«Reading Thoreau's Journal I discover any idea I've ever had worth its salt » notes the
American composer John Cage in 1968. Upon reading the words of nineteenth-century nature
philosopher Henry Thoreau Cage is immediately fascinated with the Transcendentalist's ideas
in particular his views on music and silence. Recognizing his own beliefs in Thoreau's writings
Cage began to rely heavily on the thoughts of the nineteenth-century man and implement them as
the basis for his own compositions - both musical and written. Drawing on the complete oeuvres
of Cage's and Thoreau's written works this book surveys the intertextual relation between the
writings of the two men. In the juxtaposition of these authors' aesthetics this book reveals
surprising overlaps in the thoughts of Cage and Thoreau.
