My Life

by Isadora Duncan, Joan Acocella (Introduction)

Overview

A remarkable account of a wildly artistic life, finally restored to its unexpurgated form, with a revealing new introduction by Joan Acocella.

The visionary choreographer and dancer Isadora Duncan (1877–1927) not only revolutionized dance in the twentieth century but blazed a path for other visionaries who would follow in her wake. While many biographies have explored Duncan’s crucial role as one of the founders of modern dance, no other book has proved as critical—as both historical record and vivid evocation of a riveting life—as her autobiography. From her early enchantment with classical music and poetry to her great successes abroad, to her sensational love affairs and headline-grabbing personal tragedies, Duncan’s story is a dramatic one. My Life still stands alone as “a great document, revealing the truth of her life as she understood it, without reticence or apology or compromise” (New York Herald Tribune). Now, in this fully restored edition, with its risqué recollections and fervent idealism, My Life can be appreciated by a new generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780871403186
Publisher:	Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	05/27/2013
Edition description:	Revised and Updated
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	1,101,780
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Isadora Duncan was one of the primary founders of modern dance. Born in California, she lived throughout Europe from the age of twenty-two until her death at fifty

Joan Acocella, author of Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, is the dance critic for The New Yorker.

Table of Contents

Introduction Joan Acocella vii

The Legacy of Isadora Dorée Duncan xxiii

Chronology xxix

Author's Introductory xxxi

My Life 1

What People are Saying About This

Agnes de Mille

Isadora was a wild voluptuary, a true revolutionary. She flouted every tradition. . . . She alone and unhelped changed the direction of her entire art.

Editorial Reviews

"For dance aficionados, Isadora Duncan's memoir My Life, with an introduction by Joan Acocella, completes the portrait of one of the twentieth century's most unforgettably Dionysian figures by restoring the bits originally deemed too spicy for print."

Vogue.com - Megan O’Grady

"It is a splendid book, an inspiring book, doors and windows and eyes and arms wide open to the world."

London Review of Books - Laura Jacobs

The legendary autobiography, with all the naughty bits restored. Actually, even the expurgated version of modern-dance pioneer Duncan's account of her life, loves and art was frank enough to make it a scandalous success in 1927, the year she died at age 50. The passages deleted generally featured the names of people still alive or practices then considered beyond the pale, such as homosexuality or masturbation. (The sentences left in about unabashedly lesbian dancer Loie Fuller are often as obviously indicative of her sex life as the ones that were omitted.) The inclusion of this material doesn't substantively change the nature of Duncan's book, which remains one of the great documents of early-20th-century bohemianism and radicalism. She despised marriage, money and the bourgeoisie; she lived for Art (always with a capital A). Duncan's unashamed self-love would have been absurd if she hadn't expressed the same enthusiasm for other artists: Fuller, Eleanora Duse and Cosima Wagner are among the strong-minded women for whom she voices vivid appreciation; actors Henry Irving and Jean Mounet-Sully are among the men. The author's portrait of visionary theatrical designer Gordon Craig, father of her first child, rings with fervent admiration for his genius as it unforgettably captures the domineering personality Duncan had to flee. Dance critic Joan Acocella's surprisingly grudging introduction focuses on Duncan's admitted solipsism and "willed naïveté," somewhat at the expense of her groundbreaking impact as a dancer and a free woman. Yes, it was ridiculous of Duncan to think she had the right to teach modern Greeks how to dance and sing in the manner of their ancestors, and, yes, her endless recitations of the accolades showered on her get wearisome. But Isadora's sublime faith in herself as a genius was the force that drove her life, and it gives her memoir its marvelous flavor. A welcome new edition of a classic.

Kirkus Reviews

"Her memoirs constitute a great document, revealing the truth of her life as she understood it, without reticence or apology or compromise."

NY Herald Tribune

"Sensational reading."

NY Times Book Review

"Isadora was a wild voluptuary, a true revolutionary. She flouted every tradition. . . . She alone and unhelped changed the direction of her entire art."

Agnes de Mille

"Fascinating, even sensational reading."

New York Times