Trilling’s insight goes some way toward explaining the success of another American literary giant, Cormac McCarthy, who died last month. But, when I read what many consider to be McCarthy’s finest novel, “Blood Meridian” (1985), I wondered, as Trilling once did about Dreiser, what exactly this author was appealing to in his audience. Let me begin by stating the obvious: “Blood Meridian” is a shocking book, as blood-soaked as its title promises and then some. But the human heart contains many other regions, about which “Blood Meridian” is worryingly silent. The very act of writing “Blood Meridian” attests to the fact that curiosity and concern are also features of the human heart.

Source: thestar July 05, 2023 12:13 UTC