Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Stefano Pocci <>]

On 06/25/2011 11:19 AM, Ralph Lichtensteiger wrote:

dear Jared,

Here's my Cage-literature list, in anarchic order...

hope this will inspire you.

By Cage:

M: Writings ’67–’72, 1973 by Wesleyan University Press — my favorite

X: writings '79-'82, 1983 by Wesleyan University Press

Empty Words: Writings '73-'78, 1979 by Wesleyan University Press

Silence: Lectures and Writings, Wesleyan; 1st edition (June 15, 1961) — essential

A Year from Monday: New Lectures and Writings, Wesleyan; 1st edition (May 15, 1967)

Themes and Variations, Station Hill Press (June 1982) — out of print, but this is a very interesting text

I-VI: MethodStructureInten... (Cage's Charles Eliot Norton Lectures), Wesleyan (October 15, 1997)

Composition In Retrospect, Exact Change (October 1, 2008)

FOR THE BIRDS, In Conversation with Daniel Charles. 239 pp. Boston: Marion Boyars — a brilliant discussion book

John Cage Book of Days 2011, The John Cage Trust; Egmt Min edition (July 31, 2010)

Anarchy: New York City-January 1998, Wesleyan; 1st Wesleyan ed edition (July 15, 2001)

Notations, Something Else Press; First Edition edition (1969) — out of print, a great book

On Cage:

The Cambridge companion to John Cage By David Nicholls — one of the best resources about Cage

Joan Retallack, Musicage: Cage muses on Words-Art-Music, New England 1996 — discussions about art, aesthetics and concepts

Marjorie Perloff & Charles Junkerman, John Cage: Composed in America, Chicago 1994

James Pritchett, The Music of John Cage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993

The Roaring Silence: John Cage: A Life by David Revill

The Boulez-Cage Correspondence [Paperback], Jean-Jacques Nattiez (Editor), Robert Samuels (Editor), Cambridge University Press (January 27, 1995) — important correspondence document

Books and writers that influenced Cage:

Norman O. Brown, Love's Body. New York: Random House, 1966

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. (1927) Essays in Zen Buddhism. Series no. 1. London: Luzac. — essential

———. (1933) Essays in Zen Buddhism. Series no. 2. London: Luzac.

———. (1934) Essays in Zen Buddhism. Series no. 3. London: Luzac.

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, The Transformation of Nature in Art, (Sterling Pub Private Ltd, 1996)

Journal by Henry David Thoreau — essential

The Portable Thoreau (Portable Library, Penguin Books, 698 pages) — essential

Ulysses by James Joyce — essential

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce

and the writings of

Gertrude Stein

Buckminster Fuller

Marshall McLuhan

Aristotle

Marcel Duchamp

Ezra Pound

Best,

Ralph Li

http://lichtensteiger.net

After reading all the books suggested on this topic I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the I-Ching yet. It's neither by Cage nor on Cage but it has certainly influenced and been a companion of him for a very long time. I didn't think of it too until I saw Ralph's extensive list by the way:-)


Speaking of Suzuki's volumes, Ralph could you please indicate a more recent reprint? (easily available) I've been wondering about buying a Zen book for a while and I guess the time is up. And thank you Caleb for pointing out Kathan Brown's volume on Cage's visual art. That's another hole I need to fill soon as well.

-- 

Stefano

"When we separate music from
 life what we get is art
 (a compendium of masterpieces)" - John Cage