“There's no such a thing as silence…” John Cage's poetics of silence

The concept of silence is central in understanding John Cage's whole work. Cage has, on many occasions, indicated that his silent piece (4'33″) remains his most important work; and it is not without reason that Cage's first book was entitled “Silence”... A radical evolution of Cage's thought about silence took place in a relatively short period of time: in 1948, the concept of silence is first developed in Cage's writings and in 1952, he wrote his now famous silent piece. This paper discusses the evolution of Cage's position on silence, especially through Cage's texts dating from that important 4‐year period.