Date: 21 August 2016
Location: Jay & Gina
A baker’s dozen of the Bookers gathered at Jay & Gina’s on a surprisingly pleasant (for August in Alabama) Sunday afternoon to discuss Harbach’s The Art of Fielding.
Bonnie had recommended the book after our discussion of Moby-Dick, largely because of the book’s references to Herman Melville. In the novel Melville had made a speech at Westish College, and the college president had gained considerable recognition years earlier with his discovery and publishing of Melville’s speech. The college had enthusiastically celebrated Melville’s visit, erecting his statue on campus and naming the baseball team The Harpooners. Throughout the book there were numerous references to Melville and his work, culminating with a “burial at sea” (so to speak) in the final pages.
The story centered around five main characters at the college over a period of several years. The principal protagonists included: Henry – a superb baseball shortstop who never made errors; Mike – Henry’s friend, team leader and catcher; Owen – Henry’s homosexual roommate and right fielder; Guert – Westish College president; and Pella – Guert’s daughter.
For about the first half of the book, everything seemed to be progressing just fine–too well in fact–but of course we all knew that train wrecks were on the horizon. Sure enough, all sorts of emotional, psychological, and even existential problems began arising. Each of the main characters experienced major upheavals as events “veered” out of control – much like Henry’s throw to first that seriously injured Owen.
Our responses to the book varied rather widely, with those who had played or enjoyed baseball appreciating the book a little more than others. Many of us felt the book was overly long–perhaps because Harbach so fervently pursued political correctness, ensuring that every possible ethnic and minority was represented, even to the annoying extent of calling first-year students “freshpersons”. Some of us also found the sexually explicit passages, especially the homosexual activity, rather off-putting, but in general the dialog was pretty good. Probably our main topics of discussion were the emotional and psychological factors driving Guert in his incredibly risky relationship with Owen and of course Henry’s sudden collapse in confidence and the resulting impact on all of the characters.
As is usually the case, our discussion drifted rather far afield to include the use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes. We finished up with a fine meal of sausage and pepper sandwiches topped off with banana pudding and peach crisp. A good day, with good food, and good friends!
—Bob