A Reader's Guide to Blood Meridian

by Shane Schimpf, Art Chantry (Illustrator)

A Reader's Guide to Blood Meridian is the essential companion to the classic novel by Cormac McCarthy. Every reader, whether a student of literature or a fan of the book, will find a wealth of information in these pages. Shane Schimpf has researched every aspect of the novel from terminology to foreign language translations to historical references to literary underpinnings. The content is presented as a page-by-page analysis facilitating a simultaneous reading of both. The result is a more complete understanding of the novel and McCarthy's dark vision contained therein. Unlike other written works about the novel, A Reader's Guide to Blood Meridian
1) Chapter-by-chapter, page-by-page annotations to the novel.
2) A subject index which includes the initial appearance of major characters, references to historical figures, geographical locales, indigenous flora and fauna, biblical references and more.
3) A thematic overview of Blood Meridian exploring the relationship between the novel's two major figures, The Kid and The Judge. The first page of the annotations, reproduced below, offers an example of what the reader can expect to find in A Reader's Guide to Blood Meridian : CHAPTER ONE - PAGE 3
Nacogdoches : The oldest town in Texas, founded in 1779. Named after the Caddo Indians who originally lived in this area, Nacogdoches played a prominent role in Texas history; in particular, the town was the site of three failed attempts to establish the Republic of Texas. As a result, nine flags have flown over the Spanish, French, Mexican, The Magee-Guiterrez Repubic, The Long Republic, The Fredonia Republic, The Lone Star, The Confederate, and The United States. See cets.sfasu.edu/NacHis. html. Last visited on 04/08/2006.
An affray : A noisy quarrel or brawl.
See the child : Perhaps an allusion to Alexander Pope's Essay on Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law/Please with rattle, tickled with straw (274-5).

361 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book for my third read-through of Blood Meridian. I would recommend it regardless of the reader’s familiarity with the novel. The specific purpose of the guide is hard to pin down, but it services several needs to different degrees:

Definitions/translations: These are quite helpful, though the translations are not necessarily very nuanced. (E.g. the level of formality in certain Spanish words is not mentioned.) It’s nice to have a quick, offline, self-contained reference for the bizarre words McCarthy uses, as well as basic Spanish (and a couple other) translations, though.

Literary/historical context- The guide isn’t particularly comprehensive here. E.g., there are several instances where McCarthy is directly referencing things from Moby Dick that go unmentioned. On the flip side, you do get a lot of less obvious references pointed out. Schimpf has done a lot of digging into the primary sources McCarthy used and has identified what phrases come from where. You get a lot of interesting trivia/connections with this guide, but you’ll also miss some obvious points.

Philosophical/literary interpretation- This is another mixed bag. The Nietzsche/Freud/materialism stuff is well-argued and makes sense, though I’m skeptical of the kid’s role as a Christ figure. I think the book also mischaracterizes McCarthy’s personal philosophy as functionally nihilistic- He might believe there’s no objective meaning or morality or whatever, but some of his work (The Road comes to mind) advocates being better than the world, however bad it is.

I found this guide to be thought-provoking. If nothing else, it can save a good amount of time Googling stuff. I don’t think anyone can buy this and not find it at least moderately helpful.

[Michael Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhaustively researched companion to Blood Meridian, Schimpf has done an amazing job of running down every footnote, reference and allusion in Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece. Bonus points to Schimpf for organizing the index by subject. Highly recommended to any Cormac McCarthy fan.

[Маx Nestelieiev · Rating 5 out of 5]

дуже корисний довідник по роману, який доводить, що навіть американцям-філологам там не все зрозуміло. кілька помилок у Шимпфа теж є, бо мова КМ надто строката і вільна щодо орфографії. Але найвеселіші примітки Шимпфа звучать так: "Я не знайшов цього слова в словниках, напевно, воно означає..." Він зводить усе до ніцшеанської філософії, але сам же собі суперечить, коли зазначає, що це тільки один пласт (та й то не дуже переконливий) + якщо додати гностицизм і містицизм стає дещо зрозуміліше.

[Nathaniel Westermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I enjoyed the references to Gnostic tragedy interspersed throughout this analytical piece. A useful guide to understanding the myriad references to ancient works contained in this pieta of literature.

[Rune Qvist · Rating 4 out of 5]

The better of the two reader’s companion books, in my opinion. But it is pretty close.

[Kevin Larkin Angioli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schimpf makes an argument for Blood Meridian taking place in "a Nietzschean world where God has died" (3). I have no firsthand experience of Nietzsche, so I am not sure how well I will be able to judge Schimpf's argument. I bought it more for its annotations on the various allusions, strange words, place names, and historical references that are difficult to make out in Blood Meridian. To this end, the book is satisfactory so far, but it does not compare to Stoneback's Reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, which is a MUST READ for anyone reading The Sun Also Rises.

[Dickdeflange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good background information on Blood Meridian and an interesting opening interpretation, but overall, became tedious and was more of a reference than a readable work. Notes on Blood Meridian was much more worthwhile.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential; exhaustive; excellent.

[Kevin Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful while read Blood Meridian.