I selected this book to read from the list i posted for Banned Books Week [1]. Of the books in this list that were available through the local library, i felt most interested in The Great Nijinsky. Rather than posting quotes from the book, i am posting my answers to the questions in the discussion guide [2] from We Are Stronger Than Censorship. The discussion guide refers to the book resume [3] and the amazeworks primer on sexual orientation [4]. These excellent resources helped me get more out reading this book. This reminds me of the techniques described in the book The Science of Self-Learning [5]. I want to practice them in the next time i read a book.
Prompt:
Think about several important people in history you have learned about. What do you know about their personal lives outside of the things they are most famous for? How might a deeper understanding of their personal lives make their story more meaningful?
Answer:
Socrates was famous for his methods of inquiry and teaching. In the book The Queer Thing About Sin [6], i learned that Socrates was gay, and this was part of the reason for his death sentence.
It is a friend of Socrates called Xenophon who inadvertently reveals the true meaning of the charge which brought Socrates to his death:
It is truly strange to me that some were persuaded that Socrates corrupted the young. Firstly, Socrates was the most self-continent, in matters of sex and the stomach, of all men...
Xenophon even tells us separately that people used to visit Socrates for advice on how to cure their same-sex attractions. But it is clear that the climate in Athens at the time was opposed to [gay sex]. As well as the role of growing inequalities and monetization in forming the household... there was another problem stalking Athens in the 4th century BCE. That problem was debt.
Socrates favored cooperative search for truth through dialogue. This is how democracy works: discussion and persuasion are primary tools as opposed to force. Recently i heard that in this sense, Socrates was history's first martyr for democracy. This is more meaningful than: things got weird "cuz Persia".
I read that Nathaniel Hawthorne's puritan ancestor John Hathorne was a leading judge at the Salem witch trials. Hawthorne was haunted by his ancestor's shameful past. Some believe that shortly after graduating, he added a "w" to his last name to disassociate himself from a figure of whom he wrote was "so conspicuous in the martyrdom of the witches, that their blood may fairly be said to have left a stain upon him."
Hawthorne wrote several short stories about witches and at least one about a Pagan settlement in New England around the time of the Puritans (The Maypole of Merrymount).
The hawthorn has been regarded as an emblem of hope and its branches were carried by ancient Greeks in wedding processions, and to deck the altar of Hymenaios. In Gaelic (Irish & Scottish) folklore, hawthorn marks the entrance to the otherworld and is strongly associated with the fairies. Like the fairies, hawthorns tend to live at borders between cultivated and wild land.
I read that Nathaniel Hawthorne spent much time brooding indoors. After graduation he moved into his mother's family house in Salem, holed up in his tiny bedroom for 12 years. During that period he wrote "I have not lived, but only dreamed about living." I can't help but wonder whether Hawthorne's "weird" writing was a result of psychological forces trying to work themselves out.
Prompt:
Which aspect of your identity would you like to see reflected more in the stories you read? Why? Why does representation matter?
Answer:
I get a kick out of reading about other nerdy introverts. It crops up in the most unexpected places. Lord Timur was athletic in his youth, a great military conqueror, and eventually grandfather of the Moguls. But he was quiet, serious, and liked to have history books read to him on the war path. Personally, i think representation matters because it can help one feel more connected and give new potential models for ways of being. Not that i would wish to imitate Lord Timur, but to learn from his example. His name means Iron and his way of being spoke to this strength.
Prompt:
After Nijinsky's father left, and as he came into adulthood, what role did Nijinsky play in his family?
Answer:
The role of provider.
Prompt:
Being openly gay in the early 1900s was not widely accepted by society. What evidence of this do you see in Nijinsky's story?
Answer:
At this point in the story, mainly that Nijinsky was infamous for being gay, and that this fact forever overshadows everything else about him except for his prowess as a dancer.
Prompt:
How accepted are LGBTQ+ identities in today's society and in your community? How is it similar to and/or different from the evidence you saw in Nijinsky's story?
Answer:
I remember the news about Matthew Shepard.
When i was a kid, people were removed from Scouts for being gay. This changed in 2015. Then the scouts lost about half of their membership after certain large churches responded by withdrawing and started their own programs.
In 2018 i held up a Free Hugs sign in public in New Mexico. This was mostly a positive experience. Then an unofficial deputy arrived and shadowed me, making increasingly pointed and disturbing comments about his skill with guns and the violence he wanted to do to gay people. I was straight-passing but eventually felt creeped out and left.
When Oregon had bisexual governor, i saw a cousin use dog-whistle coded language about her. I realize this wasn't personal, but i felt vaguely threatened, similar to "your kind don't belong here."
My point is that "acceptance" is precarious.
In Nijinsky's time it was scandalous. Presently it is a "give me liberty or give me death" scenario, depending on where one is located [7].
Prompt:
How did Nijinsky's relationships impact his career as a dancer?
Answer:
His relationships directly and profoundly benefited his career in terms of fame, finance, and opportunity. His lovers were powerful and wealthy.
Prompt:
How did Diaghilev's creative team challenge the traditions of ballet in the Ballets Russes? What impact did it have?
Answer:
They challenged the traditions by researching & designing historically realistic costumes & sets while everyone else used plain old stock equipment. They abandoned star ballerinas and required the dancers to have acting skills. They placed equal importance on male roles. They recruited original musical talent.
This fresh, dramatic approach astonished audiences and redefined the art form.
Prompt:
The book mentions Nijinsky becoming a sexual icon during the second season of the Ballets Russes. What does this mean? What makes someone an icon?
Answer:
The word icon is synonymous with archetype or symbol. Nijinsky became a symbol of the Lover archetype. Someone becomes an icon when they are famous for some aspect of their personality or presentation.
Prompt:
Who are some other icons of different identities can you think of?
Answer:
Another icon from this era was Harry Houdini, who was the epitome of the Magician archetype.
Like Nijinsky, Mata Hari was also a famous sex symbol. She was more of a courtesan than a dancer.
Prompt:
Onstage, Nijinsky was described as being charismatic and powerful, but in social situations, quiet, shy, and when he did speak--perceptive and blunt. Some even called him an "idiot savant, a great genius at one thing only, and otherwise somewhat backward." What impact do you think these perceptions had on Nijinsky?
Answer:
In his shoes i would have felt insulted. I would likely resent it and withdraw further into my introverted privacy when not performing.
[ Petrushka is a Russian puppet show from the same Roman lineage as Punch & Judy and in the same spirit as Saturday Night Live skits. Nijinsky played Petrushka in a ballet. ]
Prompt:
Why do you think the author includes so many details about Nijinsky's sexual life? How do these details add to your understanding of him?
Answer:
People are naturally drawn to talking about sex. As a sex symbol, Nijinsky's sex life is even more interesting. Relationship dynamics are complex regardless of orientation. Exploring those details helps to appreciate his individuality and transcend stereotypes.
Prompt:
The author talks about Petrushka, and says "perhaps his (Nijinsky's) tortured performance was a kind of unconscious self portrait." What does the author mean by this?
Answer:
Nijinsky's performance was described as convincingly jerky and puppet-like. A puppet is controlled by the puppeteer. Nijinsky was dominated by Diaghilev. As an introvert who magically came alive during performance, but who was made nationless by his former patrons, and personally insulted as an idiot savant when out of character, i could imagine him feeling trapped, his life a cruel hoax of a puppet show.
Prompt:
Nijinsky pushed limits when he began choreographing. How is this similar to artists who push the limits today? Which artists do you see pushing today's limits, and how?
Answer:
When i think of creative, original work that breaks free from the status quo, i imagine several sources: spiritual crisis, other cultures, and psychedelics, to retrieve something novel that transcends day-to-day existence. This outsider perspective is key.
Innovation does not happen in isolation. A music composer is constrained by the capabilities of the listeners, who must make the space for innovation. In Aaron Copland's essay The Pleasures of Music [8], he discusses Stravinsky's musical innovation:
It was because the ebb of rhythmic invention was comparatively low in late nineteenth-century European music that Stravinsky was able to apply what I once termed "a rhythmic hypodermic" to Western music. His shocker of 1913, The Rite of Spring, a veritable rhythmic monstrosity to its first hearers, has now become a standard item of the concert repertory. This indicates the progress that has been made in the comprehension and enjoyment of rhythmic complexities that non-plussed our grandfathers.
Aaron Copland expands on this theme in chapter 6 of his book What To Listen For In Music [9]:
The entire history of harmonic development shows us a continually changing picture; very slowly, but inevitably, our ears are enabled to assimilate chords of greater complexity and modulations to further off keys.
To say that a consonance is a pleasant-sounding chord, and a dissonance unpleasant, is making the case much too simple. For a chord is more or less dissonant to you according to the period in which you live, according to your listening experience, and according to whether the chord is played fortissimo in the brass instruments or caressed pianissimo in the strings. So that a dissonance is only relative--relative to you, your epoch, and the place that it holds in the piece as a whole.
In my youth i found most of the musical creativity happening in electronic music. I was drawn to brilliant musicians like Aphex Twin and The Flashbulb, as well as amateurs in the demo scene. I listened to a lot of mods (scene music made in trackers) and my favorite mod musicians had "dub" influences. One example would be Mellow-D (MD of the Five Musicians demo group).
This music is clever, glitchy, yet not chaotic. It has higher order structure, giving it depth of listening and replay value. When first released it was fringe and not everyone could appreciate it.
Prompt:
Why do you think Nijinsky performed the improvised piece depicting war for his final dance in public? What was war's effect on him?
Answer:
Nijinsky was abruptly fired from the Russian Imperial Ballet around the beginning of World War I because his skimpy outfit offended the mother of the czar. Unable to face a military life, he became a draft dodger and a nationless person. This was a grim turning point in his life where his career took a nose dive. In Vienna he became a prisoner of war and he fretted over the fates of his family. As a highly sensitive person whose career and personal life were in tatters, who as a prisoner of war had been denied plain exercise let alone dance, and finally banished to live with his in-laws who hated him and no outlet for his calling, i imagine the disturbing inner truths of his life reflected the disturbing outer truths of The Great War. To put it plainly, he became fixated and went insane.
Prompt:
Why do you think the author decided to include the details of Nijinsky's time while he was institutionalized?
Answer:
It demonstrates the importance of dance to Nijinsky. Dance may have been the only thing keeping him sane. It also demonstrates his human side, how he had a breaking point and how he could not harden his heart toward the realities of war.
Prompt:
Compare and contrast the topic of mental health in Nijinsky's time and today. How is the stigma around mental health and the help available similar and/or different?
Answer:
Ooh, "compare and contrast!" This is giving me flashbacks to my high school English class.
Insulin shock treatment is no longer accepted. It is cruel and inhumane. We like to think that mental health is compassionate now, but that compassion is largely performative. I have family who was institutionalized multiple times since 2010. At one point a local psychiatrist tried to persuade their parent to approve a lobotomy. He said they are much more precise and safe now. In my opinion, it would have been just as barbaric as Nijinsky's 228 insulin shock treatments.
During the reactions to COVID things got weird. For example over a Christmas, a psych ward was left without qualified staff and the person there administered the wrong meds. There was also an issue with a vulnerable person being locked in a room with a sex offender. Due to lack of hospital staff we were sometimes left out of contact for long periods and wondered whether they were still alive.
As a result of under-funding, this person was forced to attend drug cessation classes in spite of having no addictions and no record of addictions. Without evidence, officials and the public "shortcut" to blaming mentally ill people for making the wrong lifestyle choices. That's called prejudice. Ironically, the same system also over-prescibes psych meds. Very few of those are safe to take long-term, yet we deny the physical harm that they cause.
I will admit that the psych meds have become safer than they used to be. I know someone who the state took custody of as a child in the 1970s due to a gun-related crisis. Authorities fried his brain on psych meds and he never recovered. In his downward spiral, he eventually lost the ability to speak.
Prompt:
How did Nijinsky's legacy live on after the Nijinsky era of ballet ended, even after his death?
Answer:
Well, i just finished reading a book about him. His impacts on the art form and the reactions of his audiences remain. His sister followed in his footsteps. I assume he has descendants.
author: Curlee, Lynn, 1947-
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Vaslav_Nijinsky
title: The Great Nijinsky: God of Dance