dirac

Minor point of usage: I assume that Kudelka means the “masterly” Suzanne and not the “masterful” one. She may very well be masterful on occasion as it’s called for, but I don’t think Kudelka meant to describe her so in this context. Looking forward to the production!

(Faye Dunaway Mommie Dearest Voice): “NO MORE ROMEO AND JULIET! EVER!!!!!” I agree -- the programming is utterly unadventurous and heavily reliant on full length ballets (although I appreciated the Kirov's Fokine mixed bill, last time around). I understand their reasoning, but, but. In the best of all possible worlds, I would like to see visiting companies do the things that they most value and that make them special. It’s not that I don’t want to see the Royal in Swan Lake, for example, but how much more special to see them in A Month in the Country or Enigma Variations.

Joseph Berger discusses Bellow’s equivocal relationship with New York, for the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/07/books/07...ml?pagewanted=1

I thought that was a good point, also. Gore Vidal used to refer to them as the Jewish Giants (no harm intended, he was a friend of Bellow’s). It seems to me, though, that the new immigrants won’t necessarily have the impact they did. The place of the novelist in our culture has changed, for one thing.

From The New York Observer, a paragraph noting Bellow’s passing. Some interesting quotes from James Atlas, author of Bellow’s biography (a good book, although it does become apparent that Atlas wound up not liking his subject very much).: http://www.observer.com/pages/transom.asp

I've only seen one Dracula, and not onstage -- I suppose I ought to go for sociological if not aesthetic purposes, but I haven't. And thank goodness my local company, San Francisco Ballet, hasn't yet been driven to such expedients. As Alexandra says, there really is no reason why a Dracula ballet can't be as good as any other. It may be that the subject has acquired a sheen of kitsch that can't be removed at this late date and it is impossible to look at the story de novo, so to speak. I did admire the Royal Winnipeg production as seen in Guy Maddin's "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary,"although it wasn't really possible to get an idea from it as to what the stage production was really like. And no one who hires Maddin can be accused of wanting to make a fast buck.

Salon reprints this opinionated overview of Bellow’s oeuvre: http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2005/04/06/saul_bellow/

For the Guardian, Robert Hughes reflects on the work of R. Crumb: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/crumb/story...1431910,00.html

The New Republic reprints online Robert Penn Warren's review of The Adventures of Augie March, from 1953: http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi%3Dclassic...%3Dwarren110253

You're very welcome. Thanks for starting a discussion. One thing I don't think the obit mentions is that Bellow's first language was not English, but Yiddish -- so this most American of writers had not only an adopted country but an adopted language.

It's a conclusion I came to after long and regretful thought. I spent a lot of time while I was in college defending him, too. I wasn't talking about Bellow's last marriage, actually,only the one in Ravelstein.

For a biographer to let words and actions speak for themselves can be an effective tactic, but while reading the book I sometimes found myself thinking, "Stop being so self-effacing! Tell us what you really think!"

Deborah Voigt recently underwent gastric bypass surgery, a very serious move. Things seem to be going well for her, so far: http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=25340 Bernard Holland, in the Times, says she sounds just fine: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/arts/music/06verd.html

An obituary, from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=8095866 From The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/books/06bellow.html? Although most of the obits I’ve seen give pride of place to Bellow’s more famous and characteristic works– The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, and Humboldt’s Gift – this one, instructively, quotes V.S. Pritchett on the early works The Victim and Seize the Day, wonderful books both. My own particular favorite is Henderson the Rain King, which maybe doesn’t quite come off as a whole but is a novel of great imagination and humor. Henderson is a great character, and there is also a memorable African king. Lovely book. I didn’t care for his later work as much, although it was impressive that he continued to produce valuable work well into his eighties. In later novels the misogyny that’s always lurking comes to the the fore more baldly and does not always make for pleasant reading. (In Ravelstein, to give only one example, the wicked ex-wife is criticized for, among other things, her inability to sniff melons for freshness. Our hero trades her in for an even younger wife, who’s not as good looking, it’s noted, but is willing to devote all her time and energy to Her Man.)

I agree, alas. Of course, any record of the past is valuable, but it would be no great disservice to Fonteyn or Nureyev if this one went missing. (Nothing personal, Solor, different people see different things, it's what makes life interesting. )

I enjoyed the book very much. I didn't think Brady was expressing bitterness or anger so much as a love-hate and abiding fascination with ballet. I enjoyed her novel "Theory of War," which is indeed out of print, I think. Her new book is a thriller (unrelated to dance, apparently). Joan Brady and her son, Alexander Masters, who is mentioned in “The Unmaking of a Dancer,” by coincidence have their new books published on the same day: http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/...1451977,00.html

Yes. And too much attention is paid to the leg in the air, as opposed to what the blade is doing (or not doing) on the ice.

The ending of the story might have been kind, but it appears to have been rough going on the way. Hayden told Robert Tracy that Balanchine took a role from her on the grounds that she was too old for it, and for some years before her retirement he apparently made it clear in other ways that she should get out of the way. I also seem to remember B.H. Haggin reporting that the last straw for Violette Verdy came when Balanchine handed her role in “Emeralds” to Christine Redpath.

In Taper's defense, his book grew out of a long profile in The New Yorker, and so it's natural that his view would not be of the "warts-and-all" kind. You could argue that the true interest of his book lies in the fact that it is largely Balanchine's story as Balanchine wanted it to be told. Gottlieb says that the Taper and Buckle books are "complementary" as I recall; he's correct in that you should read both of them, but I think Teachout is more accurate when he suggests neither book is really adequate.

Most of us are in denial about the loss of our faculties and capabilities as we age, to some extent, but one of the benefits of obscurity is that we delude ourselves in private. Dancers (and athletes) must face the hard facts of physical decline much sooner, and in public. In a sense they enact for us this decline, and when we say, “So-and-so should have quit years ago!” sometimes we’re actually saying, “So-and-so should have quit years ago, so I could always think of her in her prime without having to acknowledge the fact of aging.” Farrell didn’t really dance as long as she might have – her hip injury began making its presence known when she was thirty-eight, I believe. (With the demands of her extraordinary repertory, I doubt if she would have made it to fifty, even in perfect health.)

Stephen Fry would be an interesting choice for Lambert, but it’s important to cast someone plausible in movie terms. If you cast Firth, then everyone will be able to understand why Margot moons after him for years, even if he is a fat drunk. If you cast Fry, the audience will think she’s bananas. As mentioned, however, I hope this project as currently described doesn’t get off the ground. “De-Lovely” was ghastly enough. I can’t sit through another one.

Better late than never. Welcome to the topic.

I've never read anywhere that Balanchine was a rider. I'd be curious to know, too.