Sound in Brazilian and German Concrete Poetry

Abstract

This work studies sound in the concrete poetry of Grupo Noigandres and Stuttgarter Gruppe, focusing in particular the recordings of poems and the Hörspiele recorded in the Sixties. The manifold problems connected with the concrete poetry movement (intended as a whole) is followed by a specific theoretical-methodological section on sound, which clarifies the inclusion of this study in the field of the sound studies and introduces tools for the analysis (phonetics, music, technology). The latter is qualitative, since it focuses specifically on a few recordings, in an attempt to “build” possible meanings of the hearable sounds, and especially to consider the importance of the impact on the body for better understanding the esthetic experience of listening that concrete poetry provides. By focusing on sound, this study aims to return the body to concrete poetry, its physical presence and materiality, whose importance has too often been diminished by critics concerned exclusively with the graphic-visual aspect and interested in the mere attribution of “right” meanings. This comparative approach reveals of some common aspects between two extremely important schools within the context of concrete poetry, which however only rarely engaged in dialogue regarding poetic composition, and even less in regard to their respective relationships with sound and the esthetic experience that it produces.