Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists
by Kay Larson
Buy on AmazonA “heroic” and “fascinating” biography of John Cage showing how his work, and that of countless American artists, was transformed by Zen Buddhism (The New York Times) Where the Heart Beats is the story of the tremendous changes sweeping through American culture following the Second World War, a time when the arts in America broke away from centuries of tradition and reinvented themselves. Painters converted their canvases into arenas for action and gesture, dancers embraced pure movement over narrative, performance artists staged “happenings” in which anything could happen, poets wrote words determined by chance. In this tumultuous period, a composer of experimental music began a spiritual quest to know himself better.…
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"Fifteen years in the making, it is without a doubt the richest, most stimulating, most absorbing book I’ve read in ages — superbly researched, exquisitely written, weaving together a great many threads of cultural history into a holistic understanding of both Cage as an artist and Zen as a lens on existence."
Best Music Books of 2012 · themarginalian.org
"Fifteen years in the making, it is without a doubt the richest, most stimulating, most absorbing book I’ve read in ages — superbly researched, exquisitely written, weaving together a great many threads of cultural history into a holistic understanding of both Cage as an artist and Zen as a lens on existence."
Best Psychology & Philosophy Books of 2012 · themarginalian.org