Popular Culture Review Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1999 | Page 42

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Popular Culture Review

B.F.A. in 1966. Almost immediately, Wilson propelled himself to the forefront of
the avant garde with his experimental theatrical works DeafmanjGlance (1970),
and The Life and Times o f Joseph Stalin (1973). As noted on the Monsters o f
Grace website.
In June 1971, following the Paris debut of Wilson’s Deafman
Glance, French Surrealist Louis Aragon wrote to Andre Breton,
‘I have never seen anything more beautiful in the world.’ Hailed
as ‘a revolution of the plastic arts one sees only once or twice in
a generation,’ Deafman Glance evolved from many workshops
and impromptu performances that Wilson held with his New
York-based Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds. (MOG website)
After this auspicious debut, Wilson’s international reputation was assured, and he
went on to stage a variety of personal and classical works, including Death, De
struction and Detroit (1979), The Golden Windows (1982), and productions of Salome,
Parsifal, The Magic Flute and Madame Butterfly throughout the world in the 1980s
and 1990s. He has collaborated on various projects with such diverse talents as
William S. Burroughs, David Byrne, Susan Sontag, Jessye Norman and Lou Reed,
and continues to operate on the cutting edge of contemporary theatrical discourse at
the dawn of the new millennium (see Monsters o f Grace website for further details).
The lyrics, far from being contemporary, are the work of Jelaluddin Rumi,
a 13th century Turkish mystic who is generally credited with the distinction of
being the originator of the “whirling dervishes.” Rumi, who lived from 12071273, composed a series of meditations on human existence that comprise the
entire text of the libretto for Monsters o f Grace, as translated into English by
Coleman Barks. Using this exquisite text as the backbone of the opera, Philip
Glass composed a haunting, trance-like score that accentuates the mystic and ephem
eral qualities of Rumi’s text, as exemplified by this brief excerpt, which forms the
entirety of the text for an extended section of Monsters o f Grace, subtitled Don *t
Go Back to Sleep.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
Where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.