UN THÉÂTRE DE LA PAROLE. LECTURE EN GROUPE ET PERFORMANCE PUBLIQUE DANS LE CÉNACLE « SBURĂTORUL »
A THEATRE OF THE UTTERANCE. GROUP READING AND THE PUBLIC PERFORMANCE AT THE SBURĂTORUL LITERARY CIRCLE

Summary/Abstract: A Theatre of the Utterance. Group Reading and the Public Performance at the Sburătorul literary circle. The research aims at addressing the phenomenon of group reading specific to literary assemblies, starting from the rich bibliography on the activities of the Sburătorul literary circle (1919-1943). Minute recordings signed by E. Lovinescu – chairman of the Sburătorul meetings – covering both journal notes which conclude each meeting and biographic material, illustrate two main aspects. Firstly, each public reading is assessed on the basis of its impact: the role of the writer reading out loud, in front of an audience, is similar to that of the actor and results in an inherent dramatization of any literary piece. Secondly, the assessment is contradictory in itself: there is a clear difference between the author’s journal notes recording a certain failure and the later texts depicting the life of the circle in its successful instances. The vacillation between failure and success partially evokes Lovinescu’s attempt to project a myth of the utterance within the circle, on the first hand, and the constraints of what Laurent Jenny terms risk of uttering present in any operation of public figuring of speech.

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