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Carrying the Burden of Representation: Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2006

JIM PEACOCK
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh

Abstract

The most important thing in art is The Frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively – because, without this humble appliance, you can't know where The Art stops and The Real World begins. You have to put a “box” around it because otherwise, what is that shit on the wall?

If John Cage, for instance, says, “I'm putting a contact microphone on my throat, and I'm going to drink carrot juice, and that's my composition,” then his gurgling qualifies as his composition because he put a frame around it and said so. “Take it or leave it, I nowwillthis to bemusic.” After that it's a matter of taste. Without the frame-as-announced, it's a guy swallowing carrot juice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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