John Sepich

This book is a compendium of literary criticism and background information about Cormac McCarthy's magnum opus, Blood Meridian. The contents of the book are divided into ten chapters with the first three providing an introduction, biographies of some of the main characters, and a discussion of the settings and sources for the novel. The remainder of the book includes topical essays; an addenda with translations of portions of the text that are in Spanish, French, and German; and a concordance of words and phrases, concluding with some accounts of historical massacres that are the basis for that aspect of the novel.

Needless to say, this is not a traditional work of literary criticism, but it provides a lot of valuable information for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the sources and potential meanings of the events described in Blood Meridian. That was my experience as I read it in conjunction with a rereading of the novel. It successfully fulfills the mission suggested by the title, Notes on Blood Meridian.… (más)

Sepich is, above all, an indefatigable researcher. Fascinating exploration of McCarthy's historical source material, the tarot reading and its implications for the novel as a whole, the Faustian "terrible covenant" at the heart of the book, how twentieth-century wars inform the nineteenth-century novel's themes, Jungian archetypes--among other things.

"Mexico and the United States, Catholicism and Protestantism, the unconscious and the conscious, the irrational and the rational, the kid and Holden, all quite real, all quite human, are layer upon layer in this book" (149).

Definitely makes you want to plunge into the hellish depths of Blood Meridian all over again.… (más)

There's a ton of information in here, but if you want it you'll have to read it cover to cover. Not sure I've ever even seen a book this poorly organized; it's not really a companion, since it doesn't go through the book page for page, but the essays which I think (?) are meant to synthesize the facts are borderline unreadable. They aren't arguments, most of them don't even stick to a theme - but they're full of quotations and hints that you might find useful. Basically, I'd take this out from the library along with 'Readers' Guide to Blood Meridian,' which is much more user friendly. Unfortunately, neither book will help you track down the many literary references in the book: and as McCarthy said, books are made of books.… (más)