name in an academic context, but to strictly use only their full name or their surname, so every time you say "Cormac" it bugs me. Having said that, I wanna be you when I grow up (even though I'm 31); teaching literature the way you lectured Blood Meridian to your students is my dream. I'm Swedish, so I have to ask, do you teach at a university or a high school? Seems like it has to be on a university/college level, but I've studied what would literally translate as "literature science", or plainly just literature studies, at university here, and there's no way a teacher could focus so many lectures on one novel. I need to know more about this promised land of teaching so I can start looking into emigrating and getting the merits to apply for the job.