Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Ed Crooks <>]

Another thing to bear in mind is that Cage frequently found ways to like
materials that appealed to him, even if that meant ignoring some aspects of
that material or creatively reimagining it. Cage's interpretations of Duchamp
or Satie, Thoreau or Suzuki, are not the only ones that are possible but are
among a range of interpretations. Just as Stanley Cavell's interpretation of
Thoreau differs considerably from Cage's interpretation, Norman O. Brown's
interpretation of Joyce differs from Cage's. Brown's interest in the Wake, 
like
Joseph Campbell's, was motivated in part by different concerns to those that
drove Cage (see Christopher Shultis's paper 'A Living Oxymoron: Norman O.
Brown's Criticism of John Cage', Perspectives of New Music 44(2), 66-87). With
a work as fecund with possible interpretations as Finnegans Wake it isn't
surprising that are many paths through the work and many possible 
destinations!
It's also worth remembering that Cage's interest in Joyce and Finnegans Wake
predated his friendship with Brown by several decades.

best,
Ed Crooks