Jack Mason of The Perfume Nationalist returns to discuss Balaklava Book Club’s inaugural selection, John Haskell’s I am not Jackson Pollock.
To quote myself:
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.
Whereas most authors develop plot by establishing a chronology, this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens, Haskell is uninterested in this form of storytelling. His narrator lets you know it’s all already happened. Sometimes he juxtaposes two scenes from the same film or play to contrast them or show a recursion that runs through them. Sometimes he shows the same occurrence happening across multiple works, a film, a painting, an ancient myth.
When we destroy ourselves we probably know what we’re doing, and yet at the same time, for the destruction to proceed without resistance, we have to be unaware.
Whereas others would open with description or action, Haskell is here for exposé and editorial.
In his piece “The Judgment of Psycho” he writes, “When we destroy ourselves we probably know what we’re doing, and yet at the same time, for the destruction to proceed without resistance, we have to be unaware.”
Earlier he writes, “Janet Leigh was never completely naked during the filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, but she did have breasts. They’re hinted at and alluded to, never revealed exactly, but she did have them, and in a way it’s why she was killed.” Fun. At. Parties.
I kid but what I want to impart is that Haskell is not only a student of human behavior but a teacher of it. Our hopes, our lies, our bullshit, he sees it all and breaks it down. Some would say he’s negative but I would call him dispassionate.
The best way to learn about the book is to read it but one of the best advertisements for it can be read here in a piece called “The Genre Artist” where Ben Marcus details Haskell’s suspension of time. However, you can read and hear much of Haskell’s work here (his delivery is impeccable).
Jack and I also dive into:
Chia Pet Joe Rogans
Lab-grown George Floyds
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