The Author (John Cage)

John Cage has been referred to as one of the most important composers, not to mention one of the most important figures overall, in American music in the 20th Century. An innovator and rule breaker, he is perhaps most well known for a piece he composed entitled 4'33", which consists of a pianist sitting in silence while the audience listens to the "music" in the sounds around them (at least that was Cage's stated intention). His work and ideas were generally controversial but embraced by composers and performers of the so called "avant garde" 1960s and 1970s, who were interested in any form of art that both broke the rules and celebrated the breaking.

Silence: Lectures and Writings gives the impression that Cage approached his work from a philosophical as well as artistic perspective. This is conveyed in two ways. First, the language and style...