| Abstract [eng] |
There is a widespread notion in the Lithuanian literary field that poetry is supposed to be neutral when it comes to political and social issues. In reality, however, the distinction between poetry and politics is not as clear. This thesis examines annual women poetry readings in Žemaitė square as an essentially political event. Since the readings are arranged as a response to universalization of male perspective in literature and the underrepresentation of women in other poetry readings, readings in Žemaitė square are conceptualized as a collective feminist strategy. This thesis investigates how such a feminist activist poetry platform is constructed and experienced in the Lithuanian literary field. Videos of the events, interviews with poets and publications in the press are examined through application of two main theoretical approaches: Pierre Bourdieu’s literary field theory and Jacques Rancière’s notion of emancipated spectator. The data is handled in the light of feminist and constructivist-interpretative methodological approaches. The thesis concludes that activist and political potential lies, among other things, within the collective experience of art. Poetry readings form an aesthetic community as it is conceptualized by Rancière – collective experience of an artwork that possesses emancipatory power results in collective redistribution of senses. It establishes female poets as political subjects with renewed sense of their possibilities in the world and abilities to question the dominant power structures. The readings act also as a way to transform the optics of the literary field: female poets now have a platform to be seen and heard by each other and the general public, since the readings are open and take place in the public space of the city. The thesis is a contribution to the research in the field of sociology of contemporary literature and investigates a topic that has not yet been explored in the Lithuanian literary studies. |
