{"product_id":"trying-to-be-a-collection-paperback","title":"Trying to Be: A Collection - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJohn Haskell\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith lyrical precision and aching intimacy, Trying to Be moves through history, memory, and the performance of ephemeral identity, as John Haskell assembles a quiet manifesto for how to think, how to live, and how to feel ourselves in our bodies.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTrying to Be \u003c\/i\u003eis a book about presence, absence, and the intricate art of inhabiting one's own life. John Haskell--known for his genre-defying literary voice--moves through a series of intimate, sharply observed portraits: Francis Bacon and his doomed lover; Danny Kaye and his split personality; Sophia Loren; Diego Velázquez; Ulrike Meinhof; and Yvonne Rainer's radical reinvention of what dance can be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut this isn't cultural commentary as ornament. These figures mirror Haskell's own attempts to grapple with grief, estrangement, memory, and the failures of language. The result is a book that blurs the line between criticism and confession, art history and personal inventory. Whether recalling a botched friendship, a beloved mentor, or the carefully choreographed movement in a dance workshop, Haskell searches for new ways of becoming--through art, through awareness, through stories that have the quality of song. In prose that's quiet but unflinching, \u003ci\u003e Trying to Be\u003c\/i\u003e asks: What do we do with our bodies, our memories, and our regrets when even language feels exhausted? And what happens when, against the odds, we keep going?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Haskell\u003c\/b\u003e is author of \u003ci\u003eI Am Not Jackson Pollock, American Purgatorio, Out of My Skin\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Complete Ballet\u003c\/i\u003e. He has written on art and dance, is a contributing editor at \u003ci\u003eBOMB\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eA Public Space\u003c\/i\u003e, is the recipient of NYFA grants and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and has taught writing and literature in Los Angeles, New York, and Leipzig.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 124\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.27 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 15, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45447773323308,"sku":"9781573662147","price":21.83,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/6260\/8940\/files\/J_jCVyjXcV9781573662147.webp?v=1775983784","url":"https:\/\/littleredgeneralstore.com\/products\/trying-to-be-a-collection-paperback","provider":"Little Red General Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}