Rudolf Nureyev
The Life
Published on 3. July 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
848 pages
978-0-14-102969-6 (ISBN)
Description
Born on a train in Stalin's Russia, Rudolf Nureyev was ballet's first pop icon. No other dancer of our time has generated the same excitement - both on and off stage.
Nureyev's achievements and conquests became legendary: he rose out of Tatar peasant poverty to become the Kirov's thrilling maverick star; slept with his beloved mentor's wife; defected to the West in l961; sparked Rudimania across the globe; gave his rabid sexuality full reign; established the most rhapsodic partnership in dance history with the middle-aged Margot Fonteyn; reinvented male technique; gatecrashed modern dance; moulded new stars; and staged Russia's unknown ballet masterpieces in the West.
Julie Kavanagh's uncompromising and magnificent biography, ten years in the making, is a brilliant tribute to a superstar the world can never forget.
Nureyev's achievements and conquests became legendary: he rose out of Tatar peasant poverty to become the Kirov's thrilling maverick star; slept with his beloved mentor's wife; defected to the West in l961; sparked Rudimania across the globe; gave his rabid sexuality full reign; established the most rhapsodic partnership in dance history with the middle-aged Margot Fonteyn; reinvented male technique; gatecrashed modern dance; moulded new stars; and staged Russia's unknown ballet masterpieces in the West.
Julie Kavanagh's uncompromising and magnificent biography, ten years in the making, is a brilliant tribute to a superstar the world can never forget.
Reviews / Votes
Magnificent, compulsively readable * Guardian * A gripping account of an extraordinary life * Daily Telegraph * Magnificent, a triumph. Captures every facet of this extraordinary man * Mail on Sunday * Undoubtedly the definitive biography. Rudolf Nureyev, superstar, emerges in all his terribly flawed glory * Sunday Telegraph * The definitive study of a man who, in his combination of aesthetic grace and psychological grime, can truly be called a sacred monster * Observer * Julie Kavanagh writes with flair and abundance * The Sunday Times * The definitive biography, a gripping account of an extraordinary life -- Lynn Barber * Telegraph * She writes with flair and abundance * The Sunday Times * Undoubtedly the definitive biography. Rudolf Nureyev, superstar, emerges in all his terribly flawed glory * Sunday Telegraph *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
3 x 16 page insets b&w photos
Dimensions
Height: 1 mm
Width: 1 mm
Thickness: 1 mm
Weight
145 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-102969-6 (9780141029696)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2013
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€10.99
Available for download
Person
Julie Kavanagh trained as a dancer at the Royal Ballet School, and is the author of Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton. She has worked as ballet critic of The Spectator; Arts Editor of Harpers & Queen; and London Editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She is married to the ex-Royal Ballet dancer, now dance film maker, Ross MacGibbon, and has two sons.