Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info

Spring Fundraising Drive In Progress. Please visit our home page to see this and other announcements: https://www.mmdigest.com     Thank you. --Jody

MMD > Archives > December 2020 > 2020.12.03 > 01Prev  Next


William Gaddis Writing About the Player Piano
By Richard Friedman

Critical Cultural Aspects About the Player Piano on Radio

I recently read "Agapé Agape", a novel by William Gaddis. By way of
introduction to the author, I attach a quote:

"I see the player piano as the grandfather of the computer, the
ancestor of the entire nightmare we live in, the birth of the binary
world where there is no option other than yes or no and where there
is no refuge." -- William Gaddis

Mr. Gaddis (1922-1998) "was considered one of the best of the
post-World War II Modernist writers" (Britannica.com). He had
a lifelong fascination with the player piano, and had plans to write
a lengthy Social History of the instrument. Instead, for his final
work he wrote Agapé Agape which is a deathbed soliloquy delivered by
the elderly protagonist who himself plans to write a social history
of the player.

I've posted in part because I find myself finally able to answer
Wolfgang Heisig's question, posted December 21st, 1999, wherein he
asks about the source material for a drama aired on German radio:
https://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/199912/1999.12.21.05.html 

According to the book's afterword, the [radio] drama was adapted,
by William Gaddis, from this very book.

This post is not exactly an endorsement. The tale is written in a
stream of consciousness style (think Thomas Pynchon) that many people,
including myself, can only take in small doses. However, for those
wishing to expand their literary horizons, Agapé is easily found on
Amazon and other book sites.

Richard Friedman
Upstate New York

 [ Ref: http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/mlc50/item/10172 --
 [ Written for DeutschlandRadio, "Torschlusspanik" is a one-act monologue
 [ broadcast on March 3, 1999, three and a half months after Gaddis died.
 [
 [ "Agapé" is Greek for divine, unconditional love. (Wikipedia)
 [ Gaddis wrote the dramatic monologue about aspects of corporate
 [ technological cultures that are uniquely destructive of the arts.
 [ But I prefer to believe that the player piano actually furthered
 [ the genre of mechanical music. -- Robbie


(Message sent Fri 4 Dec 2020, 01:15:49 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  About, Gaddis, Piano, Player, William, Writing

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page