Record-breaking poetry reading held in Semarang

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 06/07/2007 9:13 AM

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

More than 170 people, including 21 lecturers and five employees of the Semarang-based Soegijapranata Catholic University, are taking part in a 75-hour English poetry reading session, aimed at breaking an Indonesian Record Museum (Muri) record.

The event commenced at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and is expected to end midday Saturday.

The current record is held by the Amateur Literature Lovers group, who read Indonesian poetry for 59 hours from Aug. 17 to Aug. 18, 2004.

""There are 2,432 pieces of English poetry to be read at the event. Each presentation will take between 15 minutes and 30 minutes, depending on the poem's length,"" said Donatus Lado, chairman of the event.

The event is being sponsored by the university's School of Letters and is being held in conjunction with the commemoration of the school's ninth birthday.

As it is a non-stop event, during the first evening only a handful of students and members of the organizing committee were present to hear the readings. However, throughout the day the situation was entirely different, with students and poetry lovers flocking to the event.

Muri personnel will be present throughout the attempt to break the record to monitor its legitimacy.

Many participants in the event have admitted to not understanding the material they will read due to the fact it is in the English language. Onlookers have admitted to facing a similar predicament.

Among the most impressive presentations so far was that given by lecturer Danang Setianto who appeared to be deeply inspired by the poetry he read. His experiences studying in Britain and Australia enabled him to fully understand the words he read. He presented a piece by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and another shorter poem by Ozymandas.

Andrie Kristanti, an English major from the School of Letters at the university, said it will be the first time she will read English poetry in public.

""I will read three long pieces of poetry,"" she said.

Andhini Kartika Simeon, another lecturer at the university, said she would be reading 10 poems on Friday.

""I don't understand some parts of the poems I will be reading because they are classical poems. I will try to do my best though. When I was at senior high school I won several poetry competitions, but all of the poems were in Indonesian,"" Andhini said.

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