Quidam and the poetics of the tableau vivants. A contribution to the genology of the poem

Abstract

The article points to a genological clue that has not yet been noticed in studies of Quidam. The clue – situating the pictorial art of description on the side of tableaux vivants – leads genological findings in a direction that is different from the one that has been followed up till now: it allows one to see the structure of the work in a different perspective, first of all connected with the idea of a synthesis of arts, with a strong visual and theatrical emphasis. The author, pointing to a connection between Quidam and the poetics of tableaux vivants, not only wants to broaden the genological spectrum by adding new, unknown areas, but also tries to understand its enigmatic plot structure, within which there are two contradictory factors: power and atrophy, synthesis and analysis, fragmentation of the plot and concentration on one event, reduction and excess.