The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky (Penguin Modern Classics) Book

The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky is the result of the world-famous male dancer's final six weeks before his permanent consignment to an insane asylum in early 1919 and reveals him to be something of a madman in the attic. With his family--wife, young daughters and (occasionally) mother-in-law--and household staff downstairs the legendary dancer retreated to his room in a remote Swiss villa to tangle with his burgeoning psychosis. Fearful that his wife would (as she ultimately did) commit him and highly suspicious of the doctor-cum-amateur psychiatrist who daily came by to examine him Nijinsky perceived the diary as the only safe haven for the rambling thoughts that were overtaking him. Throughout, the anxiety and anguish are palpable as Nijinsky writes about his disillusionment with his mentor and lover, Ballets Russes director Serge Diaghilev; his alienation from and distrust of his closest family members; and his fear of insanity and its consequential confinement. His writing becomes more obscure as the weeks progress and he examines his relationship to God, writing "I am God" at one point, and later: "God said to me, 'Go home and tell your wife that you are mad.'" As his schizophrenia evolves the pace and style of Nijinsky's prose changes radically--towards the end he writes in abstract verse--but with a dancer's sensibility he remains attuned to the cadences of his environment. The noises of the household, the ringing of the telephone, footsteps down the hall and smatterings of conversations overheard are all registered as a sort of accompaniment to his dance with madness and function perhaps as a final tether to reality. Nijinsky's wife stumbled upon the diary in a locked trunk some years after her husband disappeared into the abyss of madness and in 1936 released it for publication to feed public interest in her famous partner--but not before she sanitised the manuscript to such a degree (removing references to his homosexuality, overblown ego, bizarre paranoia and various obsessions with bodily functions and sex acts) that its essence was obscured. Now 80 years after it was written, 20 years after its renegade editor died and six years after the copyright that Nijinsky's daughters held expired the unexpurgated version of the diaries faithfully restores the fascinating record of a great artist's struggle for his life. Read More