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Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists
The first biography of composer John Cage to show how his work, and that of countless American artists, was transformed by Zen Buddhism.
One of the greatest American composers of the twentieth century, John Cage created music that defies easy explanation. Many writers have grappled with Cage’s music—which used notes chosen by chance, randomly tuned radios, and even silence—trying to understand what his music means rather than where it came from. An unprecedented and revelatory book, Where the Heart Beats reveals what actually empowered Cage to compose his incredible music, and how he inspired the tremendous artistic transformations of mid-century America.
Where the Heart Beats is the first biography of John Cage to address the phenomenal importance of Zen Buddhism to the composer’s life, and to the artistic avant-garde of the 1950s and 60s. Zen’s power of transforming Cage’s troubled mind, by showing him his own enlightened nature—which is also the nature of all living things—liberated Cage from an acute personal crisis that threatened his life, his music, and his relationship with his life-partner, Merce Cunningham. Caught in a society that rejected his music, his politics, and his sexual orientation, Cage was transformed by Zen from an overlooked and somewhat marginal musician into the absolute epicenter of the avant garde.
Using Cage’s life as a starting point, Where the Heart Beats looks beyond to the individuals he influenced and the art he inspired. His circle included Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Merce Cunningham, Yoko Ono, Jasper Johns, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli, who all went on to revolutionize their respective disciplines. As Cage’s story progresses, as his students’ trajectories unfurl, Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.
Both an innovative biography and a ground-breaking cultural history of the American Century, Where the Heart Beats is the work of acclaimed art critic Kay Larson. Following her time at New York Magazine and The Village Voice, Larson practiced Zen at a Buddhist monastery in upstate New York. Larson’s deep knowledge of Zen Buddhism, her long familiarity with New York’s art world, and her exhaustive original research all make Where the Heart Beats the definitive story about one of America’s most enduringly important artists.
One of the greatest American composers of the twentieth century, John Cage created music that defies easy explanation. Many writers have grappled with Cage’s music—which used notes chosen by chance, randomly tuned radios, and even silence—trying to understand what his music means rather than where it came from. An unprecedented and revelatory book, Where the Heart Beats reveals what actually empowered Cage to compose his incredible music, and how he inspired the tremendous artistic transformations of mid-century America.
Where the Heart Beats is the first biography of John Cage to address the phenomenal importance of Zen Buddhism to the composer’s life, and to the artistic avant-garde of the 1950s and 60s. Zen’s power of transforming Cage’s troubled mind, by showing him his own enlightened nature—which is also the nature of all living things—liberated Cage from an acute personal crisis that threatened his life, his music, and his relationship with his life-partner, Merce Cunningham. Caught in a society that rejected his music, his politics, and his sexual orientation, Cage was transformed by Zen from an overlooked and somewhat marginal musician into the absolute epicenter of the avant garde.
Using Cage’s life as a starting point, Where the Heart Beats looks beyond to the individuals he influenced and the art he inspired. His circle included Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Merce Cunningham, Yoko Ono, Jasper Johns, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli, who all went on to revolutionize their respective disciplines. As Cage’s story progresses, as his students’ trajectories unfurl, Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.
Both an innovative biography and a ground-breaking cultural history of the American Century, Where the Heart Beats is the work of acclaimed art critic Kay Larson. Following her time at New York Magazine and The Village Voice, Larson practiced Zen at a Buddhist monastery in upstate New York. Larson’s deep knowledge of Zen Buddhism, her long familiarity with New York’s art world, and her exhaustive original research all make Where the Heart Beats the definitive story about one of America’s most enduringly important artists.
474 pages, Hardcover
First published July 5, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
August 5, 2012
My more detailed review is here, but the enthusiasm for this book at goodreads compels me to add to it. I understand the appeal of this book, but, especially in this John Cage centennial year, it provides a misleading and shallow view of the man and his work.
The influence of Zen thought on Cage's work is important, but it's a part of a whole. Zen thought was a component of his move towards his encompassing philosophy of composition as process. But it was just a part, and as Cage moved through the decades, much of that explicit thinking was replaced by other ideas, and ultimately Duchamp and Thoreau were more important to him.
Larson passionately yokes Cage to her own faith, and what she does is unfair. The breathless psychological Romanticism is antithetical to the man, she's constantly speculating about what he might have read and how he might have thought about it and then making her case, such as it is, from those unsupported assertions.
Larson knows nothing about the music, and is so uncomfortable with it that rather than having an opinion she defers to various critics. This is a device perhaps suited for a high school English paper, not here. She obsesses over 4',33" and Music of Changes and this crowds out all the important, beautiful music and art Cage created (he was a composer, after all, not a philosopher, and her later disavowed the overly-determined chance processes - from the Tao, not Zen - that he used for the latter work). Very badly written and edited as well. I know why this book was published, but in the current version it should never have been published.
If you want an introduction to Cage as he was and is, Rob Haskin's new Critical Life is superb: learned, clear, brief, both truly loving and truly critical.Rob Haskins
The influence of Zen thought on Cage's work is important, but it's a part of a whole. Zen thought was a component of his move towards his encompassing philosophy of composition as process. But it was just a part, and as Cage moved through the decades, much of that explicit thinking was replaced by other ideas, and ultimately Duchamp and Thoreau were more important to him.
Larson passionately yokes Cage to her own faith, and what she does is unfair. The breathless psychological Romanticism is antithetical to the man, she's constantly speculating about what he might have read and how he might have thought about it and then making her case, such as it is, from those unsupported assertions.
Larson knows nothing about the music, and is so uncomfortable with it that rather than having an opinion she defers to various critics. This is a device perhaps suited for a high school English paper, not here. She obsesses over 4',33" and Music of Changes and this crowds out all the important, beautiful music and art Cage created (he was a composer, after all, not a philosopher, and her later disavowed the overly-determined chance processes - from the Tao, not Zen - that he used for the latter work). Very badly written and edited as well. I know why this book was published, but in the current version it should never have been published.
If you want an introduction to Cage as he was and is, Rob Haskin's new Critical Life is superb: learned, clear, brief, both truly loving and truly critical.Rob Haskins
September 9, 2012
(7.24.12) Reviewed in yesterday's Times. (8.1.12) Had a bit of an accident in Elliott Bay Bookstore last night: bought this and four other books. (8.6.12) Started reading this today, having just finished the nonsensical Lost History of Skin. I'm hoping for a quick passage from the ridiculous to the sublime. (8.25.12) Today I finally finished ploughing through it. What a disappointment! And what a shame: what could have been a fabulous book turned out to be dreadful. It's badly written, badly edited, and littered with inconsistencies and non sequiturs. Ms Larson doesn't understand either abstract expressionism or post modernism, is disdainful of Pollock, and just wrong about Oldenburg. And somehow she manages to avoid even mentioning Reinhardt. I learned a single fact - that 4'33" was originally conceived with the title Silent Prayer(!) Also I found some of her discussion of the particularities of Buddhist belief and it's relevance to Cage of interest, but it's always difficult when you know how mistaken a book is in the territories that you know well to trust it when it strays outside them. Things must really be on the slide at Penguin when they let a book like this out. (9.9.12) I kept fretting about it, and decided I would after all review it http://www.askyfilledwithshootingstar...
August 29, 2018
This book focuses on John Cage and his relationship with Zen and Tao, and it´s very rich with thoughts about how that is related to his music, and to his approach to art. You get an idea, but I am sure there is more. i loved reading this, since it is the part of John Cage and his process which most interests me. Wonderful John Cage.
November 11, 2013
This book is vast. Larson's focus is John Cage, but all that made him, followed by all that he made, encompasses the shifting ways of producing and experiencing art that was the Twentieth Century.
Revolution, evolution: the world r/evolved; art r/evolved; Cage took it all in and turned the mirror both out and in. What reflected back was unpredictable, startling, a surprise.
Of course the well-known tipping point is Cage's piece 4'33": is silence music? Or: how often do we stop and find even one minute to leave empty for the world to fill for us with its own sounds?
Like Cage's embrace of Zen thinking, every question suggests another.
It would be impossible to summarize what Larson covers here. And one could quote endlessly from Cage, those to whom he was drawn, and those who were drawn to him. Often I found myself arguing with these artistic statements, but I could never say they did not make me react or cause me to consider my feelings about their actions and words.
It's true, a lot of what was bright and new in the art of the 20th century has turned into trite cliche, surface fashion and advertising.
And many of these artists have seemingly "moved on".
But the core of Cage will never grow old: he allowed himself to consider tradition and formulate different rules; he allowed himself to approach from a different direction, time, place. He found and entered previously invisible doors, closed others, created or ignored still others. And that approach to life never changed.
He left himself open to the world, not as he saw it, but as it might be.
I haven't even begun to explore all the tangents of information contained in this book, but I did watch Cage performing "Water Walk" on "I've Got a Secret" (just google it) and I advise you to do the same. Truly delightful.
Revolution, evolution: the world r/evolved; art r/evolved; Cage took it all in and turned the mirror both out and in. What reflected back was unpredictable, startling, a surprise.
Of course the well-known tipping point is Cage's piece 4'33": is silence music? Or: how often do we stop and find even one minute to leave empty for the world to fill for us with its own sounds?
Like Cage's embrace of Zen thinking, every question suggests another.
It would be impossible to summarize what Larson covers here. And one could quote endlessly from Cage, those to whom he was drawn, and those who were drawn to him. Often I found myself arguing with these artistic statements, but I could never say they did not make me react or cause me to consider my feelings about their actions and words.
It's true, a lot of what was bright and new in the art of the 20th century has turned into trite cliche, surface fashion and advertising.
And many of these artists have seemingly "moved on".
But the core of Cage will never grow old: he allowed himself to consider tradition and formulate different rules; he allowed himself to approach from a different direction, time, place. He found and entered previously invisible doors, closed others, created or ignored still others. And that approach to life never changed.
He left himself open to the world, not as he saw it, but as it might be.
I haven't even begun to explore all the tangents of information contained in this book, but I did watch Cage performing "Water Walk" on "I've Got a Secret" (just google it) and I advise you to do the same. Truly delightful.
September 8, 2012
Most bios and studies of John Cage acknowledge that in the middle of the century, Cage became interested in first Hindu philosophy and then Zen Buddhism, and that studying these things shaped his subsequent works and "substituted for psychoanalysis" in his personal life. Few of the scholars who note this, however, have really explored exactly what that means. Kay Larson's new book brings its strongest focus precisely on the period between 1948 and 1952 when Cage's ideas were undergoing their most radical change. These years correspond to a number of key events in his life: his trips to Black Mountain College, his taking classes with D.T. Suzuki at Columbia University, his meeting with artist Robert Rauschenberg, the formation of the Merce Cunningham Dance Co. Larson is to be applauded for the detailed consideration she gives to Buddhist thought, and Cage's relationship to those ideas. V have never encountered such a thoughtful analysis of Cage's most infamous work, 4'33" and it's follow up 0'00". Larson helps the reader understand that these works are far from Dadaist pranks or anti-music, but works of profound spiritual engagement with the "nothing" of Zen teachings.
That said, the book has some structural peculiarities that are annoying, and there are some errors and un-edited mistakes that weaken the book as a whole. (i mean, if she can't spell Aaron Copland's name correctly, how do i accept what she says about him?) But ultimately, these errors are a few embarrassing burps in what is otherwise a satisfying meal. How nice, in Cage's centennial year, to have a work that is accessible to non-musicians that makes clear Cage's continuing relevance to us today.
That said, the book has some structural peculiarities that are annoying, and there are some errors and un-edited mistakes that weaken the book as a whole. (i mean, if she can't spell Aaron Copland's name correctly, how do i accept what she says about him?) But ultimately, these errors are a few embarrassing burps in what is otherwise a satisfying meal. How nice, in Cage's centennial year, to have a work that is accessible to non-musicians that makes clear Cage's continuing relevance to us today.
March 23, 2016
I can't help it. Any book that probes, pushes and engages with John Cage - I have to reward with 5 stars. Yes, at times, Larson does over-egg the Zen Buddhist connections with Cage's work. But there is a respectfulness and a rigour, a compassion and a care, granted to Cage's life here.
Cage's quotations gleam through the book. He was - simply - one of the most important, influential and transformative people of the 20th century. While most histories of the century focus on war, brutality and violence, Cage's 20th century revolution was enacted through silence, questioning, reflection and indeterminacy.
I also wanted to note that this fine book engages - and strongly - with the role of indeterminacy in Cage's writing, pieces and life. It is a strong trope and theory that binds the book.
Next life, I'm coming back as John Cage. Incredible man. Magnificent writer. Challenging thinker.
Cage's quotations gleam through the book. He was - simply - one of the most important, influential and transformative people of the 20th century. While most histories of the century focus on war, brutality and violence, Cage's 20th century revolution was enacted through silence, questioning, reflection and indeterminacy.
I also wanted to note that this fine book engages - and strongly - with the role of indeterminacy in Cage's writing, pieces and life. It is a strong trope and theory that binds the book.
Next life, I'm coming back as John Cage. Incredible man. Magnificent writer. Challenging thinker.
February 2, 2015
As more or less a philistine when it comes to the avant-garde and, for the most part, willfully ignorant of Buddhist philosophy, I wasn't sure this book was for me. But after a few false starts over a few years, I'm glad I committed to getting through it. As Larson/Cage puts it: "You can become narrow-minded, literally, by only liking certain things, and disliking others. But you can become open-minded, literally, by giving up your likes and dislikes and becoming interested in things."
September 13, 2018
A treasure trove of informantion about John Cage and his music. It wets the appetite to listen to more of Cage's music and to read more about Zen Buddhism. My only complaint that the otherwise engaging writing is often repetitive as if the author has written the short chapters over many years and then just stapled together.
May 10, 2014
At the outset I didn't care for cage. By the end, I joined Larsen, in love.
March 28, 2016
A detailed cookbook for making John Cage, with a vast collection of stories from his musical and spiritual influences.
April 8, 2021
If you're looking for a critique of John Cage you're not going to find it here. This book veers toward the sentimental quite often. Also, If you are already immersed in the world of John Cage, Christian Wolff, Henry Cowell, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and on and on, you'll have heard a lot of these stories already. Having said that, this books is really well written and definitely pleasant to read. For me it worked best when Larson was relating Cage's work to the teachings of Ramakrishna, D.T. Suzuki, and Zen Buddhism in general because I know very little about those subjects and I found those parts of the book...uh...well...enlightening. If you're in the mood for this type of thing (and I was) this is well worth your time.
June 12, 2021
There is so much about Cage's life and work I find inspiring, and even more so after reading this book. I was a little disappointed to learn how much of a careerist and opportunist Cage was early in life. Despite his selfless philosophies, he really did aspire to be famous.
September 16, 2024
This book was so good I got a migraine as soon as I finished reading it.
June 1, 2016
The crack in the egg, happened for Cage when he was 38. As a young man he would tour Europe to learn about the world. Inspired by Dada and futurism, he would look for the vanguard of the art world. He would join an art collective as a young adult, have relationships and lovers, with the well-to-do crowd. And yet, all of his work started to really take shape with the teachings of D.T. Suzuki., and "The Essays of Zen" from the 1930s.
This book has so many touchpoints that resonate with me. Buddhist concepts of interrelatedness and egolessness. The beauty of the "zero", the "null", the nothingness. The Huang Po concept of the universal mind. Cage was part of that movement that didn't ask you to see "beauty", he gave us something that asked us to see what "is".
The book is laid out with a beautiful three act structure.
1. MOUNTAINS ARE MOUNTAINS
2. MOUNTAINS ARE NO LONGER MOUNTAINS
3. MOUNTAINS ARE MOUNTAINS AGAIN
Experience circles you back to where you started, if a bit of a shakier ground. Cage, like many of us, finds an exquisite beauty and coherence in silence, koans, parables, and experience. His artwork which would inspire the 1960s pop artists like Warhol, Yoko Ono, Robert Rauschenberg and Eno opened up a world "something and nothing".
If all of this sounds a bit like gibberish or unclear...that's mostly intentional. When we listen to "4'33" by John Cage, at first we can smirk, or laugh or dismiss, but to observ it is to have a totally different experience.
Truly a book to provoke an experience to alter our brief, beautiful and always changing lives.
This book has so many touchpoints that resonate with me. Buddhist concepts of interrelatedness and egolessness. The beauty of the "zero", the "null", the nothingness. The Huang Po concept of the universal mind. Cage was part of that movement that didn't ask you to see "beauty", he gave us something that asked us to see what "is".
The book is laid out with a beautiful three act structure.
1. MOUNTAINS ARE MOUNTAINS
2. MOUNTAINS ARE NO LONGER MOUNTAINS
3. MOUNTAINS ARE MOUNTAINS AGAIN
Experience circles you back to where you started, if a bit of a shakier ground. Cage, like many of us, finds an exquisite beauty and coherence in silence, koans, parables, and experience. His artwork which would inspire the 1960s pop artists like Warhol, Yoko Ono, Robert Rauschenberg and Eno opened up a world "something and nothing".
If all of this sounds a bit like gibberish or unclear...that's mostly intentional. When we listen to "4'33" by John Cage, at first we can smirk, or laugh or dismiss, but to observ it is to have a totally different experience.
Truly a book to provoke an experience to alter our brief, beautiful and always changing lives.
August 13, 2016
Wonderful book.I found this book to be very helpful in giving an understanding of Cage's involvement with Zen Buddhism and how central it was to his artistic vision. One of the most interesting features of the book is how the author plausibly argues that Cage's deep interest in Zen transformed both his work and his sometimes volatile emotional life; this kind of connection between work and life is, I think, one of the reasons that people write and read artistic biographies. It isn't always easy to find direct connections, but I think that Kay Larson has a strong identification with her biographical and intellectual subjects. As a musician myself with an interest in 20th-century American music, I have found Cage to be a fascinating and frustrating figure, but this book helped me to place him in the right contexts. In addition, I found the descriptions of the American art world and the history of Zen in America to be very informative; I had not realized the extent of Cage's influence on visual artists, and this is made clear here on an artistic and a personal level. There were a few small errors I found on musical subjects. Larson seems very strong on Zen, visual arts, and Cage's music; sometimes less so when she talks about other composers and their music, but that didn't affect the strengths of her book for me. I would recommend it gladly to anyone interested in Cage, 20th-century music, or the interrelationship between ideas and artistic creation.
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August 16, 2018It sounds absurd to say: “Every artist should read this book,” but many absurdities are true. (In a sense, that’s the point of this book.) Kay explains how the occult Mystery ripples through the world. There’s the perfect preceptor (Buddha), the impeccable tradition (Buddhism), the shrewd translator (D. T. Suzuki), the perfect student (John Cage), and the student’s imperfect disciples (Jasper Johns, Dick Higgins, Sonic Youth, Fluxus, etc.)
Cage was the son of a failed inventor in early Los Angeles (he was born in 1912) so he transformed Zen into an invention – or a series of inventions. He would use a map of stars in the sky, superimposed on a page of musical notation, to compose music. All of Cage’s art was super-funny, but vast & encyclopedic – like the best Buddhist scripture. If no one wanted to be famous, what would art look like? Cage answered this unanswerable question.
Kay has a passionately philosophic mind. Let me open the book at random:
“In 1936, a year after Cage left Sample and married Xenia, the doors of San Quentin slammed shut on Cowell. This elfin, delicate men – kind and trusting, “almost childlike” – had been sentenced to 15 years in America’s second-worst penal hell for the alleged seduction of a consenting teenage boy. What really happened? The story has confusing variants.”
March 16, 2019
This book made me fall in love with it, and with John Cage.
This narrative on John Cage's non-narrative philosophy completely blew my mind in a wonderful way, and I frequently had to go slow to savor. The author meticulously constructs what we can know abt Cage's spiritual process over the first 25 years of his career, while also showing a fair bit of respect to what we can't know. The book subtitle is fair... it is as much a reflection on Zen Buddhism or on the creative process of the Cageian school of artists as it is about the man. It also successfully introduces dozens of artists that I didnt know but immediately felt engaged with.
I had almost no previous knowledge of Cage to compare this to, so I cant speak to how it fits other knowledge of him. But the voice is warm and generous, and I have been introduced to work that challenges and inspires me. And Ive been inspired to ask some delightful questions of myself.
Ive also just cried my whole way through the coda and epilogue. The author finds deep love and joy in Cage, and it has been a delight Im grateful to have experienced.
This narrative on John Cage's non-narrative philosophy completely blew my mind in a wonderful way, and I frequently had to go slow to savor. The author meticulously constructs what we can know abt Cage's spiritual process over the first 25 years of his career, while also showing a fair bit of respect to what we can't know. The book subtitle is fair... it is as much a reflection on Zen Buddhism or on the creative process of the Cageian school of artists as it is about the man. It also successfully introduces dozens of artists that I didnt know but immediately felt engaged with.
I had almost no previous knowledge of Cage to compare this to, so I cant speak to how it fits other knowledge of him. But the voice is warm and generous, and I have been introduced to work that challenges and inspires me. And Ive been inspired to ask some delightful questions of myself.
Ive also just cried my whole way through the coda and epilogue. The author finds deep love and joy in Cage, and it has been a delight Im grateful to have experienced.
September 9, 2018
An immersive, surprising, and life-altering read. I had no idea there were so many connections between Cage, modern art, and buddhism. Cage now seems more a cultural figure, conceptual artist, and teacher than a composer. Larson does a great job of revealing Cage's extensive network of influence by meandering through connections and following out their implications, instead of abiding by a strict chronology or primary theme. Larson seems to have embodied some Cagean and Buddhist approaches in her writing style.
Taking on Cage's thoughts and perspective makes for an immersive, interactive read: Drills, brakes, intercom announcements, footsteps, fans—all become musical and interesting. Every object becomes a "Duchamp"—completely ordinary and a perfect work of art. Complex entities suddenly come into view and targets recede. One's own mind can rest and be watched.
Despite loving this book, it actually took me a while to get through because it's insights were constantly pushing me out of the book into introspection and the infinite interesting happenings all around me.
Taking on Cage's thoughts and perspective makes for an immersive, interactive read: Drills, brakes, intercom announcements, footsteps, fans—all become musical and interesting. Every object becomes a "Duchamp"—completely ordinary and a perfect work of art. Complex entities suddenly come into view and targets recede. One's own mind can rest and be watched.
Despite loving this book, it actually took me a while to get through because it's insights were constantly pushing me out of the book into introspection and the infinite interesting happenings all around me.
November 7, 2012
I'd never been able to appreciate abstract expressionism, before reading this book. I had a kneejerk reaction to it as hopelessly conceptual and elitist. This book changed my view, appreciating the barriers Johns, Rauchsenberg, Twombly and Co. were trying to break down in taking "art" off the museum walls and creating actions and processes, not artifacts. John Cage's zen journey was deep and intimate, anchored by his study of and association with D.T. Suzuki. This book itself doesn't so much try to relate or translate Cage's spiritual journey so much as present it directly, in his words and works. His musical creations--which I am utterly unfamiliar with--are demonstrated to be crucial explorations in a spiritual journey and existential project extending well beyond the limiting bounds of "art" and "music".
October 10, 2019
A wonderful biography of part of the 20th century, in which John Cage is the star and in which so many other people and ideas spin around him. For me, it was a special reminder of my first encounter with “Silence” and “A Year From Monday” in the 70s - when I heard Stockhausen, Xenakis, Ligeti, Berio and others - but all of Cage’s music was entirely silent. I read this book with his music finally in my ears, listening to pieces whose names (William’s Mix, Imaginary Landscape ...) were entirely familiar but which I had never actually heard. Then, perfectly, I read about 0’ 0”, a piece that somehow I’d missed completely - and I realised that I’d always been listening to Cage - to music that is always and never starting and ending, always and never in the air ...
October 18, 2014
Insightful into the creative process of John Cage and associate artists, development of chance method; a very interesting look at many intersecting influences. Enlightening it was for me. I appreciate Cage and others more because of this book
Form the book pg 407
" The book proposes that John Cage originated the worldview that showed artist how to appreciate the work of Marcel Duchamp.
In our own time, Duchamp universally gets credit for inventing the postmodernism at the center of twenty-first-century art. Whenever that happens--and it happens in an eye blink- John Cage disappers from view. But what if conventional wisdom is myopic?
Form the book pg 407
" The book proposes that John Cage originated the worldview that showed artist how to appreciate the work of Marcel Duchamp.
In our own time, Duchamp universally gets credit for inventing the postmodernism at the center of twenty-first-century art. Whenever that happens--and it happens in an eye blink- John Cage disappers from view. But what if conventional wisdom is myopic?
January 1, 2015
There are many Cage biographies out there, but none have really put his life, and how he influenced our culture, into perspective until now. Larsen paints a portrait of a man who influenced not only music, but art, philosophy, writing, graphic design, dance, and many other art forms. Cage was a quiet man, so he isn't always thought of as the renaissance man he was, but his reach permeates the 20th century, and his influence lives on today.
September 4, 2014
Maria Popova rave. Interesting topic, fascinating subjects, decent writing, a little too much breathless use of core theme to explain every small action and event in Cage's wanderings. Didn't read all the way through because it was more detail than I cared to know, but an interesting and insightful book for anyone interested in John Cage and his social circle and the principles driving his work.
March 8, 2017
Much larger in scope than I anticipated. A truly consuming and life-affirming read- one of the best artist bios I've ever read. Additionally, I'm grateful to Larson's book if only for the fact that it opened my eyes to the reach of Cage's influence. An excellent and excellently researched piece of writing!
December 15, 2016
A well written and unique approach to understanding John Cage. This book does a wonderful job of weaving in the growth of Zen Buddhism in the West and how John Cage's work and his personal growth were influenced and affected by it. John Cage's relationship with Buddhism is encompassing, making this book a great avenue in understanding his approach to music and sound. A lovely and calm read.
October 12, 2014
A beautiful biography. Written across time with a heartfelt experience of a certain kind of Buddhist practice along with a deep contemporary response as an artist. Could've been slightly shorter but lovely nonetheless.
August 23, 2017
I knew nothing of John Cage before buying this book on a whim. So happy I did, a very enjoyable and well written book dealing with Cage's life, music, time, and their intersection with Zen Buddhism and Suzuki Roshi, a teacher tasked with and greatly responsible for popularising Zen in the West.
August 20, 2022
This was a beautifully written book not just about John Cage, but about the NYC art scene of the 50s. I loved it.
September 7, 2015
A great slice of history. The book also traces who was in Cage's sphere: Peggy Guggenheim, Merce Cunningham, and several noteworthy artists and writers of the time.
January 14, 2017
Occasionally twee but still valuable and thoughtful. Cage was a big personal influence and I might well recommend this as a first resource to explain what it was I saw in him.
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