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August 10, 2004
TT: Two...one...
Speaking of All in the Dances, I just wrote and e-mailed to Harcourt, my publisher, a draft of the "flap copy," publisher-speak for the description of the book and its author that will appear on the dust jacket. Here's what I wrote:Martha Graham said that watching George Balanchine choreograph a ballet was like "watching light pass through a prism. The music passes through him, and in the same natural yet marvelous way that a prism refracts light, he refracts music into dance." Twenty years after his death, the ruthless, enigmatic founder of New York City Ballet still dominates the world of dance. He worked with Serge Diaghilev--and Sam Goldwyn. He made ballets to the music of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky--and to "The Stars and Stripes Forever." A Russian émigré who fell hopelessly in love with American culture, his four marriages and countless affairs (all of them with beautiful young ballerinas) became tabloid fodder. Though he turned ballet into a truly modern art, his plotless, seemingly abstract dances were as romantic as the genius who made them. "Put a man and a girl on the stage and there is already a story," Balanchine said. "A man and two girls, there's already a plot." In clear, elegant prose, Terry Teachout tells the dramatic story of the greatest choreographer of the 20th century--and explains why his ballets will be even more significant in the century to come.
I always feel a little squirmy about writing my own flap copy, but I think it's important enough to do myself, though I usually ask my publishers to send a preliminary draft. This time, they sent me 85 words, which I expanded and rewrote completely except for the part about "clear, elegant prose," which was their phrase, not mine. Of course I hope All in the Dances is written clearly and elegantly, but it's not for me to say. Still, I thought it moderate enough to let pass. Flap copy is unsigned, and as Dr. Johnson wisely pointed out, "In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath."
Presumably this draft will go through the wringer in San Diego and be sent back to me for revision. If not, it'll be poured into the layout for the dust jacket, which I should be seeing and approving some time in the next few days. Once that's done, there's nothing left to do but lock up the photo insert.
Have I said eeeeek yet?
Posted August 10, 2004 12:03 PM
