17. Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian

The American Novel Since 1945 (ENGL 291)

In this first of two lectures on Blood Meridian, Professor Hungerford walks us through some of the novel's major sources and influences, showing how McCarthy engages both literary tradition and American history, and indeed questions of origins and originality itself. The Bible, Moby-Dick, Paradise Lost, the poetry of William Wordsworth, and the historical narrative of Sam Chamberlain all contribute to the style and themes of this work that remains, in its own right, a provocative meditation on history, one that explores the very limits of narrative and human potential.

00:00 - Chapter 1. The Literary Tradition: Allusions and Revisions
08:49 - Chapter 2. Eradicating Interiority: "Moby Dick"
20:50 - Chapter 3. Modeling Evil: "Paradise Lost"
30:13 - Chapter 4: Rejecting Innocence: Wordsworth
34:59 - Chapter 5. Historical Sources: Samuel Chamberlin's "My Confession"

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2008.