Kay Larson,John Cage
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 Cageâ€™s musicâ€”which used notes chosen by chance, randomly tuned radios, and even silenceâ€”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 composerâ€™s life, and to the artistic avant-garde of the 1950s and 60s. Zenâ€™s power of transforming Cageâ€™s troubled mind, by showing him his own enlightened natureâ€”which is also the nature of all living thingsâ€”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 Cageâ€™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 Cageâ€™s story progresses, as his studentsâ€™ trajectories unfurl, ,Where the Heart Beats ,shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.,Â ,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. Larsonâ€™s deep knowledge of Zen Buddhism, her long familiarity with New Yorkâ€™s art world, and her exhaustive original research all make ,Where the Heart Beats ,the definitive story about one of Americaâ€™s most enduringly important artists.
Music,Biography,Nonfiction,Art,Philosophy,Religion,Buddhism,Religion,Buddhism,Zen,Spirituality,History
Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists