About this title: Joseph Epstein's "Fred Astaire" investigates the great dancer's magical talent, taking up the story of his life, his personality, his work habits, his modest pretensions, and above all his accomplishments. Written with the wit and grace the subject deserves, "Fred Astaire" provides a remarkable portrait of this extraordinary artist and how he came to embody for Americans a fantasy of easy elegance and, more complicatedly, of democratic aristocracy. Tracing Astaire's life from his birth in Omaha to his death in his late eighties in Hollywood, the book discusses his early days with his talented ...
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Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale University Press
Date Published: 2008-10-21
ISBN-13:9780300116953ISBN:0300116950
Description: Very Good. Beautiful condition inside and out except a slight ding to the dust jacket. Pages like new. Buy with confidence. SUPER fast shipping. ALL MY BUYERS ENTERED IN CONTEST AT END OF MONTH FOR FREE $5 GIFT CERTIFICATE! ! ISBN 9780300116953. read more
Description: Very good. NO JUNK book is brand new, dj intact but has small tear on bottom front cover that has been repaired, also has minor crease there, no othe marks, tears, or creases, next day ship in jiffy envelope. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Yale University Press
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780300158441ISBN:0300158440
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Date Published: 2008
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. 2008 Stated First Printing with full number line. FINE in FINE, price-intact, dust jacket. A fresh, totally unmarked and tightly bound hardcover. New condition. Dust jacket is in a clear archival protector. Whence derived Fred Astaire's sublimity, his magic? That is the great, happy question at the center of this little book. 5-3/4 x 8-1/2"; xv + 198 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale Univ Pr
Date Published: 2008-10-21
ISBN-13:9780300116953ISBN:0300116950
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780300116953. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale University Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780300116953ISBN:0300116950
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First Edition; First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale University Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780300116953ISBN:0300116950
Description: New in New dust jacket. 9780300116953. New first edition, first printing hardcover and dust jacket in excellent condition. Protective mylar cover.; Icons of America; 1 x 8.4 x 5.7 Inches; 224 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale University Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780300116953ISBN:0300116950
Description: Good. Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels. About Austin eBooks Austin eBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service! We add inventory to our store daily, and guarantee order processing and shipment ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Yale University Press
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780300158441ISBN:0300158440
Description: Good. Cover and pages may have some wear or writing. Binding is tight. We ship daily Monday-Friday. Delivery Confirmation included on all domestic orders. read more
"Astaire comes across as a completely driven man, a perfectionist much too aware of his limitations in looks and physique, and much too unaware of how gorgeous he was when he was dancing. Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Merc Cunningham and others rank Astaire as the world's greatest dancer ever- and no wonder. When you watch him fly up walls with a broom for a partner or sweep around a dance floor with Ginger Rogers all shimmery and glossamery in his arms, he seems to be flying and living in a place without limits. No wonder we love him.
Epstein, a writer for New Yorker magazine, spends way too much time trying to analyze magic. He attributes some of the Astaire appeal to a "cluster of genius" that includes song writers like Irving Berlin and the Gershwin brothers and certain movie producers like Pandro Berlin, but sadly, not Ginger Rogers. In fact, Epstein is quite snarky about her. Nevertheless, his book is a fan's tribute to the man who answered Freud's famous question:
"Slim biography focused not on the boring minutiae of this extraordinary dancer, singer, and actor's life, but on why he appealed so much to us then and why it continues. Always in style, rather than in fashion, Astaire was a brilliant beacon of creative genius on all counts. And a damned well-written book as well, so clever, it takes the reader a while to warm up to what initially comes off as a bit clever-clever (especially in light of the magnificent subject)."
"I can understand those who may have read this book and given it three or fewer stars for a rating, yet I can't help thinking about something nthat Joseph Epstein reports being said about Fred Astaire: that the person in question didn't know anything about Astaire except what he saw and heard in movies and recordings. In other words, before the public's insane and insatiable need to swallow its celebrities whole, Astaire existed almost entirely in his work; and no controversies or egotistical displays titillated the public. Not a bad assessment!
This is a very brief and non-scholarly appreciation of Astaire's career, and an honest effort by a perceptive fan to explain the sometimes mystery of his appeal - Astaire was most definitely one whose sum equaled far more than the individual parts. Epstein's wit and style, familiar to many readers from The American Scholar, as well as regular contributions to The New Yorker and other publications, leave us a treatment that is like many an Astaire performance: spare, elegant, and sunny. And like a classic Astaire song interpretation, we find ourselves humming long afterwards."
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