Western novels in the style of McCarthy (dark, violent and biblical)

[hampusforev]

My favorite Dylan album is John Wesley Harding, and I just love that traditional western style. One of my favorite movies is also McCabe and Mrs. Miller. What are the essential violent and dark western novels? A plus would be if they are sort of tinged with that biblical, miltonic feeling that McCarthy paints Blood Meridian with.

Cheers!

[dfloyd]

might be the genre you're looking for. The Mormons were sort of Old Testamcent vengeful. Try Grey's Rider of the Purple Sage.

[MrRegular]

This kind of gives the wrong impression about McCarthy, Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men were the only two of his novels featuring any substantial amounts of violence. Suttre for example is a very calm walk through a man's life and Child of God is a view of the world through the eyes of a depraved back-woods necropheliac.

[Modest Proposal]

There is a Australian film called, "The Proposition", staring Guy Pierce which is loosely inspired/based off of McCarthy's "Blood Meridian."

MrRegular, have you by chance read "The Road?" I only ask because it is usually noted, along with "No Country..." and "Blood Meridian," as being one of McCarthy's most famous works and it is violent as well.

[sixsmith]

Suttre for example is a very calm walk through a man's life .

I must disagree. Suttree is a harrowing work in which violence, though never overt (or at least not to the extent of, say, Blood Meridian), is an unmistakable presence.

There is a Australian film called, "The Proposition", staring Guy Pierce which is loosely inspired/based off of McCarthy's "Blood Meridian."

A great film, though despite the significant thematic and historical commonalties, I wasn't aware it was inspired by McCarthy's novel.

To the OP: the work of William Gay may interest you. Writes squarely within the southern gothic tradition and shares much with McCarthy and, naturally, Faulkner.

[Bastable]

"And the *** Saw the Angel" is the first novel that comes to mind, it's set in the "west", and is very dark and full of biblical references. It was written by Nick Cave who also, coincidentally, wrote the aforementioned "The Proposition".

[hampusforev]

And The DONKEY(!) Saw The Angel, yes absolutely, I love it. I'm a huge Nick Cave fan, that's exactly what I'm looking for, although I've already read it...

I've been meaning to see The Proposition, Rider of the Purple Sage is supposedly very good, cheers for that one.

[dfloyd]

of the murders in Shelock Holmes' first case: A Study in Scarlet where some Mormons were involved in violent retribution.

[kelby_lake]

Sam Shepard's plays?

[hampusforev]

Really? I didn't know Shepard wrote about the west... I've been meaning to chekc out some of his plays so this might be a good time to do it. I know he wrote Paris, Texas, which is a great film, and also wrote some songs with Dylan.

Thanks, I just ordered McCarthy's border trilogy, Purple Riders, Streets of Laredo and The Virginian.

[dfloyd]

which you are getting. But don't give up on the Virginian. this is the only one which has true classic import. More than two movies have been made of The Virginian with the last two starring Gary Cooper and Joel McCrea. the movies, however, do not follow the book. A TV series was aired in the early sixties starring Doug McClure as Trampas and Lee J. Cobb as Judge Henry. The Virginian, about whom the book primarily revolves, was not often seen. the Virginian is a classic because the Owen Wister novel is about 100 years old, and it tells the story of the West's transition to law and order whereby cattlemen could not hang rustelers on their own initiative.

[kelby_lake]

Really? I didn't know Shepard wrote about the west... I've been meaning to chekc out some of his plays so this might be a good time to do it. I know he wrote Paris, Texas, which is a great film, and also wrote some songs with Dylan.
.

Fool For Love is a good one, about destructive lust. The film is slow and it's very strange but worth reading the play, certainly.

Oh- True West is a great one. It's about the rivalry between two brothers.

Buried Child is really, really weird.

[hampusforev]

A bit off topic, but perhaps better than just creating a new thread I reckon...
Are there any similar novels to Blood Meridian in terms of being just sheer terrifying? Man I was shaken by that one, the only one that I had a similar reaction to might have been Heart of Darkness, and some of Pinter's plays.

[Modest Proposal]

I don't think I've encountered anything like 'Blood Meridian' but, then again, I've read almost no westerns.

In terms of style, I might suggest something darkly beautiful like 'Absalom, Absalom!', even though it is less violent and more experimental.

[Quark]

What are the essential violent and dark western novels? A plus would be if they are sort of tinged with that biblical, miltonic feeling that McCarthy paints Blood Meridian with.

Steinbeck's East of Eden comes to mind: set in southern California, numerous biblical allusions and discussions, dark. It doesn't have as much violence as Blood Meridian (what does?), but there's certainly some there. It also shares McCarthy's focus on the gritty. I suppose it misses the Western genre by quite a ways, but it has some of the same elements. The prose might not be as strong McCarthy's, but the themes and ideas of Steinbeck's novel blow anything McCarthy wrote away.