Silence

John Cage's writing on silence brings about several interesting ideas.  In the content of his writing, the physical representation of the work, and in the read-aloud presentation, Cage seeks to eliminate false notions of silence.  In producing text which, when read or even observed, seems to allow no silence, Cage makes a statement about the inexistence of silence in the natural world.  In his strangely structured "Lecture on Nothing," the author writes in columns, as if the words on the page were notes among many measures of musical notation.  It would seem that pauses, due to both punctuation and excessive spacing, would be a more prominent feature in the text.  Instead however, like in a piece of music, the writing creates one whole, seemingly unbroken string of thought and sound. Cage's intention, or one of the many, is surely to create a work that occupies an entire period of time, instead of implanting many words and phrases into empty space.  When read aloud soon after its inception, audiences were often tortured or bored by the incessant nature of Cage's work-- a piece which seemed to take no breaks or pauses, (when in reality it was fraught with them.) 

 In his similarly strange "Indeterminacy," Cage explains in a short preface that the short stories contained within the section are intended to be read sequentially, adhering to a strict rule of one minute per story. With this tactic, the author forces constant noise upon the reader; a string of incomplete and often incomprehensible stories that follow one-another so closely as to not allow for any sort of evaluation.  It is this unique practice of discerning meaning from a din of background noise that it appears Cage is attempting to highlight.  By providing a constant stream of noises and ideas that could easily slip into the background, the author challenges readers and listeners to train their ears and minds to listen intently.  This mindfulness in reading or listening is a muscle that consumers of literature must learn to flex, and Cage's Silence is an extraordinary exercise for the mind.