I have a job. The job is a summer job. I don’t have a full time job because I’m a college student. The job is working on a farm. I am a farmhand. My boss tells me to shovel dirt in a specific direction and I do it. Sometimes I hoe around Swiss Chard. Other things too. Most of the tasks are pretty monotonous and can several hours to complete. Different workers have their own way of dealing with this. The Skidmore grad chain smokes. The middle-aged Vietnamese man takes piss breaks. I listen to things on my iPod. I’d never listened to an audiobook at work, nor had I read a Cormac McCarthy novel, so I decided I’d kill two birds with one stone and give Blood Meridian a try. It took about three days of work to get through the story. When I started it, I was shoveling mulch from bigger piles into smaller piles. When I finished it, I was sitting down in a field my boss calls “The Plain.”
I didn’t know anything about the book when I started listening. I thought it had something to do with the desert, and I was correct. The person who read the novel is named Richard Poe. He’s also famous for playing Gul Evek in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here is a picture of Richard Poe with his signature and television makeup. He added to the literary experience by reading slowly in an ambiguous old man accent, altering his voice slightly for different characters. He made The Kid sound inquisitive and defensive and The Judge powerful and funny. I can’t explain how he made him sound funny. It was sort of like the character always spoke as if he thought everything was a joke because he was so much better than everyone. This was surprisingly effective in shaping my notion of this character.
Actually, I should point out that I didn’t follow most of the novel. I was listening while doing things, sort of pausing to sweat and drink water, say things like “Nice breeze” and “I’m waitin’ on those clouds to roll back in,” and receiving orders from my boss. It’s not Cormac McCarthy’s fault that the plot was pretty much entirely lost on me, nor was it Richard Poe. I appreciate his vocal alterations as they established direction and reaction throughout the novel—things I couldn’t be bothered to do myself while transplanting different varieties of pepper.
That being said, the novel is pretty plotless as far as I could tell. Person gets on horse, rides with other people, sees Mexicans, sees Indians, tries not to get killed. There are several characters that go through this pattern. Most die.
The violence in the book might have been the most exciting thing. It seemed exciting. I like the quote at the beginning that said over 300,000 years ago, people were still scalping other people. The descriptions of scalping were funny and scary. The actual blood in the novel seemed kind of cool, or cute. Everything was bloody or red, or other colors. At one point, a character injures his arm and days later, when The Kid takes his shirt off to use it as a sort of bowl, the other person won’t take his shirt off, and when he does his arm is pussing yellow, and eventually I think he was killed by Indians. There are hangings and shootouts and decapitations. Everyone is wearing boots.
One big theme in the novel seemed to be space. People seemed doubtful of religion, but at separate points in the novel, distinct characters who never encountered one another held some collective concern regarding the notion of life on other planets, and the nature of humanity. Humanity being fucked. Violence, lawlessness, all around hatred without reason or understanding or even care to understand the reason. People walk around, think about water, get off their horses, sit on their horses, their horses’ feet hurt, the people don’t care. At one point, a meteor falls and nothing is said about it.
Another theme, I guess, is truth, or justice—The Judge being a sort of symbolic entity, which I may have been able to better explain or analyze had I read Blood Meridian, rather than listen vacantly. The Judge talks about dancing as some form of this larger central idea at then end of the story, and then everyone seems to dance. Even a bear dances. Other animals in the book include donkeys, ponies, horses, dogs, coyotes, antelope, buzzards. I think the description of buzzards was responsible for my dream midway through this week of being lifted up by a giant bird of prey who then tried to eat me while I pulled out its teeth and cut open its eyes in the air.
The word “meridian” returns several times. I guess that’s cool. I don’t remember “blood meridian” ever being phrased, which is acceptable, though I think I would’ve have rather enjoyed it. Was that phrase ever uttered? Readers of this review who have also read the novel, can you tell me?
I ended up actually really liking the novel. I started out thinking it was pretty stupid. McCarthy describes things to a length that is not required, in my opinion. He writes about things that would interest a large group of readers, but probably alienates a lot of people with his showy vocabulary and descriptions. Sometimes he makes a metaphor which does a lot less than the literal act or image (I’d give an example, but I don’t have a copy of the book to refer to.). He describes colors as “China,” though I think maybe he describes them as “china.” Either way… But hey, honestly, it was a good book. It was funny and violent and sometimes a character would tell a long story within the story and Richard Poe would have to maintain that characters’ voice against the narratorial voice and then when the story within the story was over he’d have to make adjustments back to his third-person narrative tone and he would get confused a little and the whole thing would become one.
Blood Meridian put a lot of things in context for me. When I felt fatigued, at least I’d gotten seven hours of sleep instead of riding a horse through the night to avoid bloodthirsty Apaches. When I felt hot, at least it was only 85 degrees and not 115. When I felt thirsty, at least my Nalgene was 50 feet away and I wasn’t days without it. The Wild West was a cruel time. They didn’t even have iPods.
At more than one point in the story, the characters walk along lava and it causes the horses hooves to crack and everyone to be very uncomfortable. That seemed really awesome.
Tags: Blood Meridian, cormac mccarthy, farm life
My boss tells me to shovel dirt in a specific direction and I do it.
I like that.
when I read it I also started out thinking it was pretty stupid but then ended up liking it. I identified with this review
when I read it I also started out thinking it was pretty stupid but then ended up liking it. I identified with this review
We agree on a lot about this book.
i didn’t start liking blood meridian until a few days after finishing it. i thought the story got a lot better when it became more focused on the judge though. the ending really freaked me out – it seemed like the judge raped and killed the kid. i think it was the only violent scene in the book that wasn’t described in detail. that scared me.
hehe thanks
I’ve never read Blood Meridian or any Cormac, so this could very well be an inside joke based on his style that I’m missing, but why
“I have a job. The job is a summer job. I don’t have a full time job because I’m a college student. The job is working on a farm. I am a farmhand.”
vs.
“I work part time as a farmhand when I’m not attending college” or “My summer job is working on a farm” etc etc ?
This comment is by no means solely related to David Fishkind, because I’ve seen this repetitive rhythm in many places, and I was just wondering if it’s a take-off on something, or . . . ?
“the most exciting thing. It seemed exciting.”
I liked this sentence, too.
ta.gg/55j
has anyone ever written an exclusively audiobook?
The review doesn’t seem to me to be a teasing pastiche of McCarthy – not enough sentences connected by “and”, for instance. I think it’s muumuuvian.
i was born a farmhand. my father kept goats and cows and chickens and sheep. i was cheap labor. i’ve lived on the usa/mexico border. mexicans taught me how to farm fruit trees. i did that voluntarily. i have read blood meridian. multiple times. also voluntarily. i have the audiobook. with the old itunes on random, senior poe’s voice will sometimes come on over the altec’s. usually after nick cave. for some reason. itunes knows something. but. blood meridian feels best when i myself read it out loud. out loud loud. like a preacher. like a preacher with something to prove. blood meridian feels best when i myself read it out loud to a bunch of sleeping drunks. i’ve been told it’s the best way to wake up. i recommend coming back to this book at some point and reading it. read it out loud.
where/what are you farming?
I’ve heard/read the expression “china blue”, meaning the blue color used on (in?) Chinese porcelain. I think this expression dates (in English) to the late 18th c., when there was a craze for imported Chinese ceramics (and for figuring out how to counterfeit or ‘counterfeit’ their manufacture). I’ve heard eyes, for example, described as “china blue”. It’s also a color associated with indigo-dyeing (the dyeing of denim), but I think that that usage is borrowed from its earlier imported-ceramic coinage. I don’t remember any other color associated with either “China” or “china”.
i really like what you just wrote. seems like a monologue for a play or something. really sweet.
i farm in westborough, ma. we do produce (berries, beans, peas, squash, corn, greens, tomatoes, peppers, beets, radishes, etc). there are a few animals but my boss’s brother owns them and i don’t deal with them. this time of year only a few workers are on. more are on their way from venezuela. we start to harvest next week.
I really have a problem with audiobooks. Having said that, I suggest you read the book itself and take the time to focus on the writing. It is both masterful and powerful.
Muumuuvian indeed. Or muumuuveau.
Homer?
“I work part-time [sic] as a farmhand when I’m not attending college” sounds corny, specifically the clause “when I’m not attending college.” Makes one sound really jazzed about being a college student or needlessly proper. This piece has a deliberately casual-ish, conversational writing style. It’s “allowed.” Some find it humble or funny or something else, as opposed to an “I am a Proper Writer” style and/or an “I am trying to impress you” style. Only those allegedly imitating lightning rods of controversy are accused of imitating said lightning rod like it’s a shameful or distasteful thing. Those tightwads who write blogicles or comments as if dispatching learned critiques from their hundred-year-old solid oak writing table amidst a plethora of dusty old volumes or those who try to be cool and “down” and relatable in a speaking-voice style that isn’t vaguely influenced or derivative of a lightning rod for controversy don’t get this shit. Those who have a rhetoric-based, distrustful, snarky, college-educated way of speaking/thinking reminiscent of many, many other rhetoric-based, distrustful, snarky, college-educated people fancy themselves each unique and, obviously, deserving of respect.
My main point is the writing style is a choice and you could shut up and read this or think about the choice rather than passive-aggressively suggesting “oh hrm, why didn’t you do it this right better way, is it because you know that guy I don’t like, I’m not saying, but….snarkity snark.”
i think postitbreakup was just asking a simple question. but even if she/he did mean it as a critique of fishkind’s writing style i don’t see why that is a problem. people are “allowed” to be critical of a style. just like you have been critical of the alternative style postitbreakup (possibly) suggested.
i think comments like this perpetuate an idea that people are not “allowed” to use critical thought in relation to ‘mumuuvian’ writers/writers that you or your friends are friends with.
[…] week over at HTML Giant, David Fishkind writes about his summer job as a farm hand and how he began listening to Blood […]
unreal
I really wasn’t trying to be snarky, hence pointing out a part of the article I did like, answering the question about the use of “blood meridian” in the book, etc. I just keep seeing this style everywhere and it was in this review, too, so I was wondering what it derived from. Maybe Penelope’s answer that it’s mumuu style was what I was looking for. I never read McCarthy, so I truly was genuinely wondering if maybe the style came from that.
When you say I could “shut up and read this or think about the choice,” when I did read the entire post and WAS thinking about the choice (hence my responding to it at all), it feels like what you’re really saying is, “You can either like this post and agree with the style completely, or not respond at all.”
I have no clue what the “you know that guy I don’t like” thing is referring to.
good call
~”Why didn’t you write it this other way, what’s that about….?” is not critical thought. Imagine standing up in a class and talking about a book and then some smartass comes up to you afterward and asks why you talked the way you did and implied you were willfully doing it wrong and that you’re unoriginal. Would you like that person? I don’t believe the commenter above was simply suggesting a more proper writing style. This isn’t the New Yorker either. I think he or she was doing some passive-aggressive baiting.
It is illogical to consider one person’s consistent defense of a writer and/or associated writers as having the same influence as [hundreds(?)] of people engaging in condemnation of that writer/those writers. I think that many such haters think they are intellectually superior and “better” than those they attack, and I like to try to destabilize that notion.
Anything else you want to say, Reynard? How’s the position of your eyeballs currently?
Do you have some YouTube clips and some word jazz lined up? What’s next? How do you like it?
This guy called me a whore in a previous comments section. I don’t why I bother getting mad or saying anything. It’s stupid
“I work part-time [sic] as a farmhand when I’m not attending college” sounds corny, specifically the clause “when I’m not attending college.”
Yes, I forgot the hyphen in “part-time,” and you felt you had to correct that while simultaneously railing against the idea of an “I am a Proper Writer” style. Interesting. I also offered “My summer job is working on a farm”–which I prefer to the sentence you quoted–but in either case, the point wasn’t to rewrite Fishkind’s article, it was to articulate the aspect of Fishkind’s style I was wondering about the origin of.
“This piece has a deliberately casual-ish, conversational writing style.”
The oxymoron “Deliberately casual-ish” is where I personally see the problem of this style (and again, it’s by no means Fishkind alone, or even his entire post–it’s a style I see a lot of lately). Because, to me, it’s not casual, it’s hyper-self-conscious casual-posturing. Which is worse, pretentiously trying to sound like a “Proper Writer” or pretentiously trying to sound like a “Casual Writer”? Probably both, but–again, to me–trying to write precisely and succinctly carries a lot less snobbishness than trying to “talk down.” And yet, I never mentioned any of that until just now, because in my initial comment, I was just wondering where the style came from and if it was McCarthy’s, but you took it as an attack anyway.
It’s “allowed.”
What part of “I was wondering where this style came from and why it was chosen” means “I don’t think this style should be allowed” to you? For the record, just as I believe in free speech for even hateful or unpopular opinions, I believe all kinds of writing should be “allowed”–but so should all kinds of criticism, and that’s what it seems like you don’t like.
Some find it humble or funny or something else, as opposed to an “I am a Proper Writer” style and/or an “I am trying to impress you” style.
Again, why is it somehow “better” to try to impress readers with a self-conscious, affected Humble style than it is with a self-conscious, affected Proper style? It reminds me of politicians like Bush and Palin throwing in “country” phrases to appeal to their audience, when really they’re just condescending.
Only those allegedly imitating lightning rods of controversy are accused of imitating said lightning rod like it’s a shameful or distasteful thing.
What? Who is the lightning rod of controversy and what are you talking about here?
Those tightwads who write blogicles or comments as if dispatching learned critiques from their hundred-year-old solid oak writing table amidst a plethora of dusty old volumes or those who try to be cool and “down” and relatable in a speaking-voice style that isn’t vaguely influenced or derivative of a lightning rod for controversy don’t get this shit.
I don’t know what you’re saying here, either. If you’re referring to me, then I wasn’t trying to “dispatch learned critiques,” I was wondering about the reasoning behind/origin of a certain style. But really, I have no idea what that comment of yours means (if I knew what the lightning-rod was referring to, it would help). “don’t get this shit”–get what?
Those who have a rhetoric-based, distrustful, snarky, college-educated way of speaking/thinking reminiscent of many, many other rhetoric-based, distrustful, snarky, college-educated people fancy themselves each unique and, obviously, deserving of respect.
Well, I still don’t know what you’re getting at, but if you compare my initial comment with your reply, I think it’s obvious which one was more “rhetoric-based, distrustful, snarky.” And I think everyone deserves respect, which is why
you could shut up and read this or think about the choice rather than passive-aggressively suggesting “oh hrm, why didn’t you do it this right better way, is it because you know that guy I don’t like, I’m not saying, but….snarkity snark.
pisses me off. I wasn’t trying to be snarky or critical, but I also agree with Penelope that there shouldn’t be any writing by anyone ever that’s somehow free from criticism.
Also, who is “you know that guy I don’t like” referring to? Is it the “lightning-rod”? Why are you speaking in puzzles?
What are non-whores like, Reynard? What is one supposed to do? Teach me the ways of being respectable and intelligent. I’d love to hear about it
“unreal” has no balls. Show me those big old ones you’ve got, Reynard. This place is all about balls and keepin’ it real, right?
Do whores have balls? Have I got balls. Lemme check, one sec
I have a temper. The end.
it would have made more sense to put my comment under deadgod’s or w/e. it was dumb to say anything given the context of htmlgiant comments section and the perception of me and thus the likely result
I thought you knew about Tao/Muumuu and you don’t, apparently. This was dumb. I wish I wouldn’t have said anything in this instance. Also, I didn’t want to attack Reynard and I finally did… Disappointing.
I don’t have any perception of you or David Fishkind, I dunno who’s in the muumuu clubhouse, I didn’t know anything about M Kitchell when I criticized There Is No Year and what he praised in it, I don’t know who’s friends with Blake (and Blake “seems” nice to me from the little I’ve read, even though I don’t want to read that particular book of his)…
I don’t understand what the anger, the “lightning rod”, the “perception” stuff is about. Why does it have to be so hard to talk about ideas/writing on HTMLGiant vs. being perceived as attacking one club or another?
unfortunately stephen, that can’t be taught, which is why college is a joke that tells itself – like you, but with more hypocrisy, less insecurity
It sort of looks like your avatar is falling down a flight of stairs when you scroll through this!
All I knew about Tao was the brackets/quotation marks, I thought that was muumuu. It seems like everyone else knew this post was the real muumuu style except me, so I guess I can’t blame you for thinking I knew.
So the “lightning-rod” is Tao?
EDIT: Is “There is No Year” also muumuu?
i am insecure, i agree with you on that one. wish i was more chill. also, i had hoped to not lash back at you and failed. i think if you met me or something else occurred such that you knew more about me, you wouldn’t think of me the way you do.
I don’t think it is that style in this article, actually. I just jumped to conclusions and conflated you with like 6 unrelated people and their history of attacking them and/or me and basically just made a bit of a fool of myself by conventional standards.
Blake and There Is No Year have nothing to do with Muumuu.
I don’t know re your last question. There’s enough precedent for bashing Tao & associated that your comment got misinterpreted by me. But probably not by many other people, so that’s on me. Even if you had meant what I thought you meant, still wish I wouldn’t have said anything. Sorry
“EDIT: Is “There is No Year” also muumuu?”
If you weren’t so sincere, I would have mistaken this for sarcasm.
No, TINY is certainly not muumuu.
god stephen, your constant, sycophantic leaping to the defense of tao’s stuff is almost enough to put me off of his writing. i mean jesus, i like his books and all but the kind of thin-skinned fanboys he seems to attract these days are really, really off putting. it’s like how i cant listen to tool because i find their fans are so annoying. postitbreakup clearly wasn’t talking about tao. it was perfectly obvious that he was asking if the piece was written in the style of mccarthy, he was unsure as he hadn’t read too much of his stuff. the only person whose entire vision of the world seems to be filtered through the idea of what tao fucking thinks is you.
postitbreakup didnt deserve the stupid, bitchy dressing down you tried to administer to him (although his response to you was – to my eyes – a bitch slap so effective that i dont realy need to leap to anyones defense here) as for you using the phrase ‘lightning rod for controversy’ to describe tao and other muumuu house writers, i think you’re overselling. vs naipaul saying that chicks cant write? sure, that would probably count as someone being a ‘lightning rod for controversy” since he’s a fucking nobel prize winning author and all and the national news media picked up on it. i know you like the guys writing and all, but jesus get a bit of perspective, will you?
i tried to listen to blood meridian (probably the same audiobook/richard poe) edition on a hiking trip. i also encountered some similar issues of distraction ie “yeah, i still have a granola bar” and “this rock is okay to sit on.” that being said, i stopped listening to it b/c i couldn’t follow the plot.
also, manual labor during college summers is good for your life.
what the fuck are you guys doing?
did yall see shaq retired????wtf?//??
Thanks. I didn’t think it was, but I didn’t initially think this post was either (I thought muumuu only meant the quotes/brackets), so I wasn’t sure.
Thanks. I didn’t think it was, but I didn’t initially think this post was either (I thought muumuu only meant the quotes/brackets), so I wasn’t sure.
It’s OK, and I personally have bashed Tao’s writing style in another post so I could see where you got that, I just had no clue that this post was related to Tao since I didn’t see the quotes/brackets and that was all I knew of Tao/muumuu. It’s all OK, no big deal.
what do you mean..?
does this mean I’ll finally get the Kazaam sequel I’ve been waiting over a decade for?!
does this mean I’ll finally get the Kazaam sequel I’ve been waiting over a decade for?!
What I’ve learned from this thread is that Tao and muumuu are so original and distinctive that you can parody their style without even reading their work.
sorry, blake. i was being a dumbass. idk what anyone else is/was doing
hopefully. hopefully JTT will be on board too.
what is JTT doing these days?
Let me point out that there’s nothing pejorative or derogatory or insulting – directly or implicitly – about the word “muumuuvian”. It’s strictly a descriptive word, at least when I use it, and relates to a style and not necessarily to a publisher. Accept no counterfeits of this claim.
(I like some of the muumuuvian poetry I’ve read – shaun gannon’s, for example – , and I enjoy the way tao lin interacts or ‘interacts’ on comment threads. What I’ve seen of theory in the muumuuvian style I think is a lot less successful.)
I think the last sentence in the third-to-last paragraph (of David’s blogicle) sounds McCarthyesque, insofar as it exemplifies the effect that it’s describing.
oh shit, JTT wasn’t even in Kazaam. dang it.
He was there in spirit
postitbreakup, what I mean by “muumuuvian” is a style: chopped and chopping, with an explicit emphasis on not describing objects and meanings as they are or ‘are’, but rather, as they feel (or seem to the intellect) to the person reporting them. The passion and thought of the muumuuvians is channeled through a clipped, clipping groove, and experience is phenomenological as opposed to ontological in muumuuvian truth-claims. (There are other stylistic choices common to some of the muumuuvians at least some of the time: sparse capitalization, scare-quotes, and so on. Individually, each tic is employed separately by lots of people; I use scare-quotes non-sarcastically sowhataboutit.)
I’ve never seen any Blake Butler writing that I thought was muumuuvian or ‘muumuuvian’ or “muumuuvian”.
Anyone else find it a bit hilarious that Stephen is so defensive over his boy–and his 5 or 6 detractors–on a website that promotes the hell out of his work, one run by a guy–Gene Morgan–who is an unabashed fan?
Stephen, one of these days you will learn that public figures aren’t entitled to be loved by everyone, or to always have nice things said about their work.
what is muumuuvian? this is muumuuvian? i’m watching alvin and the chipmunks: the squeakquel
some people don’t even get anything for christmas. we should all be grateful
To Stephen & Tao — “If you guys want to get good at writing quit fucking around on the Internet so much. That’s all you need to do. Your Twitter page. Shut it down! Facebook. Shut it down! MySpace. Shut it down! Your Muumuu, you know, whatever it’s called. Shut it down! And you’ll get really good at writing. I promise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBXW3RzILXA
i didnt get into bm much when i read it but this review makes me want to read it again. im reading suttree now and its hooking me and i remember the atmosphere of bm alot and i think i want to read it again now thanks
this comment thread should be scalped
scalpitations
It’s a spiral, wise and mighty One. Don’t you have plumbing in your aerie??
Speaking of McCarthy, here’s a first (that I’ve seen):
“Just read a few weeks ago your book on Gorey and enjoyed it very much.”
CM, April 2010
Found on the back of Theroux’s revised THE STRANGE CASE OF EDWARD GOREY. Seems like it comes from a personal note, but it’s still a Cormac McCarthy blurb. kinda.
Kind of a salty bunch here today. Who wants to duck out and head over to the Lit Pub? I heard they’ve got beer.
salty nuts
we know ur jewish, jesus christ
was more referencing this thread http://htmlgiant.com/random/dad-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/ (sorry about the jewish thing… i forgot…)
cool, homie. like peter gabriel says, “don’t need any shield, when you’re out in the field.’ but i do suggest a bandana for the neck and some sunscreen. and one phrase that continues to help me in fields, “liar un porro, mae.’
ta.gg/55j
if that’s true then how come everybody who attempts to do as much fails miserably?
ta.gg/55j
xvr.in/O6
So, to write as if one is learned whatsoever is considered dusty? Or as you seem to prefer…I write this way despite my education. I have an education, but it’s not dusty. The education, I mean, not the rooms or desks. That’s why I don’t write from desks.
I like the way this resolved. Sometimes, insults and freakouts can lead to best-friendships. And I hope it does.
To further this whole mess, your using [sic] was a mistake: “[sic]” is used when a quoted item contains an error and the error is retained in the quotation. So, really you both made mistakes. To quote you, one would have to say “part-time [sic] [sic]…” which is kind of funny. Now, with a hearty laugh, we can all be friends.
Wait. How do you not listen to Tool because of their fans? Do you mean when you hear their music all you think about are their fans or their fans tried talked so much about Tool that you never listened? Or other?
This book took me four months to read, because every time I picked it up and read it killed me and I had to start my life all over again. This book crushed me in the awesomest (?) way.