A Theater of Choice

Abstract

In a collection that traverses poetic forms from the closet drama to visual poetry, Kamadulski imagines the complex dynamics of a teenage girl's survival through psycho-medical treatment in late 19th century Paris. Rooted in the archive, Kamadulski's poetry explores the experience 15-and-a-half-year-old Louise Augustine Gleizes while she received treatment for hysteria from Jean Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital in the mid to late 1870s. Drawing from the theatrical mythos of a time when patients were paraded in front of audiences of doctors and scholars, Kamadulski embraces dramatic forms and visual art to illustrate how Gleizes empowered herself by taking advantage of the spotlight thrust upon her: for Louise, like many disenfranchised people, being seen means something, even when it's not on her terms. Images, which were central to Gleizes' fame at the time, are reimagined with an emphasis on their manipulated co-construction. As the collection progresses and Louise turns inward, strict structural logic disassembles: a cast of characters is whittled down into an interview, is refined into an internal epic, and eventually as we imagine her escape, reflecting on the what she's leaving behind while staring into an unknowable future, Gleizes speaks to her audience through monologue-esque poetry. As women's rights are increasingly under attack, Gleizes' exploitation by those entrusted with her care reminds us of the fragility of progress, while her persistence insists we continue to resist.