How Not to Read Closely

摘要: n April 1997, at the "Poetry and Public Sphere" conference Rutgers, I experienced a failed poetry reading. The reading was given by Armand Schwerner, New York poet generation older than myself, whom had met couple of years earlier, who has since died. Schwerner reputed to be virtuoso reader his own poetry, especially Tablets, complex fauxtranslation from Sumerian, part scholarly hoax, concrete poem. Never having heard him read, curious know how he would perform apparently so deeply implicated in print medium. As it turned out, canniness Schwerner's solutions were lost on audience, many there mainly order participate "open mike" session later evening. Expecting sort autobiographical self-dramatizing typical slams other "spoken-word" events, they clearly impatient with layered impersonations ancient priests shamans modern crank scholars, deadpan descriptions damage allegedly inflicted (nonexistent) text Tablets passage time. Powerless intervene, all could do watch sidelines as two traditions spokenword performance sets assumptions about sailed right past each other, mutual miscomprehension. So am grateful Peter Middleton, who, new book, Distant Reading: Performance, Readership, Consumption Contemporary