Balaklava Book Club & Mystery Guest Appearance

November 16th: Paid Subscribers Only

Balaklava Book Club

Balaklava Book Club will commence at 12:00 pm Central on Saturday, November 16th and end no later than 2:00 pm.

For our first selection, we will discuss John Haskell’s I am not Jackson Pollock.

It’s fiction for people who don’t read fiction, and nonfiction for people who can’t be bothered with it. In fact, if you find yourself in that thin slice of the population who’s high IQ but indulges in too much TV and film, this is the book for you. Haskell’s language is plain, but he’s a master of motif and leitmotif and, in this way, he’s also musical. Yes, I’ve pitched him as all things to all people, but who he’s not for is dummies. His language is plain but his insights are profound. Haskell likes to clarify dark truths about the human condition rather than mystify mundane ones.

The book consists of short vignettes, many of them touching on classic films such as Psycho, and The Exorcist, but he also writes about The Trojan War, Joan of Arc, and Laika, the first dog in space. You don’t have to have seen any of the films Haskell describes, although it will make you like the films more after you read him. And you don’t have to have any history background at all since Haskell is less interested in the artifactuality of the Trojan War and is instead interested in Helen, Athena, and Aphrodite’s power over men. Haskell does for humans what Werner Herzog does for the animal kingdom. Haskell observes the dynamics between people but can also dip into their consciousnesses. While others ask how victims can fall in love with their captors, Haskell asks if it isn’t inevitable.

I’m saving most of my description, editorial, and Haskell’s truly banger lines for the 16th, but will say: The man has mommy issues; he knows a lot; and his great skill is paring things down to their barest expression, excising all the noise, and distilling them into images portraying truths you aren’t supposed to know or consider. Am I selling you on the book or the book club, you may ask.

A true rhetorician never tells.

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Some notes on decorum

• We will meet via Zoom (link to come).

• You may keep your camera on or off and wear any facemask, sheisty, balaklava, or other bondagewear as is your choice. If you are a face nudist, we will judge, but ultimately accept you.

• You may bring coffee, alcohol, nicotine, or cannabis to class but you should pull yourself together a little and have pithy things to say.

• I suggest reading the whole book but we will likely not spend time on the first or last piece.

• You must be a PAID subscriber to participate.

Special private podcast episode