Rudolf Nureyev

The Life

Julie Kavanagh author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:14th Mar '19

£14.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

Rudolf Nureyev cover

The incredible story of the 20th century's superstar ballet dancer, soon to be a major film by Ralph Fiennes.

NOW A MAJOR FILM BY RALPH FIENNES, THE WHITE CROW

'A gripping account of an extraordinary life' Daily Telegraph

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 1961; sparked Rudimania across the globe; 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. He and his life were simply astonishing.

'Magnificent, a triumph. Captures every facet of this extraordinary man' Mail on Sunday

'The definitive study of a man who, in his combination of aesthetic grace and psychological grime, can truly be called a sacred monster' Observer

'Undoubtedly the definitive biography' Sunday Telegraph

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 *

  • Short-listed for Whitbread Biography Award.
  • Short-listed for Theatre Book Prize.
  • Long-listed for Samuel Johnson Prize.

ISBN: 9780241986905

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 36mm

Weight: 613g

800 pages