THE NEW
JOHN
CAGE
ElTIpty
Words:
Writings '73-'78
H
ERE,
after too long an interval (six years since the ap–
pearance of M) is the new John Cage. And here too (three
times six years, or near it, since
Silence
came out) is the old
John Cage as well.
Which is to say:
If
you've read John Cage before, you're aware of some of
his concerns: the nature and future of music; the ways of
dancers (and their appetites); the concept of the world as Me–
galopolis set in global park; the ancient ideas of Eastern Civ–
ilizations (India, Japan) as they reverberate in seminal Western
minds (Thoreau, Fuller, Brown); the several magics that reside
in the art of the painter, in mushrooms and their habitats, in
the clashes and harmonies of words whether arranged by
chance or by intent.
All of these, in one fashion or another, are here in
Empty
Words;
none of them, however, quite as you have seen them
before. Yes, of course, there are mesostics: some of them writ–
ten by the author, more of them found by him in (believe it
or not)
Finnegans Wake
by James Joyce . There are anecdotes,
there are epigrams, there are even (something new for Mr.
Cage) caustic analyses/criticisms of the world's political-economic
situation and leadership .
Try reading the series re Morris Graves, first silently, then
as a vocal exercise. You'll find it, like all of this book-like all
of John Cage's writing-fresh, thought-provoking, full of
beauty and challenge. Clothbound. Illustrated. $16
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS
Middletown, Connecticut 06457
