Despite the fact that dramatic texts are short, written in the form of dialogue and free of lengthy descriptions, thereby capturing and reflecting, as demonstrated by various surveys, the reader’s inter-
est, they rarely feature on bestseller lists. The paper sheds light on some specific qualities of dramatic texts (the interplay of two types of text, the internal structure of the dramatic dialogue, the spatial
dimensionality of a dramatic text, observance of the receptive capacities of readers and spectators etc.) and presents the results of a survey, which reveal that theatre goers are at the same time the most
frequent readers of dramatic texts. This in turn leads to the premise that visits to theatrical performances promote the reading of dramatic texts and vice versa. Accordingly, a few suggestions follow as to how to employ literature classes to raise awareness of this dual-existence status of drama.
|