Reading
Do you read the Ramayanam?
Do you mean, have I read the Ramayanam?
No, how does that matter? Do you read the Ramayanam?
One could talk about the performative element of the parayanam by considering the activity of 'reading'. One may contrast two modes of reading. The first is one in which reading is that activity which seeks to access the meaning of the text. Here, reading takes upon itself an invisibilty (or inaudibility), as it seeks to establish a direct connection between the reader and the text.
There is another mode in which reading does not seek to make itself transparent; rather, it is the event itself. Reading or reciting the Addhyatmaramayanam (usually aloud) becomes the primary activity, not the processing of meaning.
In this mode, the text is displaced from the centre of the activity of reading; or more accurately, it is the centre in a different way. Given that the reading or recitation – the parayanam – becomes a performance, it makes little sense to conduct literary analyses of the text. The importance of performing the parayanam properly – the Addhyatmaramayanam itself insists on this – is noted by many.
Do you read the Ramayanam?
Do you mean, have I read the Ramayanam?
No, how does that matter? Do you read the Ramayanam?
One could talk about the performative element of the parayanam by considering the activity of 'reading'. One may contrast two modes of reading. The first is one in which reading is that activity which seeks to access the meaning of the text. Here, reading takes upon itself an invisibilty (or inaudibility), as it seeks to establish a direct connection between the reader and the text.
There is another mode in which reading does not seek to make itself transparent; rather, it is the event itself. Reading or reciting the Addhyatmaramayanam (usually aloud) becomes the primary activity, not the processing of meaning.
In this mode, the text is displaced from the centre of the activity of reading; or more accurately, it is the centre in a different way. Given that the reading or recitation – the parayanam – becomes a performance, it makes little sense to conduct literary analyses of the text. The importance of performing the parayanam properly – the Addhyatmaramayanam itself insists on this – is noted by many.
