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Author as a Medium: Strategies of Embodiment of Text in Poetry Slam




Author(s)

Agata Kolodziej

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2015.01.003

Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland

Dana Gioia in her publication Disappearing Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture, draws attention to the increasing popularity of oral forms of poetry—rap, cowboy poetry, poetry slams and performance poetry. According to Gioia, transformation of author “from an invisible creator of typographic language to a physical presence performing aloud”, leads to formulation of a strong antithesis for Barthes’ “death of the author”, namely “death of the text”. In her paper, Gioia assumes that the appearance of the author in his physical presence on stage performing text is equivalent to rebirth of an author and his restoration of power over the meaning of text. This assumption results from a strong division between the process of production and the process of reception of text, which maintains a strong opposition among author, text, and reader. This paper presents slam poetry as an event, during which prepared, written text merges with spoken word susceptible to voices from the audience. This fusion leads to rejection of strong division between production and reception of text and thus between author and reader making all of them participants. Print medium is replaced with living body, which responds to the audience and their reception of text. Text is no longer perceived as an artifact, but as a performative process focused on interaction between participants, which cannot exist outside the event.

slam poetry, author, performative process, reception of text