garybruce Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I always forget about this book until this thread is revived.I think all of my anxiety is focused on Robert Caro's progress on the volume about Lyndon Johnson's presidency. I think you've misplaced your anxiety Link to comment
Phaedra392 Posted October 3, 2008 Author Share Posted October 3, 2008 Well, I may be an idiot, but I just ordered this book from www.chaos.com. I can't imagine why it would be available in Australia but not in the U.S. If the book ever arrives, I'll post here. My fingers are firmly crossed. Link to comment
bart Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Good luck, Phaedra391. I hope you'll be able to post good news. Let's hope that the name "chaos" isn't an accurate description of the way they do business. Does anyone else have further news on this long-awaited book? Link to comment
dirac Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 I suspect problems on the author's end. Writer's block, illness, who knows. But I wouldn't hold my breath for this one. Would be happy to be wrong. Link to comment
Phaedra392 Posted December 1, 2008 Author Share Posted December 1, 2008 Well, I'm reporting back on my attempt to obtain the Croce book on Balanchine from chaos.com, one of two Australian sites that listed the book for sale. It was all a mistake, of course -- the book has not been released. I ordered it, paid over $60 for it, and waited. Nothing. After an inquiry by e-mail, chaos conceded that the book was "not currently available" and refunded my money. So although I lost nothing in the end, my hopes were cruelly dashed once again. I'm back to checking amazon.com on a regular basis, but it's getting harder to believe that this volume will ever see the light of day. I want it too badly to give up, though. If it's not ever going to be published, I wish someone would announce that fact so I could stop all this ridiculous waiting. I think I first heard about it nearly six years ago. *** sigh *** Link to comment
carbro Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Thanks for your update/caveat, Phaedra. I'm relieved to hear that you got your money back. With a vendor named Chaos, I would not have been surprised if you'd seen the last of those sixty bucks! Their offering of a yet nonexistent item is a clue that the moniker fits. If it's any comfort, you are not alone in your impatience and frustration. Link to comment
bart Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 It surprises me how little information turns up when you Google various combinations of Croce and anything like "book on Balanchine." Most of it actually seems to come from Ballet Talk! There seems to be a wall of silence on this one, which surprises me in a world so rumor-ridden as publishing. Of course we don't want to post gossip or supposition, but I'm bewildered by a situation in which books are being offered for sale with no real discussion of them in the legitimate book press. Or am I missing something? Link to comment
Alexandra Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Phaedra, maybe if you give up, put a sign in your book case that says, "No longer reserved for the nonexistence Croce book," it will appear I first heard about it a few years before Balanchine died, and that's a year or two ago! I think why it keeps appearing as a book available for sale is that it is on the publishers' spring, summer, fall, winter, list. Everyone's prepared for it, then it doesn't happen, and the "book not available at this time" sign goes up. (I don't know what's happening with this one, but what I've written applies generally.) Link to comment
carbro Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 For a while it was listed as an upcoming release on the FSG website, but not now -- nor anywhere on the Macmillan site. Not encouraging at all. Link to comment
kfw Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Perhaps if we start a petition and deputize rg to bring her the signatures . . . Link to comment
dirac Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Good idea, but not likely the delay is due to Croce requiring more encouragement - I'm sure she knows this book is eagerly anticipated. Something else is going on, I expect. Link to comment
kfw Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Good idea, but not likely the delay is due to Croce requiring more encouragement - I'm sure she knows this book is eagerly anticipated. Something else is going on, I expect. Oh, I agree. Just a wee joke on my part. Link to comment
bart Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 I think why it keeps appearing as a book available for sale is that it is on the publishers' spring, summer, fall, winter, list. Everyone's prepared for it, then it doesn't happen, and the "book not available at this time" sign goes up. (I don't know what's happening with this one, but what I've written applies generally.)This makes sense to me, at least as far as the continued advertising of "advanced sale." Thanks, Alexandra. Link to comment
kfw Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 No I'm not posting to announce the imminent publication of the book, sorry. Given how long we've waited, who could believe it if I did? It's just that I've just been reading an interview with Robert Gottlieb in the Paris Review. The intro says he has been working on "Arlene Croce’s study of Balanchine." The date the interview was published? Fall 1994. Link to comment
miliosr Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 From a June 1985 Dance Magazine news story about Guggenheim Awards winner Arlene Croce: Croce . . . is writing a book on the ballets of George Balanchine. "It's going to be a concentrated study of Balanchine's methods and technique," Croce said. 'But the work won't really start until the fall." 36 years and counting . . . it's the Chinese Democracy of dance books! Link to comment
dirac Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Interesting to speculate on the reasons - writer's block? Or maybe Croce wasn't/isn't suited to the long form? Maybe there's a lot of material waiting to be cobbled together. Hard to imagine, if they got as far as announcing publication. In any case, I wish her long life and health, and I'm sorry we never got the book. Link to comment
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