NIJINSKY

by Richard Buckle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1972

Buckle, a leading authority on the Ballets Russes, has chosen the legendary dancer as his focus in a study encompassing the whole Diaghilev empire -- its creative intoxication, its gilded public, its scabbled finances and scandalous amours. It is a grandly exhaustive review of the spectacle, with details carefully drawn and collated from all the standard sources as well as the Diaghilev-Astruc correspondence and private interviews with a number of those involved. Yet, at its heart, Nijinsky himself remains inscrutably opaque. In fairness to Buckle, this is probably a reflection of the facts. His offstage presence was singularly unprepossessing; even Karsavina, who shared his triumphs, found him at first somewhat ""prosy and backward,"" and to Benois he seemed ""more like a shop assistant than a fairy-tale prince."" He was ingrown, stubborn rather than assertive, inarticulate save in the eloquence of his dancing; emotionally he was no match for the flamboyant, intriguing Diaghilev, who became his lover; and his ambitions as choreographer and ballet master were hobbled as much by his social ineptitude as by the radicalism of his vision. Although Buckle does give splendidly visual accounts of Nijinsky's roles and an intelligent appreciation of his choreography, it is not until the last quarter of the book, with the marriage which cost Nijinsky his career and his sanity, that we find an unobstructed view of the man.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION