Foreword
Writing for the Fourth Time through Finnegans Wake
"There is not much difference between the two." (Suzuki Daisetz)
Toyama 1982
James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet
Another Song
Writing through the Cantos
(untitled)
B.W. 1916- 1979
for her first exhibition with love
Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse) Continued 1973- 1982
Wishful Thinking
Muoyce (Writing for the Fifth Time through Finnegans Wake)
Born in Los Angeles in 1912, JOHN CAGE received an award, at the age of 37, from the American Academy and Institute of the Arts and Letters for having extended the boundaries of music. At 70, he was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and decorated by the French Minister of Culture. In 1982, celebrations of Cage's seventieth birthday took place around the world, including a 13-hour "Wall-to-Wall John Cage and Friends" marathon at Symphony Space in New York City, where he lives. He lectures frequently in America and abroad, continues to hunt wild mushrooms, and has a collection of more than 200 houseplants. He is Musical Advisor of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
"The New Grove Dictionary flatly states: 'He has had a greater impact on world music than any other American composer in the 20th century.' An observation that even Cage's most violent detractors would probably not dispute."
~Peter G. Davis, New York Magazine
"He's not a composer; he's an inventor – of genius."
~Arnold Schoenberg
""Asked once to put his philosophy in a nutshellhe put it like this: get yourself out of whatever cage you find yourself in.""
~Joseph McLellan, Washington Post
""Indeed, the entire American avant-garde would be unthinkable without Mr.Cage's music writing and genially patriarchical personality.""
~John Rockwell, The New York Times
""The New Grove Dictionary flatly states: 'He has had a greater impact on world music than any other American composer in the 20th century.' An observation that even Cage's most violent detractors would probably not dispute.""
~Peter G. Davis, New York Magazine
""No American has caused more disturbances or astonishments than John Cage.""
~Calvin Tomkins, The New Yorker