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The first book of the year to challenge me was Cormac McCarthy’s very early work Child of God. McCarthy’s prose is challenging enough, lacking totally in quotation marks or much punctuation of any kind and full of extremely archaic words. It forces the reader to adapt their brain to a new form of language, and in doing so changes the way we think when we read his books. The subject matter of the book was the real difficulty. It is a book that tries to paint a pathetic, if not outright sympathetic picture of a depraved man living in the woods of Tennessee. Although it may sound trite, it can take extreme and disturbing works like McCarthy’s to remind us of the wide variety of the human condition. Not only is the poverty and low quality of the lives of many of the characters a shocking thing in the ‘60s, but the book also notes the disparity between the ideals and realities of people living in the area. The full depravity of humanity is put on display, but we are also reminded how equal we are. It tied in very well with the readings from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations that we are doing in Dr. Gregg’s class, as much of Aurelius’ thoughts were about the depravity of his fellow man, and how the best course of action when faced with such depravity is to steady one’s own path.
The second challenge came in Aldous Huxley’s Stranger in A Strange Land. Philosophically the novel mostly takes a side of skepticism. The novel’s most interesting character is a cross between Hugh Heffner and Socrates, a smart and cynical old man who lives in a mansion with three very pretty secretaries and wealth he generously shares with his friends. And if that doesn’t tell you this novel is from the 60’s I don’t know what would. Becoming familiar with Socrates through Plato’s Apology and Republic it was easy to spot the parallels being drawn and get a greater meaning from the character’s incessant cry of some variation on “But what if your idea is wrong”? The novel also made several choice references to The Republic in strange ways, referencing the famous mathematical passages of the work as well as the tests of the metals and the ship of state allegory. Although those references admittedly seem surface level, there is real challenging philosophy presented in the book, specifically around the very human issues of religion and sex. I came away from the novel not agreeing with its opinions, but appreciating the origin of the ideas and value they have.
I can only expect that Infinite Jest, Roots, and Cry, The Beloved Country will continue to push me to new points of view, historically, culturally, and philosophically. The programming offered by the center is a wonderful door to that, but for a point of view that it can be a little difficult to hear in person, the written word makes it easily accessible.
Bradfield Ross is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2026. He is studying philosophy, political science, and French at the University of Louisville.