Rating: 
Summary: fasinating dancers life
Review: this book is highly through in it's full translation of Nijinsky's diary, but best part of this book are the inclusion of the never before published "fourth book" which included poems and letters written by Nijinsky as well as an introduction which helps to clarify not only the historical background but also delves into the mental state Nijinsky was in as he wrote his diary.
Rating: 
Summary: Someone's mad and I'm sure it's not me.
Review: This is another book from the barrow on 14th Street. I've read all the other reviews and I have to agree with the reader who said what was the publisher thinking of.Nijinsky was a wonderful dancer by all accounts. [Though, you know, if he came back tonight and danced Spectre de la Rose at Lincoln Centre we'd be rolling on the floor, screaming with laughter, and Isabella Fokine would be there, too, complaining that he hadn't done the right steps - but hey, don't get me started on her.] I digress. I am not studying schizophrenia/dementia whatever, so it's all a bit lost on me. I love to read about Nijinsky dancing, and his extraordinary creativity both as a dancer and a choreographer, but his ramblings in this diary make me wonder if a mad person's ramblings worth the ink. Is he Nijinsky or a mad person? I'm sure there are people who read these ramblings and see it as a sign of Nijinsky's genius. I read it with increasing frustration. If someone came and sat next to me on the subway and babbled on like this, I'd move away. [And, believe me, I do.] I am alone, I'm curious about this, in finding Nijinsky offstage just a tiny bit of a prig? I gained this impression, little by little, from reading his wife's [so bad it's a sin] book, Buckle's "Nijinsky" and, oddly enough, from Bronislava Nijinska's early memoirs.
Rating:
Summary: What was the publisher thinking?
Review: This is precisely the kind of tome that deserves to gather dust on a library shelf. Even for a fan of dance and particularly dance during the Nijinsky era, it contains only two or three passages that are casually of interest and by no means earth shattering. This unexpurgated edition does little to shake up the image of the brilliant and disturbed artist who is "god" one minute and a "pen" the next. I'd be hard pressed to think of ANYONE I know, love and/or admire whose free associative ramblings and paranoid nonsense I would be willing to pay $20+ for and read 250+ pages of. A total waste of time. Curious readers should steer clear and consider Ostwald's probing psychohistory instead.
Rating:
Summary: the insane can be highly perceptive...
Review: To understand this book, you must have a good background in psychology in order to be able to spot the philosophical insights made by this otherwise, very ill man. The duality between 'feeling' and 'thinking' as well as the perceptive remarks made about the nuances of various people in Nijinsky's life are highly intelligent.
At most times the book is full of amusing schizophrenic rants that make the diary an awesome source for learning about the everyday inner life of paranoid schizophrenics - of whom Nijinsky is a perfect example.
Rating: 
Summary: Religious Mysticism
Review: Vaslav Nijinsky was 30 when he wrote his "autobiography." Not long after, he became a catatonic schizophrenic, remaining so for the final 30 years of his life. At the time, he was considered the world's greatest ballet dancer. As it is a totally unselfconscious reflection of madness, this is difficult and painful to read. Because the diary reflects the rapid flight of ideas, unsympathetic readers may be tempted to turn away. However, Nijinsky's thought contains underlying patterns. Perhaps the most interesting, although most easily misunderstood, aspect of Nijinsky's thought is his religious views. He says, "I am God. I am God. I am God." Still other time he says, "I am God through feeling." Perhaps this is schizophrenic crankery. But perhaps Nijinsky is saying that, when he danced, he felt so alive, or whatever you will, that he became God, as which happens with mystics. Thus, his expressions of Godliness are not meant as blasphemy but as the highest expression of artistic achievement, similar to a Van Gogh Starry night or his trees, which look like they are on fire. If you can stand it, this is worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Religious Mysticism
Review: Vaslav Nijinsky was 30 when he wrote his "autobiography." Not long after, he became a catatonic schizophrenic, remaining so for the final 30 years of his life. At the time, he was considered the world's greatest ballet dancer. As it is a totally unselfconscious reflection of madness, this is difficult and painful to read. Because the diary reflects the rapid flight of ideas, unsympathetic readers may be tempted to turn away. However, Nijinsky's thought contains underlying patterns. Perhaps the most interesting, although most easily misunderstood, aspect of Nijinsky's thought is his religious views. He says, "I am God. I am God. I am God." Still other time he says, "I am God through feeling." Perhaps this is schizophrenic crankery. But perhaps Nijinsky is saying that, when he danced, he felt so alive, or whatever you will, that he became God, as which happens with mystics. Thus, his expressions of Godliness are not meant as blasphemy but as the highest expression of artistic achievement, similar to a Van Gogh Starry night or his trees, which look like they are on fire. If you can stand it, this is worth the effort.
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