View Single Post
  #4  
Unread 06-09-2010, 02:30 PM
Wintaka's Avatar
Wintaka Wintaka is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Canada
Posts: 427
Default

In case anyone is unfamiliar with the story:

Late in life, Pablo Neruda was giving a performance in a huge soccer stadium, packed with fans. Members of the audience shouted out a request for a poem from his earliest days. Neruda apologized, explaining that his memory was fading and that it had been such a long time since he had performed that particular piece. Not a problem. The crowd, in unison, rose up and recited it to him!

Obviously, in cultures that support professional poets the idea of reading from a book is just as unthinkable as stage or movie actors reading from scripts. In this case, cause and effect are one; speaking both generally and crossculturally, performances fill concert halls and stadiums, readings fill telephone booths.

-o-
Reply With Quote