Review of The Surrender of Man by Naomi Falk
I don’t really love the academia vibe at AWP but each year, I meet a goth or horror writer there that I end up clicking with and we become friends. At the last one I met Naomi Falk and felt a kinship with her as a fellow goth writer, musician, and publisher. We are a rare breed, so I was very curious to read her debut THE SURRENDER OF MAN.
I should also preface that I am terrible at writing about art especially books. I am very skilled at selling books to people whose job is to sell books—sales reps love me, which is a nice way of saying that I am a philistine who happens to love books. I do not have the gift like Naomi does to write eloquently and artfully about works of art.
Naomi’s book is very good because I read a book and it didn’t make me feel like Christoph the publisher. I felt instead like a vampire where years and cynicism were taken off of me and I remembered the idealism I used to feel in my early 20s about the power of art. To get swept up in Falk’s prose that has musicality and style and not have to think—how do I sell this to the reps? is a gift in itself. Speaking of the book reminded me of a more stylistic and theory centered THE GIFT by Lewis Hyde. Not in content but in the feelings both gave me on first read.
There is intimacy in this book that reminded me of when I was so hungry to understand how others viewed art. The book is mixed with theory and genuine love and admiration for each piece. Naomi’s prose feels like holding a life preserver from the abyss of hyper capitalism. I miss the idealism of loving art for the sake of art itself and this book gave me a healthy sadness that I don’t just have from being goth. It’s from surving publishing for over a decade and missing a part of me that has gotten loss in the work.
I honestly could have read Falk write about her favorite art pieces for another 200 pages. Each chapter works more as a mediatation and while there is a beginning, middle and end, each chapter focusing in a specific art work, there is not a traditional narrative, but an exploration where an ending or thesis if we want to get one near the end comes.
Art is a way to feel spiritually fufilled and prepare ourselves for death without God, and that is the big chunk of heart and thought I take away from this book. I relate with that ,and maybe both Noami and I wear all these artistic hats cause our head will feel likethey might float off without God anchoring them down.
I see making and enjoying art as a type of spirutal practice. This book inspired me and I leave you with this below. I am even worse at visual art than I am at book reviews but my toddler was facinsated with the book while I rewatched SMILE. Feeling inspired by his curosity and the iconic first death, I took a picture capturing innocence and death. Evil and death starred back at the screen and I smiled remembering life and art is a gift.
THE SURRENDER OF MAN IS A SMILE
PS I gave Falk’s book to Freddy cause they match but he’s dead and doesn’t care
