Felix Cherniavsky - Response to "The Salome Dancer"

Added 19th Mar 2022 by Beth Dobson (Archives and Programming Assistant, DCD) / Last update 19th Mar 2022

Maud Allan 1291 51 2008-2-72.jpg
Maud Allan 1291 51 2008-2-72.jpg
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Felix Cherniavsky - Response to "The Salome Dancer"

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Maud Allan Research Collection
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Sour Grapes ? c It is not often that I find myself reading a book at the time of its review in the Globe and Mail . Like many readers of the Weekend Book Review section , I trust in the impartiality and critical abilities of the reviewers selected by the Globe . Perhaps I am naive . Nonetheless , I was greatly surprised , having just finished and enjoyed The Salome Dancer : The Life and Times of Maud Allan by Felix Cherniavsky , to read Carol Bishop's damning and self - serving review of this book ( July 27 ) . To begin with , the headliner ( " A clumsy setting for the barefoot dancer " ) , while perhaps clever and cute to some , erroneously suggests the book is badly and awkwardly written . In fact the author writes in a most engaging , clear , flowing style that adds richly and humorously to the complex personality of Maud Allan . Ms. Bishop charges Mr. Cherniavsky with " coloured interpretations " because of his family's connections to Maud Allan . It is unclear whether Ms. Bishop regards this as positive or negative as the context of the statement suggests Mr. Cherniavsky either is angry at or protective of Maud Allan - in any event , biased . In fact , I found Mr. Cherniavsky's account of Maud Allan to be quite fair : compassionate when compassion seemed due , critical when criticism seemed due . Ms. Bishop criticizes the author for failing to explore Maud Allan's significance as a dancer and yet Mr. Cherniavsky clearly admits he is not a dance historian , that his intention is to write a biography . Surely Ms. Bishop should be criticizing the book for what it is , not for what it is not . Mr. Cherniavsky presents the argument that the crime and punishment of Theo Durrant had a significant influence on Maud Allan's personal and artistic development , a theory he supports with many excerpts from letters and diary entries . Ms. Bishop dismisses this theory out of hand as unevidenced : would Ms. Bishop be satisfied with anything as " evidence " besides a sworn statement by Maud Allan ? Finally , Ms. Bishop sums up her review of The Salome Dancer by calling it " incomplete and at times inaccurate " , the latter condemnation being based on a single cited factual inaccuracy pertaining to Maud Allan's Russia Tour of 1909 and in the retelling of an unsubstantiated story about Maud Allan which the author acknowledges in his footnotes as a legend . That Ms. Bishop is currently preparing a PhD on Maud Allan , that Mr. Cherniavsky holds in his personal possession a plethora of documents vital to a better understanding of Maud Allan's life and work , that Mr. Cherniavsky got his book published first , leads me to the conclusion that the article in question was not a book review but sour grapes . Mr. Cherniavsky and The Salome Dancer deserve better than that . Philippa Thwaites 2041 W. 36th Ave. , Vancouver , B.C.