Begin Again: A Biography of John Cage (review)

No doubt my expectations were unrealistic. Pulitzer Prize winner takes on the most radical composer of the past century; I expected something remarkable, even magisterial—something like Leon Edel's biography of Henry James, dauntingly comprehensive and exhaustively documented.¹ Begin Again is neither of these; it's skillfully written and eminently readable but factually vague, emphasizing people rather than ideas, Cage's social life rather than his music. For my father—not a musician but interested in Cage—Begin Again would be an excellent present; it's unencumbered by scholarship, an easy and pleasant read in bed or on a train.

But it's of little use to me. It's a convenience, because Silverman brings together in a single, uncontroversial narrative events and personalities that are distributed widely and erratically throughout the existing literature on Cage. Begin Again is a quick way to refresh my knowledge, fill a gap, or supply a colorful quote; it saves trawling through a mountain of publications and photocopies; but it offers few insights. I enjoyed reading Begin Again, and I'll surely revisit it, but it has changed nothing.

Silverman relies primarily on classical biographical sources: letters, narratives by and about contemporaries, archival holdings, and the extensive secondary literature. In form and method his approach mirrors his biographies of Poe and Mather, providing a certainly scholarly remove by generally eschewing Cage's extensive self-representations—interviews, performances, recordings, public appearances—except to amplify or lend a touch of color. And it distinguishes Silverman's book from other book-length studies, notably David Revill's The Roaring Silence, which relied so heavily on interviews that it is nearly a ghostwritten autobiography.²

The result presents what might be called the "unguarded" Cage—Cage in his daily interactions, his friendships and passions. And Silverman's Cage is passionate; the most evident difference between this account and earlier ones is the consistency (even glee) with which the author dwells on Cage's moods, temperament, and appetites—sexual in the beginning, culinary later. Sexual undercurrents surface in odd details, giving the text an occasionally salacious quality: Xenia has a "mole near her pubic area" (21); the woman in Duchamp's Étant Donnés reveals "gaping labia" (393), an image that "continues to shock viewers," though it evidently didn't shock Cage.

In part this is just good journalism. Silverman's book reads much like an extended newspaper account; chapters have headline-like titles ("The Art of Noise") and efficient subtitles ("Percussion Music; Lou Harrison") (26). Cage's friends and associates are sketched with lively details, sometimes apt and revealing, but often irrelevant or even demeaning: "Long blond hair falling over her chest in two ribboned hanks, [Mary Bauermeister] hosted performances . . . " (197). And implied relationships are often out of kilter. Introducing Earle Brown, Silverman writes that he "came to New York with his wife in mid-1952" (111); only much later do we learn that the unnamed wife (Carolyn) was equally motivated to move to New York, and still later that she became a mainstay of the Cunningham company and one of the great dancers of the century. The casual reader might find such writing entertaining; the thoughtful reader may wonder how Silverman decides what matters—or, worse, whether his judgment is to be trusted.

Scholars—terminally afflicted with doubt—will find precious little justification for trust. There is an extensive, though not exhaustive, list of secondary and archival sources, but finding out what Silverman got from where is well-nigh impossible. The reference system is a nightmare: to find a source I have to remember a key word from the quote and the first word of the paragraph; then I turn to the back, where everything is strung together in massive blocks of text, hunt for the boldface entry keyed to the paragraph, then peruse what follows for the keyword—hoping I chose the right one. I also bought the ebook in hopes that references...