Wow! eBook
Improvising Improvisation: From Out of Philosophy, Music, Dance, and Literature
Author(s): Gary Peters (Author)
- Publisher: University of Chicago Press
- Publication Date: September 25, 2020
- Language: English
- Print length: 283 pages
- ISBN-10: 022675927X
- ISBN-13: 9780226730004
Book Description
Guided by Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, and especially Deleuze—and exploring a range of artists from Hendrix to Borges—Peters illuminates new fundamentals about what, as an experience, improvisation truly is. As he shows, improvisation isn’t so much a genre, idiom, style, or technique—it’s a predicament we are thrown into, one we find ourselves in. The predicament, he shows, is a complex entwinement of choice and decision. The performativity of choice during improvisation may happen “in the moment,” but it is already determined by an a priori mode of decision. In this way, improvisation happens both within and around the actual moment, negotiating a simultaneous past, present, and future. Examining these and other often ignored dimensions of spontaneous creativity, Peters proposes a consistently challenging and rigorously argued new perspective on improvisation across an extraordinary range of disciplines.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"[A]n ambitious attempt to reframe the way we think about improvisation and to phrase it in the vocabulary of Continental philosophy. Some of these terms are more transparent than others, and at times the path of the argument becomes entangled in an undergrowth of abstractions. Although it occasionally seems to lose its way—as can happen during an extemporized performance—the book contains some valuable insights into the nature of improvisation, particularly in regard to the preconditions underlying improvisation—the cognitive and physical resources that improvisation presupposes and indeed is dependent on." ―
Arteidolia"Peters recent book analyses the experiences and creative moments of musical improvisation using a philosophical lens to bring the finer points into focus and to extract meaning from the improvising of improvisation... It’s a book that I feel we should all try to read and re-read, again – like the Beckett quote in the book (during an interesting comparison between Derek Bailey and Samuel Beckett, and for more than just looks!) '…You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on.'" ―
The Free Jazz Collective“Peters offers a rich account of what is at stake—what is actually happening—in improvisational events. To do so he brings a remarkably wide range of philosophical perspectives into dialogue —Deleuze and Heidegger above all, but also Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Husserl, Levinas, Arendt, Derrida, and quite a few others. One of the most impressive things about this book is the creative way in which Peters draws pairs of authors into virtual conversation with one another, as well as the way he brings critical thought together with that of iconic improvisers from music and dance.” -- Chris Stover, The New School
"This book is an exceptionally sophisticated treatment of improvisation. Peters is equally immersed in music and philosophy, making this a substantial contribution and a giant step forward for the topic." -- Michael Gallope, University of Minnesota
"The case studies are valuable and most fluent are those concerning music, for Peters is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist." ―
Koninklijke Brill NV
