The Process That Is the World: Cage/Deleuze/Events/Performances

Description

The Process That Is the World grapples with John Cage not just as a composer, but as a philosopher advocating for an ontology of difference in keeping with the kind posited by Gilles Deleuze. Cage's philosophy is not simply a novel method for composition, but an extensive argument about the nature of reality itself, the construction of subjects within that reality, and the manner in which subjectivity and a self-creative world exist in productive tension with one another. Over the course of the study, these themes are developed in the realms of the ontology of a musical work, performance practices, ethics, and eventually a study of Cagean politics and the connection between aesthetic experience and the generation of new forms of collective becoming-together. The vision of Cage that emerges through this study is not simply that of the maverick composer or the "inventor of genius," but of a thinker and artist responding to insights about the world-as-process as it extends through the philosophical, artistic, and ethical registers: the world as potential for variance, reinvention, and permanent revolution.

Joe Panzner is a lecturer in Music History at the Ohio State University and Capital University, USA.

This smart, well-written book reveals deep and convincing connections (ontological, ethical, aesthetic, and political) between one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers and one of its most important composers - resonances that have been noted by others but never fully explored. Panzner helpfully explicates Deleuze's key ideas and draws on them to develop Cage's philosophical position. Conversely, he shows how Cage exemplifies and expands Deleuze's aesthetics. * Christoph Cox, Professor of Philosophy, Hampshire College, USA * This book is a dazzling achievement; Joe Panzner shows how Cage's ideas are in dialogue with continental philosophy and, in so doing, offers important new perspectives on his work, its performance, and its overall significance. * Rob Haskins, Associate Professor, Department of Music, University of New Hampshire, USA * As the prestige and productive power of Deleuze has transformed the Humanities, it is fascinating to see retrospectively Cage's in-tuned-ness to the philosophical cutting edge that most of the English speaking world pretty much missed at the time. The Process that is the World brings the perplexing artistic character of John Cage into a philosophically "respectable" conversation with one of the most important Western philosophers since Aristotle in ways that strikingly illuminate their shared creative territory. Panzner's skillful and compelling parsing of the richly resonant strands of thought that characterize both Cage and Deleuze adds significant depth to our understanding of both of them, and this expertly written work goes far in reminding us how significant John Cage really is. Panzner reminds us that the experiments and productions of musicians have always had an excess philosophical value, something not even philosophy can supply itself with. A brilliant calibration of these two highly esoteric thinkers that has the potential to open up new territories of correspondence between music and philosophy, The Process that is the World will surely mark one of the early and most significant moments in music's conceptual turn towards Deleuze, and will instantly become an important touchstone in both Cage and Deleuze studies. * Brian Hulse, Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition, College of William & Mary, USA * This book creates an utterly convincing link between experimental music and radical philosophy; or more broadly, between the boundaries of thought and the limits of artistic practice. The parallels between Cage and Deleuze that Panzner finds are uncanny: they will have you reading one through the eyes and ears of the other until you hear their work as the kind of collective assemblage both men loved. * Michael Pisaro, Composer/Professor, California Institute of the Arts, USA *