Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West is a novel written by American author Cormac McCarthy. A Western novel published in 1985, it is generally seen as one of McCarthy's finest books, if not his best. Earning little notice upon its initial publication, Blood Meridian has since seen high praise. Set primarily in 1849 and 1850, Blood Meridian is a fictionalized account of the Glanton gang, a group of scalp hunters who massacred Indians and others on the Texas-Mexico borderlands in 1849 and 1850. A large portion is based on Samuel Chamberlain's My Confession, which has been criticized as unreliable, but the book is historically accurate in general, and includes numerous references to contemporary occurances. The novel's principal antagonist, the demonic Judge Holden, first appeared in Chamberlain's account, though his real identity remains a mystery. Awash with extreme violence, McCarthy's prose is sparse yet expansive, with an often biblical quality and frequent religious references. The notoriously publicity-shy McCarthy has not granted interviews regarding the novel, and the work is open to several interpretations.