The theater of Rimbaud: Mechanisms of performance in his Illuminations

This article explores the world of theater in Rimbaud’s Illuminations through a framework of performance that is embodied in various paradigms, particularly those of opéra comique and modern extravaganza. The theatricality of certain poems can especially be seen in the dramatic effects produced by a poet-stagehand whose art can be compared to the development of the entertainment industry during the last decades of the nineteenth century.