Pschyovisualism and Scenography in Russell Atkins's Poetry-Drama "The Corpse" (original) (raw)

ANQ, 2024

Abstract

The African American avant-garde poet, theorist, and musician Russell Atkins (1926-2024) began deploying his original theory of Psychovisualism as early as the 1950s. In addition to his theoretical explorations, which also included a theory of deconstruction that predated Jacques Derrida, Atkins was an intrepid experimentalist with literary forms. One of his most original forms was what he termed Poetry-Drama, a hybrid genre that used poetic language and operations to create theatrical effects. He is often seen as one of the major early influences on African American performative poetics in such figures as Tracie Morris, Mendi Obadike, and Duriel Estelle Harris. Atkins employs the principles of Psychovisualism in his most famous Poetry-Drama, The Corpse (1963). This theory and its usefulness can be seen at play in the scenographic design to imbue lighting and costuming with musicality, and to imbue music with visuality. The impact of this experimental approach is to create a dynamic, multi-sensory, and synesthetic effect sonically, visually, and conceptually. His innovative scenography represents a milestone ahead of its time in the postmodern deconstruction of sound and sight to challenge traditional scenographic design theories. As such, Atkins is also revealed to form a bridge from modernism to postmodernism in the cross-media artistic and theoretical developments which have increasingly dominated twenty-first century thinking and productions. Key Words: Russell Atkins; Psychovisualism; poetry and drama; African American literature; scenography Article is co-authored with Xiuxia Chen, Hunan Normal University (China)

Lauri Scheyer hasn't uploaded this paper.

Let Lauri know you want this paper to be uploaded.

Ask for this paper to be uploaded.