Paul Imgrund (@paulimgrund)

True, what would have been considered over the top even 30 years ago is tame or average by today's standards. But we're at the zenith now; there isn't a way to get more graphic than has already been put to paper in the last few decades. And yes, Blood Meridian does hit different. The beautiful prosidy contrasts with the violencein those very passages. However, a graphic sex scene is different than a graphically violent one; the former can at times gain something from extra description, while the latter can only lose, any of the metaphysical meanings you allude to obscured by heaving breasts and throbbing phalluses. These explicit smutty details aren't there to advance the story. They are present to titillate. Great art doesn't titillate. Great art can be sensual and suggestive, but it's not something you masturbate to. I appreciate the nuance your article took with this issue compared to some of the comments on some of the other pieces that seemed to suggest pornography can be art too.