The Philosophy of Improvisation - by Gary Peters (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Improvisation is usually either lionized as an ecstatic experience of being in the moment or disparaged as the thoughtless recycling of clichés. Eschewing both of these orthodoxies, The Philosophy of Improvisation ranges across the arts-from music to theater, dance to comedy-and considers the improvised dimension of philosophy itself in order to elaborate an innovative concept of improvisation.

Gary Peters turns to many of the major thinkers within continental philosophy-including Heidegger, Nietzsche, Adorno, Kant, Benjamin, and Deleuze-offering readings of their reflections on improvisation and exploring improvisational elements within their thinking. Peters's wry, humorous style offers an antidote to the frequently overheated celebration of freedom and community that characterizes most writing on the subject. Expanding the field of what counts as improvisation, The Philosophy of Improvisation will be welcomed by anyone striving to comprehend the creative process.

Review Quotes

"Gary Peters draws on many sources to construct a model of improvisation that is true to the experience as attested by artists and yet escapes the criticisms that various theorists have leveled against the idea of improvisation. Laced with bits of humor, satire, and irony, this is a work of considerable imagination."-John Sallis, Boston College

"The Philosophy of Improvisation is like Lewis Hyde's The Gift; it is a book that academics and general readers will find both stimulating and enjoyable. It is a prodigious rethinking of the philosophical problem of improvisation, which brings together an impressive range of thinkers-Adorno, Deleuze, Derrida, Heidegger and Levinas, among others-but does so with a light touch. It is a terrific book."-Ian Buchanan, Cardiff University

About the Author

Gary Peters is chair of critical and cultural theory at York St. John University and the author of Irony and Singularity: Aesthetic Education from Kant to Levinas.