Chapter 1 - Theatre and the Book

Summary

Before we get acquainted with the theatrical practice of Johnson and Zenkasi with a view to understanding what kind of influence it could have had on their literary work, we should spare a moment to think what a medium is, or what it can be; how it can be understood. The notion of the medium naturally remains central in the discussion on authors who create both within the space of the book and the theatre. Following the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), in the forthcoming analysis, the medium will be viewed as “any raw material or mode of expression used in an artistic or creative activity” (OED 2021: def. II.c). Other definitions provided alongside this one will complement the understanding of the term: “[a]ny physical material (as tape, disk, paper, etc.) used for recording or reproducing data, images, or sound” (OED 2021: def. II.e) highlights the materiality of the items used to convey a message, which is key for both Johnson and Zenkasi, who remain fascinated by the body and the book as a material object. Furthermore, the medium is understood as “[a] channel of mass communication, as newspapers, radio, television, etc.; the reporters, journalists, etc., working for organizations engaged in such communication” (OED 2021: def. II.d). This definition, in turn, directs attention to the people involved in the exchange made possible by the media. This will illuminate the discussion on the role of practitioners and audience in theatre as well as the writer and the reader connected by means of the book.

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communications (Danesi 2000) offers a similar conceptualisation of the medium. The definition is twofold: “1. Any means, agency, or instrument of communication; 2. The physical means by which a sign or text is encoded (put together) and through which it is transmitted (delivered, actualized)” (Danesi 2000: 141–142). Accordingly, when Krzysztof Hoffmann discusses the potential of experimentation to expose the mediality of literature, he mentions two ways in which the relation between literature and medium can be understood: the first referring to the artefact, the materiality of literature (the medium of literature), and the other to communication which literature makes possible (literature as a medium) (Hoffmann 2019: 201–206).