Friday, January 30, 2009
Performance in Fires
While reading Fires, I couldn't help but consider the performative aspect of the book (probably because of the photographs). I pictured it being staged in the same sort of manner as Lauren from DeLillo's The Body Artist would present it. That is, one woman contorting her utter self, every mannerism and characteristic, to become an entirely different person. I wonder how this sort of performance effects the reading of the book itself?
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I think that the combination that Smith illustrates in her book is significant, and for sure it creates certain effects in readers' imagination. For instance, the cover shows that the writer takes colourful pictures for the interviewed persons, whereas, in the book, she is using them in monochrome. This emphasis on transforming the pictures from colourful to monochrome is meaningful because it shows in some how the effects of historical, social and religious believes on human's nature. Another thing I remarked in the book, beside using pictures to show something real and authentic about the interviewed person, is the short comments/descriptions in brackets. For example, in Mohammed statement we can realize his agitation through the anaphora (repetition) of (stirring his coffee), so it looks like his internal agitation about what he is saying is reflected in his behaviors. People can not hide their actual feelings towards their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteHannah,
ReplyDeleteI don't know Delillo's text, but your description of the protagonist's mode of becoming resonates for me with both Deavere Smith's stated aims for this project, and her performance of it. That said, I don't know that one ever entirely leaves the self behind in performance and it seems to be in the "unlikely" dimensions of journeyiing towards the other that Smith locates some of the ethical work of performance.