Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Epigraph Acknowledgements Introduction The Sources Inspiration and Time's Flow The Vehicle The Stream The Muse Mind at Play Disappearing The Work Sex and Violins Practice The Power of Limits The Power of Mistakes Playing Together Form Unfolding Obstacles and Openings Childhood's End Vicious Circles The Judging Spectre Surrender Patience Ripening The Fruits Eros and Creation Quality Art for Life's Sake Heartbreakthrough Notes Bibliography Illustrations About the Author Most Tarcher/Putnam books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs. Special books or book excerpts also can be created to fit specific needs. For details, write Putnam Special Markets 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. 375 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014 www.penguinputnam.com The author thanks the following for their permission to reprint from copyrighted works. Constance Crown, for Hands by Rico Lebrun. Walter Gruen, for Musica Solar by Remedios Varo. Ben Berzinsky, for his photograph of a Carlo Bergonzi violin, c. 1770. Grateful thanks to the late Arnold Fawcus of the Trianon Press, Paris, for permission to photograph his magnificent William Blake books. Artist Rights Society, Inc., for Two Children Drawing and Dawn Song by Pablo Picasso. © ARS N.Y./SPADEM. Charles E. Tuttle Co., Tokyo, Japan, for Tomikichiro Tokuriki's Riding the Bull Home. North Point Press, for excerpt from Wendell Berry's essay, Poetry and Marriage. For M. C. Escher's Encounter © 1989 M. C. Escher Heirs/Cordon Art, Baarn, Holland. Excerpts from "Burnt Norton" and "Little Gidding" in Four Quartets, © 1943 by T. S. Eliot and renewed 1971 by Esme Valerie Eliot, . Excerpt from The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life. Introduction by Carl Jung, translated and explained by Richard Wilhelm, . Excerpt from A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, © 1929 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. and renewed 1957 by Leonard Woolf, . Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Nachmanovitch, Stephen. Free play; improvisation in life and art / Stephen Nachmanovitch p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN: 9781440673085 1. Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) 2. Improvisation (Music) I. Title. BH301.C84N-49303 153.3'5-dc2O CIP Copyright © 1990 by Stephen Nachmanovitch Paint as you like and die happy. HENRY MILLER Acknowledgments The following are only a few of the many friends and colleagues whose support, criticism, ideas, and other contributions were vital to the creation of this book: Excerpted from Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
