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Abstract
In this study, I examine the interaction of the verbal and the visual dimension of the total book, Vladimir Mayakovskys and El Lissitzkys collaboration For the Voice. I posit that the pragmatic effect is foregrounded in the poetic texts and adapted by the illustrations. In doing so, I argue that the book was conceived of as a script for public performance. In the absence of a real performance, the visual interface becomes the context in which a new, virtual performance might be realized in the readers mind. I demonstrate how this poetic performance incorporates the poetic tendencies and pragmatic intentions of the artistic movement Mayakovsky was involved in and, on the other hand, transforms them into a new aesthetic whole through the mediation of Lissitzky as a representative of International Constructivism.