Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 09:58:18 -0500 (EST)
From: malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: Chance


This seems to me related both to the topic of the aesthetics of tragedy
and to the topic of transgression.  "Tragic myth has convinced us 
that even the ugly and discordant are merely an aesthetic game which 
the will, in its utter exuberance, plays with itself."  Is not something
similar going on in the game of escalating the opening up to chance? 
At the same time, this game constitutes a constant prodding of the the 
will at its limits, a means whereby the will opens itself up to the
possibility of its own transgression. 

But of course the desire to open oneself up to chance can also come from
almost diametrically opposite motives -- as, I believe, is the case with
John Cage's use of chance.  Here, the purpose is to get the will completely
out of the way, to train oneself to let things "be what they are". 


-m