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A review by kfan
Words Without Music: A Memoir by Philip Glass
3.0
Reread 2022. Picked this up at the library me, went to add it here, and saw I had already read it! I have absolutely no memory of reading it and none of it felt familiar this time through. Still like it though! This time I was really struck by his transparency around his day jobs, which lasted into his 40s, even past Einstein on the Beach. There was no plan b, he had to work and he had to make music. I’m into it.
A chronological autobiography about his childhood, experience at Julliard and later musical education, and then broad overview of his career and the various mentors and religious experiences he had along the way. I went into this hoping for insight into his artistic process and his philosophy of creativity and there's a bit of that, but not much, it's mostly where he went and who he met and what he did. Told very engagingly! But still.
He lets himself off the hook incredibly gently for the dissolution of his first marriage, and mentions his 2nd and 4th wives not at all. But the chapter on Candy Jernigan, his 3rd wife, was very touching.
The final chapter is a departure--a series of disconnected, non-chronological memories, separated by a repeated refrain. It's weird and cool and incredibly moving and finally you're like THIS IS A PHILIP GLASS MEMOIR but then it's over.
A chronological autobiography about his childhood, experience at Julliard and later musical education, and then broad overview of his career and the various mentors and religious experiences he had along the way. I went into this hoping for insight into his artistic process and his philosophy of creativity and there's a bit of that, but not much, it's mostly where he went and who he met and what he did. Told very engagingly! But still.
He lets himself off the hook incredibly gently for the dissolution of his first marriage, and mentions his 2nd and 4th wives not at all. But the chapter on Candy Jernigan, his 3rd wife, was very touching.
The final chapter is a departure--a series of disconnected, non-chronological memories, separated by a repeated refrain. It's weird and cool and incredibly moving and finally you're like THIS IS A PHILIP GLASS MEMOIR but then it's over.