Theatricality, Body, Voice, Spatiality: Applying Performance Analysis to Persona-Driven Literary Journalism

This inquiry explores the benefits of applying performance analysis to the study of journalism practices where the use and staging of the journalist’s persona is a fundamental literary strategy. The focus of the analysis is a case study of persona performances of Danish novelist, food critic, and cultural journalist Martin Kongstad. In his persona-driven journalism and criticism, Kongstad makes use of literary strategies such as multiple voices, alter ego, dramatization of written text, and a blending of fictional characters with real-life sources. By proposing a framework that draws on concepts from performance studies, this study demonstrates how literary strategies adapted and developed across platforms can be examined fruitfully using performance analysis.