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About this item
Highlights
- A New Yorker Best Book of the YearA New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceA Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Month "Deborah Jowitt chronicles a life passionately, artfully lived.
- About the Author: Deborah Jowitt was the principal dance critic at The Village Voice for more than four decades, and her work has appeared in The New York Times and Dance Magazine, among other outlets.
- 480 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Entertainment & Performing Arts
Description
About the Book
"The definitive biography of dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, one of the great American artists of the twentieth century"--Book Synopsis
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Month
Review Quotes
"Errand into the Maze is . . . a study in balance and grace . . . Jowitt excels at describing, minutely, the work--restoring to readers the novelty of Graham's now-ingrained concepts; her conviction and distinct style . . . A distinguished biography: its description rich, its author's rigor unquestionable."
--Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review
--Elizabeth Zimmer, The Village Voice "[An] astute biography . . . of [one of] the major figures of twentieth-century modernism . . . Jowitt focuses on how Graham approached her work--as a performer, a choreographer, and a teacher--with a philosophical rigor that expanded the expressive possibilities of movement and established a uniquely American idiom."
--The New Yorker "Martha Graham is one of the most incredible artists that America has ever produced . . . Deborah Jowitt has [an] amazing sense on the page . . . of Martha Graham's idiosyncratic and revolutionary ideas about movement . . . An amazing woman and an amazing life."
--Bill Goldstein, Weekend Today in New York "In [Errand into the Maze] the iconic dancer and choreographer is made new, and radical, again . . . A complete delight to read . . . The convergence of these two dance champions, Graham and Jowitt, is so special as to make this book nothing less than a fully realized gift."
--Candice Thompson, Fjord Review "As Deborah Jowitt describes [in Errand into the Maze] . . . [Graham] set worlds afire and built them anew from the ashes . . . Insightful."
--Sarah L. Kaufman, Wall Street Journal "Majestically reported . . . So many books about dancers shy away from writing about dance itself. Jowitt's makes dance the subject . . . Errand into the Maze . . . illuminates Graham, and yields the kind of deep inquiry around which one could develop an entire course."
--Mindy Aloff, Liber Review "Gently magisterial and written with compelling fluency, Deborah Jowitt's Errand into the Maze is piercingly insightful about both the creativity and personal life of the choreographer Martha Graham. Even if you watched Graham's dances when she was living, you often meet her as if for the first time in these pages."
--Alastair Macaulay, former chief dance critic at The New York Times "Gripping . . . Jowitt fleshes out [Graham's] triumphs and disappointments with insight and a kindly wit . . . A wonderfully human portrait that will reach into the galleries of non-specialists in ways perhaps only an experienced dance critic make it do."
--Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review "A meticulous and serious chronicle of Graham's oeuvre, described in almost forensic detail . . . Deborah Jowitt's book is an honorable tribute to its subject and a valuable record of her history."
--Rupert Christansen, The New Criterion "Deborah Jowitt meticulously describes Graham's pioneering dances . . . Errand into the Maze is both thorough and conscientious."
--Marina Harss, The New York Review of Books "[A] robust [portrait] . . . [of Graham's] artistic innovations."
--Juliana DeVaan, The Drift "As Deborah Jowitt, a critic and former dancer, shows . . . Graham helped 'dignify' dance and elevate it from entertainment to art."
--The Economist "[A] stunning portrait of the doyenne of modern dance."
--Jerome Charyn, The American Scholar "[A] portrait of a modern dance icon. Veteran dance critic [Deborah] Jowitt offers an authoritative, sensitive biography . . . Prodigious research informs an insightful [work]."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Deborah Jowitt lays the groundwork for [Graham's] revolutionary techniques and methods that reconfigured modern American dance . . . [Errand into the Maze] brings to light Graham's artistic vision as well as personal experiences that linked her life and work."
--Art in America "Built on years of research, [Errand into the Maze] paints a well-informed portrait of the iconic artist, infused with anecdotes from Graham's life and bolstered by Jowitt's own expertise from years as a dancer, choreographer, and writer."
--Sophie Bress, Dance Magazine "A rigorous, authoritative biography of [a legend] . . . Fans will thrill to this comprehensive account of Graham's boundary-breaking work."
--Publishers Weekly "As a dancer and choreographer herself, and as a revered chronicler of the ethos of dance for over six decades, Deborah Jowitt takes us into the life and art of Martha Graham from an unmatchable perspective. Jowitt's embodied understanding of Graham's radical movement vocabulary, coupled with her deep and inimitable knowledge of the art form, offers us eye-opening access to the mysteries of the Graham legacy. This lyrical, readable biography brings to life the personal journey of a genius destined to revolutionize American art in the twentieth century and invites us inside the ephemeral masterpieces with which she changed the world."
--Janet Eilber, artistic director of the Martha Graham Dance Company
About the Author
Deborah Jowitt was the principal dance critic at The Village Voice for more than four decades, and her work has appeared in The New York Times and Dance Magazine, among other outlets. Her previous books include the biography Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance; the essay collection Time and the Dancing Image; and the critical works Dance Beat and The Dance in Mind. A former Guggenheim fellow, she has lectured and conducted workshops worldwide and taught in the Dance Department of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for forty years. Her recent writings can be found on her ArtsJournal blog, DanceBeat.Dimensions (Overall): 8.9 Inches (H) x 6.1 Inches (W) x 1.8 Inches (D)
Weight: 1.6 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 480
Genre: Biography + Autobiography
Sub-Genre: Entertainment & Performing Arts
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format: Hardcover
Author: Deborah Jowitt
Language: English
Street Date: January 30, 2024
TCIN: 86443410
UPC: 9780374280628
Item Number (DPCI): 247-36-2510
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
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Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 1.8 inches length x 6.1 inches width x 8.9 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 1.6 pounds
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1.0 out of 5 stars with 1 reviews
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The most detailed....
1 out of 5 stars
Thumbs down graphic, would not recommend
Suzanne - 4 months ago, Verified purchaser
tedious biography I have ever read. Filled with the same details over and over again with only slightly different wording. Could not finish even the first chapter. I did, however, enjoy the few photographs that were incuded. Don't waste your money.