Against Poetry, Against Recitation: Listening to Tadeusz Rozewicz

• In Event: Voices of Polish Literature: Sound and Performance in the 20th Century

Abstract

Tadeusz Rozewicz is often said to have revolutionized Polish poetry after the war, by introducing prosaic language and the new type of free verse, which became widely influential. However, little attention is paid to Rozewicz's sound recordings, both distributed on vinyl records and CDs, and made and archived for research purposes only. These recordings demonstrate that similarly radical changes were implemented in recitation, and challenged the popular and scholarly expectations of a model poetry performance.

Author

• Aleksandra Kremer, Harvard U