« TT: Once more, with feeling | Main | TT: Freelancer's lament »
October 11, 2004
TT: Bull's-eye
I got this e-mail earlier today from my editor at Harcourt, publishers of All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine:ALL IN THE DANCES gets a starred and large and boxed (jointly with Bob Gottlieb's book) review in today's all-important Publishers Weekly--congratulations. It really couldn't be more prominent or positive and includes a cover shot.
Publishers have been known to put on a happy face when it comes to pre-publication reviews, but I just saw a fax of the Publishers Weekly box, and Harcourt wasn't kidding:
"Balanchine was every bit as important as Matisse," says literary critic Teachout (The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken), who writes for the viewer who doesn't know a passé from a pas de chat, but has, like Teachout, been "amazed" by one of Balanchine's works. His book is pithy, conversational and vivid, touching on all the major points of Balanchine's life....Balanchine's ballets are modern masterpieces, and Teachout, moving chronologically from work to work, uses them as stepping stones to tell Balanchine's own story. This is highly recommended as a first book on the life and art of George Balanchine for students and the general reader.
Once again, whooee!
Incidentally, "Bob Gottlieb's book" is Robert Gottlieb's George Balanchine: The Ballet Maker, a new volume in the Eminent Lives series that is being published by HarperCollins simultaneous with All in the Dances. I didn't know Gottlieb's book was in the works when I started writing my own life of Balanchine, but I couldn't be happier that both titles are coming out at the same time. I admire him hugely, both as an editor and as a dance critic, and I can't wait to read his take on Mr. B, which also got a triple-barrelled rave ("elegant, sharp, and sophisticated") from PW).
While I'm on the subject, I'm pleased to announce that Gottlieb and I are appearing jointly at seven p.m. on November 16 at Barnes & Noble on Union Square (the address is 33 E. 17th St.). Robert Greskovic, the eminent dance critic of The Wall Street Journal, will be chatting us up, followed by a joint signing. Come and say hello--and buy both books!
Posted October 11, 2004 2:34 AM
