Dancer (Picador Modern Classics) - Softcover

McCann, Colum

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1250051797 ISBN 13: 9781250051790

Publisher: Picador USA, 2015

Synopsis

Taking his inspiration from biographical facts, novelist Colum McCann tells the erotically charged story of the Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev through the cast of those who knew him: there is Anna Vasileva, Rudi's first ballet teacher, who rescues her protege from the stunted life of his provincial town; Yulia, whose sexual and artistic ambitions are thwarted by her Soviet-sanctioned marriage; and Victor, the Venezuelan street hustler, who reveals the lurid underside of the gay celebrity set. Spanning four decades and many worlds, from the horrors of the Second World War to the wild abandon of New York in the eighties, Dancer is peopled by a large cast of characters, obscure and famous: doormen and shoemakers, nurses and translators, Margot Fonteyn, Eric Bruhn and John Lennon. And at the heart of the spectacle stands the artist himself, willful, lustful, and driven by a never-to-be-met need for perfection.

About this title

Review:

Dancer, like Colum McCann's previous novels This Side of Brightness and Songdogs, is an elegant weave of historical fact and fictional imagining. Here his central character is the late, great, Rudolf Nureyev--the Soviet dancer who defected to the West at the height of the Cold War, partnered Margot Fonteyn and became ballet's first international male superstar. The "real" Nureyev remains an enigmatic, even iconic figure--as infamous for his petulance, lavish lifestyle, voracious sexual appetite and tragic AIDS-related death as for his dancing. McCann wisely eschews a straightforward account of Rudolf's outrageous life. His sympathetic portrait of the priapic star, which seems oddly weak on dance itself but certainly has scenes to rival The Satyricon, is ingeniously discursive. Nureyev is often more omnipresent than actually present--his story related through a serious of diary entries, reports and different narrative perspectives and voices, including the dancer's own. (On occasions, he even briefly drops from view entirely and the travails of his family, friends and his mentors, the Vasilevas, come to the fore.)

Divided into four loosely chronological sections, the novel spans the length of Nureyev's dancing career, opening in Stalin's war-ravaged Russia, where the young Rudolf earned sugar lumps for entertaining wounded soldiers, and closing with his last sickly, performance and a final, fleeting, visit home. Exile and displacement are really the chief themes of the book and McCann's Nureyev is a man scarred and agitated by the decision to abandon his homeland. "I dance", he notes at one point, "so much--too much--in order not to think of home". McCann seems to imply, however, that it is his disapproving father, who never saw him dance, who fuelled his relentless ambition. Forays into cod-Freudian psychoanalysis aside, this gripping reinvention of Nureyev, rich in period detail and characterisation, is well conceived, marvellously wrought and eminently readable. --Travis Elborough

Review:

"A beautiful, floating novel about Nureyev's life and art."--"The New York Times Book Review"

"Exuberant and exhilarating . . . A brilliant leap of imagination."--"San Francisco Chronicle"

"The goal of a book like this is to catch the spirit of the person and his age. It's a tall order, and one that "Dancer "pulls off brilliantly."--"The Seattle Times"

"Fascinating . . . A triumph of voice . . . McCann's fluid lyricism brilliantly convey's Nureyev's towering professional achievement and the wasteland of his personal life."--"Newsday"

"A monumental life . . . Stylistically, Dancer is a leap itself." --"Los Angeles Times"

"An engrossing portrait of a man so complex that no mere biography could possibly convey more than a sliver of his personality. . . . The Nureyev who strides impatiently through its pages seems entirely convincing." --Terry Teachout, "The Baltimore Sun"

"Every sentence sounds new and beautiful, no matter how often it's read."--"USA Today"

""Dancer "is the most breathtaking tribute to Nureyev since Jamie Wyeth's famous paintings."--"Esquire"

"Dazzling . . . an intimate portrait . . . "Dancer "is bigger than the dance, bigger than biography, too. . . . Relish McCann's dizzy, fascinating glimpse."--"Miami Herald"

A beautiful, floating novel about Nureyev's life and art. "The New York Times Book Review"

Exuberant and exhilarating . . . A brilliant leap of imagination. "San Francisco Chronicle"

The goal of a book like this is to catch the spirit of the person and his age. It's a tall order, and one that "Dancer "pulls off brilliantly. "The Seattle Times"

Fascinating . . . A triumph of voice . . . McCann's fluid lyricism brilliantly convey's Nureyev's towering professional achievement and the wasteland of his personal life. "Newsday"

A monumental life . . . Stylistically, Dancer is a leap itself. "Los Angeles Times"

An engrossing portrait of a man so complex that no mere biography could possibly convey more than a sliver of his personality. . . . The Nureyev who strides impatiently through its pages seems entirely convincing. "Terry Teachout, The Baltimore Sun"

Every sentence sounds new and beautiful, no matter how often it's read. "USA Today"

"Dancer "is the most breathtaking tribute to Nureyev since Jamie Wyeth's famous paintings. "Esquire"

Dazzling . . . an intimate portrait . . . "Dancer "is bigger than the dance, bigger than biography, too. . . . Relish McCann's dizzy, fascinating glimpse. "Miami Herald""

"A beautiful, floating novel about Nureyev's life and art." --The New York Times Book Review

"Exuberant and exhilarating . . . A brilliant leap of imagination." --San Francisco Chronicle

"The goal of a book like this is to catch the spirit of the person and his age. It's a tall order, and one that Dancer pulls off brilliantly." --The Seattle Times

"Fascinating . . . A triumph of voice . . . McCann's fluid lyricism brilliantly convey's Nureyev's towering professional achievement and the wasteland of his personal life." --Newsday

"A monumental life . . . Stylistically, Dancer is a leap itself." --Los Angeles Times

"An engrossing portrait of a man so complex that no mere biography could possibly convey more than a sliver of his personality. . . . The Nureyev who strides impatiently through its pages seems entirely convincing." --Terry Teachout, The Baltimore Sun

"Every sentence sounds new and beautiful, no matter how often it's read." --USA Today

"Dancer is the most breathtaking tribute to Nureyev since Jamie Wyeth's famous paintings." --Esquire

"Dazzling . . . an intimate portrait . . . Dancer is bigger than the dance, bigger than biography, too. . . . Relish McCann's dizzy, fascinating glimpse." --Miami Herald

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador USA
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1250051797
• ISBN 13: 9781250051790
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352