Nijinsky

81836 -$2.50-P0CKET The intimate life of the world-famous dancer whose meteoric career ended in madness ROMOLA NIJINSKY “ VASLAV NIJINSKY, the greatest male dancer of all time, had a meteoric career which lasted in all just ten years and ended abruptly when he was declared insane. . . . He was only twentynine when he was forced to discontinue his pro­ fession. The five years he danced in his native Russia and the five years abroad, in Europe and North and South America, were sufficient to establish him as among the immortals o f the dance. “ I have told the story o f this career— its origin, its great ten years, and its ending . . — Romola Nijinsky Are there paperbound books you want but cannot find in your retail stores? You can get any title in print in POCKET BOOK editions. Simply send retail price, local sales tax, if any, plus 35# per book to cover mailing and handling costs, to: MAIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT POCKET BOOKS • A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc# 1230 Avenue of the Americas • New York, New York 10020 Please send check or money order. We cannot be responsible for cash. Catalogue sent free on request. Titles in this series are also available at discounts in quantity lots for industrial or sales-promotional use. For details write our Special Products Department: Department AR, POCKET BOOKS, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020. NIJINSKY by Romola Nijinsky His Wife Foreword by Paul Claudel .A KANGAROO BOOK PUBLISHED BY POCKET BOOKS NEW YORK NIJINSKY PO CKET BO O K edition published February, 1972 3rd printing............................................October, 1977 This revised POCKET B OOK edition is printed from brand-new plates. POCKET BOOK editions are published by PO C K E T BOOKS, a Simon & Schuster Division of GULF & W ESTERN C O R P O R A T IO N , 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020. Trademarks registered in the United States and other countries. ISBN: 0-671-81836-8. This POCKET B OOK edition is published by arrangement with Simon & Schuster, Inc. Copyright, 1934, by Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of Gulf & Western Corporation. Copyright renewed, © , 1961, by Romola Nijinsky. All rights reserved. This book, or portions thereof, may not be reproduced by any means without permission of the original publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N .Y. 10020. Printed in the U.S.A. To the Memory of FREDERICA DEZENTJE WITHOUT WHOSE AFFECTION AND FRIENDSHIP THIS BOOK COULD NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I w ish to thank Madame Karsavina, Messieurs Legat, Fokine, Bolm, and Professor Roerich, for much valuable information and kind help. A lso Mr. Lincoln Kirstein, the editor of Hound and H orn, for his immense labour and patient researches into the history o f ballet. Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Arnold L. Haskell, the well-known English balletomane and critic, and Mr. Warren Zambra for their practical help in preparing this book. ROMOLA NIJINSKY CONTENTS FOREWORD xi PART ONE 1. MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE RUSSIAN BALLET 3 2. THE CHILDHOOD OF VASLAV NDINSKY 15 3. THE IMPERIAL SCHOOL OF DANCING 24 4. NIIINSKY AND THE MARIINSKY THEATRE 38 5. THE RUSSIAN RENAISSANCE 46 6. THE FIRST PARIS SEASON 63 7. THE FRIENDSHIP OF SERGEI DE DIAGHILEFF AND VASLAV NIJINSKY 79 8. NIJINSKY’S BREAK WITH THE MARIINSKY THEATRE 96 9. NUINSKY AS CHOREOGRAPHER 119 10. L’APRÈS-MIDI D’UN FAUNE 143 11. JEUX AND SACRE DU PRINTEMPS 154 12. NIJINSKY’S MARRIAGE 175 ix X C O N T E N