Conversing with Cage /

John Cage's music, and, perhaps more important, his notions of what music can be, have been paragons for the avant-garde since the early 1950s. He has been remarkably generous with interviews, from which Kostelanetz has judiciously selected excerpts that present Cage's provocative persepctives on his often inseparable music and prose. Many other persons and topics are discussed, including Schoenberg's pedagogy and music, visual artists with whom Cage has collaborated (Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock), performers/co-composers Merce Cunningham and David Tudor, and writers whose prose Cage has "set" to music (James Joyce, Ezra Pound). The pervasive influences of social philosophers (Buckminster Fuller, Henry David Thoreau) and Oriental modes of thought exhibited by Buddhism and the I Ching are reflected in Cage's aesthetic eclecticism. Citations are provided for those who want to read the complete interviews from which the excerpts were chosen; an extensive bibliography enhances this best of books by/on Cage to date. Valuable for advanced students of music, visual and literary artists, and general readers interested in the avant-garde. R. Zierolf University of Cincinnati