Publikacija SEP 2011 - Vilenica

Poetry Performance and Its Value Today
Gregor Podlogar
I. Introduction
In recent years, any performance related to literature is most commonly
equated with the promotion of literature. This promotion, of
course, goes hand in hand with the current broader perception of literature,
more precisely, the book and its position in the market. Hence,
every single literary performance is seen by the general public as the
promotion of a usually recently published book. Behind all this lies a secret
aspiration for the highest possible sales of a book, the public notice
of the author (including media exposure) etc. This practice exists – it is
much more widespread in, for example, the Anglo-Saxon world than in
Eastern Europe and is important for the publisher, author and, last but
not least, the (potential) readers. Live contact with the author is something
which places literature among the things of this world, if we leave
the aforementioned market economic value of the book aside.
A real poetry performance has nothing much to do with the promotion
of literature. Let me then put forward my thesis: a real poetry
performance is itself literature 1 . Not always. There are terrific poems
which can be read quietly and it is best that way. It depends on several
factors – from the author and the text, to the quality and purpose of
the performance. I would also like to point out that observing prose
performances is more complex, as reading from a novel does not represent
a complete whole, unlike performing poetry, where every poem
is a world of its own. The case is somewhat different with reading short
stories (in this case, we are talking about a literary work as a whole),
which has become quite popular and has developed in many literary
1 It is interesting to observe how reading aloud has changed literature; for instance, it has resulted
in writers adding new chapters to their novels and, in the poets' case, performing has also influenced
the works' content. A substantial part of sound poetry is written to be recited, performed,
which means that the act of creating is already oriented towards the performance.
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