ABSTRACT
The libretto for Einstein on the Beach was created by Christopher Knowles, a neurologically impaired teenager whose repetitive essays in language, mediated by tape recorders and typewriters, fascinated director Robert Wilson. Knowles, whose organic deficits manifested in ways similar to autism, filled his typings with detailed information about one of his “circumscribed interests,” New York’s premier AM radio station, WABC. This chapter provides a detailed analysis of the opera’s text within the context of American “Top 40” media practices, showing how listening to Knowles can help date the composition of the libretto; uncover a “radio voice” in the text; recontextualize key scenes, like the famous “Trial” in Act III; and remap the entire work’s position within ongoing debates over postmodernism, consumer culture, and the avant-garde.
