The Essential Jill Johnston Reader

Jill Johnston began the 1960s as an influential dance columnist for the Village Voice and by the start of the next decade she was known as a keen observer of postmodern art and lesbian feminist life who challenged how dance, art, and women can and should be seen. The Essential Jill Johnston Reader collects dozens of pieces of her writing from across her career. These writings-many of which appeared in the Village Voice and the New York Times-survey the breadth of her work, braiding together her thinking, writing, and activism. From personal essays, travel writing, and artist profiles to dance and visual art reviews as well as her infamous series of columns for the Voice in which she came out as a lesbian, these pieces demonstrate the evolution of her philosophies and writing style. Illustrating how Johnston drew on lessons from dance to reconsider what it means to be a woman, this collection brings a fascinating and brilliant voice of American arts criticism, radical feminism, and gay liberation back to contemporary audiences.

Table of Contents:
A Note on Transcription  ix Introduction / Clare Croft  1 Theory  11 Reviews  39 Embedded Writing  105 Profiles  119 Travel Writing  157 Coming Out  173 Personal Essay  205 Reflection  229 Appendix. Additional Writings by Jill Johnston  241 Index  273

About the Author :
Jill Johnston (1929–2010) was a dance, arts, and literary critic and feminist activist whose books include Marmalade Me, Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution, and Jasper Johns: Privileged Information. Clare Croft is Associate Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan and author of Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life, also published by Duke University Press.

Review :
“Anyone who wants to understand the trajectory of American art from the postwar period to the present will want to read this book. Jill Johnston was at the center of the big shift as modernism gave way to postmodernism, not only as a chronicler but as an instigator, as boundaries between previously discrete forms were dissolved, as old certainties opened into ongoing inquiries and persistent questions and the line between making art and social change became illegible. Anyone who enjoys creative nonfiction and adventurous writing will want to dip into this fabulous collection again and again.” - Holly Hughes, Professor, Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan “There is so much to learn from Jill Johnston about dance history, art history, literary history, the history of criticism, and feminist and lesbian history. So often, all of these fields come together within the space of a single piece of Johnston’s writing, or even a single beautiful sentence or profound turn of phrase. This book is an absolute pleasure to read.” - Anthea Kraut, author of (Choreographing Copyright: Race, Gender, and Intellectual Property Rights in American Dance) "Reading Johnston can feel like stepping through the looking glass, and not only because of the apparent surrealism of crawling dancers and screaming audiences. . . .  The unifying force is personality, as well as the stamina required to make one bold, curious gesture after another." - Sam Huber (Bookforum) "These are just such good books; I am boggled by them. Anyone who dances, thinks about dance, or writes about dance should read Croft’s book, and simultaneously take to bed the Reader, a collection of Johnston’s legendary pieces." - Elizabeth Zimmer (WendyPerron.com) "Through the synthesizing project of the Reader and the analysis of Johnston’s multi-faceted persona and writings in Jill Johnston in Motion, Croft has given us the gift of Johnston’s full radical power while also giving Johnston her due, putting her in context with her more famous peers like Susan Sontag and Audre Lorde. Jill Johnston in Motion also has a creative structure that lets Croft, and her research process, enter the narrative, as well as letters from many of Johnston’s Village Voice readers. Gaps in the archives are felt, and filled, with these individual experiences." - Candice Thompson (Fjord)