Dancer Read online

  Your mother showed me this years ago, he said.

  It’s yours.

  I can’t take it.

  Take it, I said. Please.

  You should keep it for Kolya.

  Kolya already has it.

  Rudi blindsided me with a smile and took the dish in his hand.

  Exits and entrances, he said.

  Emilio thanked us for our hospitality and went downstairs to alert the drivers. Rudi followed slowly, his knees bothering him. I stood at the iron railing with Kolya and together we watched him go down.

  So that’s him? said Kolya.

  That’s him.

  Not much, is he?

  Oh, I’m not so sure, I said.

  And as if on cue Rudi paused in the light on the third-floor stairwell, threw his scarf over his shoulder and performed a perfect pirouette on the concrete slab, the china dish clutched to his chest. He stepped slowly to the next landing, through the rubbish and broken bottles, stopped once again in the arc of light and his shoes sounded against the concrete as he spun a second time. No remorse. Kolya put his arm around my shoulder and I thought to myself: Let this joy extend itself into the morning.

  In the lobby Rudi pirouetted one final time and then he was gone.

  Sale: The Rudolf Nureyev Collection, January and November, 1995, New York and London

  Lot 1088: Six pairs of Ballet Boots

  Estimate: $2,300–3,000

  Price: $44,648

  Buyer: Mr. and Mrs. Albert Cohen

  Lot 48: Costume for Swan Lake, Act III. Prince Siegfried, 1963

  Estimate: $3,000–5,000

  Price: $29,900

  Buyer: Anonymous

  Lot 147: Sir Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of George Townshend, Lord de Ferrars

  Estimate: $350,000–450,000

  Price: $772,500 (Record for the artist at auction)

  Buyer: Private

  Lot 1134: A French Walnut Refectory Table

  Estimate: $22,500–$30,000

  Price: $47,327

  Buyer: Telephone

  Lot 146: Johann Heinrich Fuseli, R.A: Satan Starting from the Touch of Ithuriel’s Lance

  Estimate: $500,000–700,000

  Price: $761,500

  Buyer: Anonymous

  Lot 1356: Attributed to Théodore Géricault, Homme nu a micorps (Man Naked to Waist)

  Estimate: $60,000–80,000

  Price: $53,578

  Buyer: Telephone

  Lot 728: A Jamawar Long Shawl, Kashmir, late nineteenth century

  Estimate: $ 800–1,500

  Price: $5,319

  Buyer: R. Ratnawke

  Lot 1274: Pre-Revolutionary Russian China Dish in oak box (box damaged)

  Estimate: $2,000

  Price: $2,750

  Buyer: Nikolai Mareneov

  Lot 118: Felix Boisselier, A Shepherd Weeping on a Tomb Erected to a Gnat

  Estimate: $40,000–60,000

  Price: $189,500

  Buyer: Private

  All lots sold.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  In this novel many changes in names and locations have been made to protect the privacy of people living, and also to give a shape to various fictional creations. On occasion, I condensed two or more historical figures into one, or distributed the traits of one person over two or more characters. Some of the attributions made to public figures are exact; others are fictional. For clarity’s sake, I have not always used the diminutive and intimate form for first names commonly employed in Russian.

  In the course of researching this book, I was privileged to read a great deal—fiction, non-fiction, journalism, poetry and Internet material—but the following title was invaluable: Nureyev by Diane Solway, which at the time of writing is the definitive biography of Rudolf Nureyev. For those interested in biography I would also strongly recommend the writings of Julie Kavanagh and her forthcoming book on Nureyev. Other books and source material, including films, are too numerous to mention but a special thanks must be given to the staff of the New York Public Libraries, who run such a profoundly important system. Deep thanks must also be given to the American-Irish Historical Society, most especially Dr. Kevin Cahill, Christopher Cahill and Bill Cobert.

  There are so many people I must thank for their kindness, help and vision throughout this process: Roman Gerasimov, who was my translator in Russia, Kathleen Keller, Tim Kipp, John and Beverly Berger, John Gorman, Ger Donovan, Irina Kendall, Josh Kendall, Joan Acocella, Lisa Gonzalez, Errol Toran, D.C, Nick Terlizzi, Charlie Orr, Damon Testani, Mary Parvin, Marina Staviskaya, Jason Buzas, Jaco and Elizabeth Groot, Françoise Triffaux, Brigitte Semler, Thomas Ueberhoff, Colm Toibin, Chris Kelly, Emily Tabourin, Alona Kimchi, Tom Kelly, Jimmy Smallhorne, Mikhail Iossel, Radik Kudoyarov, Nikolay Korshun, Ilya Kuznetsov and his friends at the Kirov, Galina Belskaya, Yanni Kotsonis and Myrna Blumberg.

  A very special debt of gratitude is owed to all at Phoenix House, Metropolitan Books and the Wylie Agency, most especially Maggie McKernan, Riva Hocherman and Sarah Chalfant.

  No thanks would be complete without deep gratitude to my family: Allison, Isabella and John Michael, and to our extended families on both sides of the ocean.

  Additional Praise for Dancer

  “An engrossing portrait of a man so complex that no mere biography could possibly convey more than a sliver of his personality … The Nureyev who strides impatiently through its pages seems entirely convincing.”

  —The Baltimore Sun

  “Dancer is the most breathtaking tribute to Nureyev since Jamie Wyeth’s famous paintings.”

  —Esquire

  “Dazzling … an intimate portrait … Dancer is bigger than the dance, bigger than biography, too.… Relish McCann’s dizzy, fascinating glimpse.”

  —The Miami Herald

  “McCann is a consummate stylist who nonetheless imbues his fiction with the cold stamp of reality.”

  —The Boston Globe

  “A chorus of voices breathe new life into the story of Nureyev … in this vibrant, imaginative patchwork of a novel.… A kaleidoscopic effect … The novel is a showcase for [McCann’s] fluid prose and storytelling skill.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “Intimately real.”

  —Time Out New York

  “An impressive evocation of life on three continents in the last half of the twentieth century … McCann’s talent lies in imagining a life staged so publicly by creating the intimate lives and stories of those only watching from the wings.”

  —Houston Chronicle

  “Dancer has the wingspan of a great Russian novel.… This is the book you’ll want to take on a long plane ride; you’ll be so seduced you’ll sip the wine and eschew the dinner.”

  —Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes

  “Remarkable: What McCann imagines so beautifully is the way a hero walks through life somewhat differently from the rest of us, the mere breeze of his passing setting off a thousand ripples of change, both good and bad.”

  —Salon.com

  “McCann writes as if the fate of the world depends on it. Worry not, the world is saved. Dancer is a masterpiece.”

  —Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus Project

  ALSO BY COLUM McCANN

  Everything in This Country Must

  This Side of Brightness

  Fishing the Sloe-Black River

  Songdogs

  Zoli

  Let the Great World Spin

  Colum McCann is the author of the novels Let the Great World Spin, Zoli, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs, as well as two story collections. A contributor to The New Yorker, The Atlantic, GQ, The Paris Review, and other publications, he has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Hennessy Award, and the inaugural 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Award. His short film, Everything in This Country Must, was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. His work has been published in thirty languages. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he currently liv
es with his wife and children in New York City.

  DANCER. Copyright © 2003 by Colum McCann. All rights reserved. For information, address Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.picadorusa.com

  Picador® is a U.S. registered trademark and is used by Henry Holt and Company under license from Pan Books Limited.

  For information on Picador Reading Group Guides, please contact Picador. E-mail: [email protected]

  Grateful acknowledgment is made to Getty Images for permission to reprint the photograph on p. 5, copyright © 1976 by Hulton Archive; Warner Books for the excerpt on p. 263 from The Andy Warhol Diaries, by Andy Warhol, Pat Hackett, ed., © 1989 by the Estate of Andy Warhol; Gary Matoso for the photograph on p. 311 © 1985 by Gary Matoso.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42902-7

  ISBN-10: 0-312-42902-9

  First published in the United States by Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company

  First Picador Edition: February 2004

  Second Picador Edition: July 2009

  eISBN 9781466848696

  First eBook edition: May 2013