Lines and Circles: Geometrical Horizons in David Dabydeen’s Turner
In his long narrative poem Turner, Guyanese author David Dabydeen attempts stylistically to undercut the problematic emotion carried by a painting by Turner. Perspective dissolves in favour of geometry, science is pitted against art, abstraction against figuration, the dominant horizon eventually re...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ces, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
| Pubblicazione: |
Commonwealth Essays and Studies
2022
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| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | In his long narrative poem Turner, Guyanese author David Dabydeen attempts stylistically to undercut the problematic emotion carried by a painting by Turner. Perspective dissolves in favour of geometry, science is pitted against art, abstraction against figuration, the dominant horizon eventually replaced by circles of suffering and oppression. Yet the text does derive from the image in complex ways, and the aesthetics of the sublime is interpreted in modernist terms. The poem thus adopts the shifting viewpoints of modernism in order to displace Turner’s horizon without losing sight of his painting. This paper shows how a poem which has consistently been read as a protestation might rather be a reflection upon the act of creation and the continuity which it implies. |
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