E. S. Dallaire's 'Metaphor & Reality'

In this episode of 'Metaphor & Reality', writer and entrepreneur E. S. Dallaire examines Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian'. Cormac McCarthy is consistently ranked among the best living writers, and 'Blood Meridian' is widely considered his masterpiece. E. S. Dallaire examines the book's themes, its narrative, and the philosophy advanced by one of the central characters within the framing of the expansionist doctrine prevalent in America at the time of the novel's setting. Though the novel is premised on real events and even real people, he makes the point that Cormac McCarthy is more a visionary writer than a historian or traditional storyteller, thus it was McCarthy's intention to comprehend all of nature and all of mankind in his portrayal of this time in history when America was pushing to expand its frontier onto the territories of Mexico and native tribes. It is in this context of 'novelist as visionary' that E. S. Dallaire interprets what the late critic Harold Bloom meant when he called 'Blood Mer