Poetry and Performance: The Eastern European Perspective

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

In the second half of the twentieth century, poets and artists stood out for taking up the challenge of reflecting on and investigating the instrumentalization of language for communicative and political-ideological purposes. They did so by drawing attention to the material and medial dimensions of language, and by creating performative situations for themselves and their audiences within which different possibilities of verbal expression could be tested and acted out.
In Eastern Europe, poetry and performance played a significant role in the unofficial or partially tolerated cultural scene. We will discuss the work of once-forbidden authors, as well as contemporary situations that carry on the legacy of this close interconnection between poetry and performance.

Sub Unit

• Literature: Russian and Eurasian

Chair

• Tomas Glanc, U of Zurich (Switzerland)

Roundtable Members

• Tomas Glanc, U of Zurich (Switzerland)

• Sabine Haensgen, U of Zurich (Switzerland)

• Yelena Kalinsky, Michigan State U / H-Net

• Ainsley Morse, Pomona College