''X: Writings ’79–’82'' is a book by American

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

composer

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

(1912–1992), first published in 1983. The book includes

mesostic A mesostic is a poem or other text arranged so that a vertical phrase intersects lines of horizontal text. It is similar to an acrostic, but with the vertical phrase intersecting somewhere in the midst of the line, as opposed to the beginning o ...

s on the names of various people. In the forward to ''X'', Cage writes that the volume's texts represent an attempt "to find a way of writing which comes from ideas, is not about them, but which produces them." The book contains the following works: * "Foreword" (1983) * "Writing for the Fourth Time through

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...

" (1983) * "'There is not much difference between the two.' (Suzuki Daisetz)." (1979) * "Toyama 1982" (1982) * "

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

: An Alphabet" (1981–83) * "Another Song" (1981) * "Writing through the Cantos" (1983) * (untitled) (1979, also known as "Correction") * "B.W. 1916–1979" (1979, also known as " Ben Weber, 1916–1979") * "For her first exhibition with love" (1982) * "Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse)" (continued 1973–82) * "Wishful Thinking" (1983) * "Muoyce (Writing for the Fifth Time through Finnegans Wake)" (1982, also published earlier as "Muoyce")

References

1983 books Essay collections {{essay-stub

See also

References