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South tlantic Modern Language ssociation
Un Coup De Dés: Mallarmé as Poet of the AbsurdAuthor(s): Dorothy M. BetzSource: South Atlantic Bulletin, Vol. 43, No. 4, 50th Anniversary Issue (Nov., 1978), pp. 37-46Published by: South Atlantic Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3199091 .
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8/10/2019 Mallarmé Poet of Absurd
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Poet
of
the Absurd
While
Mallarme
readily
fused the comic
with the
serious,
his
readers have
tended
to
emphasize
his
more
philosophical
ideas.
Claude Roulet, with his Traite de Poetique superieure (Treatise
on
Superior
Poetry)
consecrated
entirely
to
Un
Coup
de
Des,
typi-
fies
the critical
approach
to
the
poem
as
a definitive and
serious
poetic.
I1
n'est ecrit
ni
en
prose
ni en
vers,
mais dans
un mode
de
langage
inddit. Mallarm6
le definit
en
soustitre: Po6me.
Si l'on entend
par
la
le Pomme
type,
conforme aux idees
esth6tiques
de
Mallarm6,
le Grand
Pomme,
par opposition
aux
pi6ces
de
circonstance,
soit
une
synthbse
de la
pensde
humaine sous ses diverses formes d'activit6, certainement
aucune
definition ne
lui
convient
mieux.2
(It
is written neither
in
prose
nor
in
verse,
but in a sort
of
unpublished
language.
Mallarm{ defines
it in the
subtitle: Poem.
If this
means
the
archetypal
Poem,
con-
forming
to
Mallarm6's
esthetic
ideas,
the Great
Poem
in
contrast
to
occasional
verse,
a
synthesis
of human
thought
in all
its forms
of
activity,
certainly
no
definition
suits
it
better.)
He speaks of the poem as comddie ( comedy ) only in the more
serious
sense: La
com6die
de
l'esprit que
voulait dcrire
Valery
et
qu'il
n'a
pas
&crite,
le
fut
par
Mallarme dans
le
Coup
de
Des. 3
( The
comedy
of
the
mind
which
Valery
wanted
to write
but did
not
was written
by
Mallarme in the
Coup
de
Dds. )
Still,
despite
the intense
intellectual
concentration
of the
poem,
it
presents
elements
clearly beyond
the control
of reason.
Mallarm6 himself
said to
Valery,
Ne
trouvez-vous
pas
que
c'est
un
acte
de
d6mence? 4
( Do
you
not
find that
it
is an act of
madness? )
A
part
of
Mal-
larme's
madness
lay
in
his
challenge
to
the
arbitrary
limits
of
the
printed
page
through
which he could not avoid
presenting
his
work.
Technical
aspects
of the
presentation
of
the
poem
take on
a
meaning
related to
its
content.
Mallarme
strives
for a
poetic
ex-
pression
free
of those
formal
restraints
extrinsic
to
his central
thought.
Un
Coup
de
Des
avoids
many
such
distracting
literary
limitations.
Mallarm6
transcends
conventional
structure
by
an
innovative
use of
typography
in
which
he
alternates
between
four
different
type
faces
to
express
different
movements
of his
thought.
His page is no longer linear: the words relate to each other both
horizontally
and
vertically.5
Mallarm6
has
not
abandoned
the
horizontal
left-to-right progression
of
the
text,
but has
enriched
it. Each
word
gains
nuance
both
from its
horizontal
and
its
vertical
context
and
from its
position
with the
Page
as a
whole.
38
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South Atlantic
Bulletin
Through
his
innovative
presentation
of
the
text,
Mallarme
achieves
several
simultaneous effects.
First,
the
impact
of
each
Page as a whole sets the stage for the thoughts conveyed there.
From
the moment
the reader focuses
on the
principal
words
of
each
Page,
he
perceives
them
in
the
context,
or
rather
the
design,
of
the
Page
as
a
whole. The text itself becomes
a
picture.
In
a
letter to
Andr6
Gide
discussing
the
publication
of Un
Coup
de
DSs,
Mallarme
spelled
out
the effect of
his free
positioning
of
words.
Ainsi
cette
tentative,
une
premiere,
ce tatonnement
ne
vous
ont
pas
choqu6;
encore se
pr6sentent-ils
mal
....
Le
potme
s'imprime,
en
ce
moment,
tel
que
je
l'ai
concu;
quant
t
la pagination, ou est tout l'effect. ... La con-
stellation
y
affectera,
d'aprZs
es
lois
exactes
et autant
qu
il
permis
a un
texte
imprime,
fatalement une allure
de
con-
stellation.
Le
vaisseau
y
donne de la
bande,
du haut
d'une
page
au
bas
de
l'autre,
etc.6
(Thus
this
attempt,
a
first,
this
groping
did
not
shock
you;
it
is
still
presented
badly....
The
poem
is
being
printed,
now,
as
I
conceived
it;
regarding
the
pagination,
where all
the
effect lies
.... The
constellation will
stand
out
there,
accurately
and
as
much
as a
printed
text
can
convey,
in-
evitably the appearance of a constellation. The ship passes
from
the
top
of
one
page
to
the
bottom of
the
other,
etc.)
The
generally-falling
movement
of
the text
across each
Page
depicts
the fall
of
the
dice;
the
ship
on
Page
three,
the
hat on
Page
six,
and the
constellation
on
Page
eleven
depict
objects
named at those
points.
Just
as
the
overall
patterns
of
each
of
these
Pages
reflect
principal
themes
of the
text,
details of
positioning
often
correspond
to
the
meanings
of
individual
words
and
phrases.
Sometimes the cor-
respondence involves the horizontal or vertical position of the word
on
the
Page
or
its
place
within
the
word-picture
of
the
Page.
Also
Mallarme
toys
with
phrases
which
traverse,
or
fail
to
traverse,
the
vertical
line
imposed by
the
spine
of
the
book.
This
central
division
formed a
frontier
by
which
he
would not
be limited.
While
Mallarm6
had the
poetic
skill
to
manipulate grammar
and
syntax,
he
could
not
escape
the
four
extremities
of the
page
except
by
jumping
the
boundary
of
the
spine
to
tie
two
conventional
pages
into
one. But
the
spine
remained;
if
Mallarm6
could
not
abolish
it,
at
least he
used
it
for
both
serious and
comic
effects.
In a sense, though the reader may not be conscious of it at first,
the
position
of
the
initial
phrase
of
the
poem
is
significant.
If
the
first
Page,
like
those
following
it,
comprises
what
would
normally
be a
pair
of
facing
pages
and
if
one
must
still read
the
Page
from
left
to
right,
the
phrase
UN
COUP DE
DRS
(A
THROW OF
39
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Poet
of
the Absurd
THE
DICE ),
appearing
to
the
right
of
the
spine,
lies
beyond
this
central
barrier.
Mallarme
has
already
passed
it before he breaks
the silence of the sterile white space. Similarly on Page two
JAMAIS
.. .
( NEVER
...
)
appears
only
after
a
long
hesitation and
again
only
after Mallarm6 has crossed
the
central
division
of
the
Page. Finally
on
Page
three
with the tentative
SOIT
que
..
..
( WHETHER
that
...
. )
and
with his
retreat to
lower
case
type,
Mallarm6
begins
his text
on
the conventional
left-hand
page.
Here,
however,
the tentativeness
( SOIT que
.... )
and
emptiness ( l'Abime
the
Abyss )
mark
a retreat.
The force
of
Mallarme's
initial statement
disappears.
The vertical division of the Page comes
to
represent
the
diffi-
culty
Mallarme
had
to
overcome
in
writing.
As his
thoughts
become
more
tentative,
Mallarm6's
text
shifts
increasingly
to the
left-hand
page.
He
appears
self-conscious
traversing
the
spine.
The text
of
Page
three traverses
it
only
once
with
par/avance ( in/advance ),
advancing
to the new
page
with
the
very
word
indicating
the action.
By
this self-consciousness
Mallarm6
seems
to
invite
the reader
to
mock,
as he
did,
the limits
of the
book.
There
is a
contrived
play-
fulness
in
allowing
the
word to
comment
on its
own
position.
The
meanings
of
many
other
phrases
in
Un
Coup
de
Des
cor-
respond to the position of the words on the Page. The DU FOND
D'UN
NAUFRAGE
( FROM
THE
DEPTHS
OF
A SHIP-
WRECK )
at the
bottom
of
Page
two,
the
coque/d'un
batiment
( shell/of
a
ship )
near
the
end
of
Page
three,
and the
naufrage
( shipwreck )
on
Page
four
show the
depth
of
the
shipwreck;
L'Ablme
( the
Abyss ),
surrounded
by
blank
space
on
Page
three,
stands
in stark
isolation
while
beneath
it
une
inclinaison
( an
inclination ) appears
in
a
slanting
series
of
phrases.
If,
by
the
time
he reaches
the self-conscious
placement
of
par/
avance ( in/advance ) the reader
has become
increasingly
aware
of the
fusion
of
word-position
and
meaning,
he must
begin
to
see
this
aspect
of the
poem
as
essentially
comic. Indeed
it is
comedy
of
the
most
basic
physical
sort
and stands
in ironic
contrast
to
MallarmC's
overall
seriousness.
But
why
should Mallarm6
not
mock
these
physical
elements
of
his
poem?
He
can thus
convey
exactly
how
arbitrary
and
how
frustrating
are
the limitations
within
which
he
must
write.
Mallarm6's
playfulness
becomes most
apparent
on
Page
four.
As
LE
MAITRE
( THE
MASTER ) appears,
the
text
leaps
sideways with surgi ( surged up ), but surges backward to the
left,
not
forward
as
one would
expect.
Meanwhile,
hors
d'anciens
calculs
( outside
old
calculations )
stands
significantly
apart,
literally
outside
its
context.
The
text
here traverses
the
spine
with
dizzying frequency,
and the
s'agite
et
mele
( shakes
and
mixes )
40
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South
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Bulletin
reflects the disorientation
of both
poet
and reader.
But
still
Mal-
larme
conveys
the
difficulty
of
passing
to
the second
half
of
his
Page: h6site ( hesitates ) to the left of the spine marks the
hesitation of the
text to
cross
it;
6carte
....
( separated
. .
. )
opposite
it
seems
far
off.
Indeed
6cart6
du
secret
qu'il
d6tient
( separated
from the
secret
which
it
holds )
reflects
Mallarm6's
inability
to reach his
goal.
While
such
repeated
exploitation
of
physical
elements of
the
text
amuses
the
reader,
the use
of
position
conveys
more
for
Mallarm6 than
a
sense of
ridiculous
limitations.
By
the act
of
crossing
the
Page
and
subsequently
retreating
again
to the
left,
Mallarme
expresses his frustration in writing. The first Pages make
a
brave
beginning:
QUAND
BIEN
MEME
LANCE DANS
DES/
CIRCONSTANCES
ETERNELLES
( EVEN
THOU
G
H
THROWN
IN/ETERNAL
CIRCUMSTANCES )
traverses
com-
pletely
the
right-hand
half of
Page
two. Then come
retreats:
By
Page
four,
confusion and
hesitancy
lead
to
despair:
plutot/que
de
jouer
( rather/than
play )
retreats to the
extreme
left
of
the
Page.
Only
images
of
death
( envahit
le
chef
invades the
head )
con-
tinue to the
right.
The
entire text of
Page
five remains
to the
left
of the
spine
until
N'ABOLIRA
( WILL
NOT
ABOLISH ),
the
inevitable continuation of the principal phrase of the poem, breaks
the
impasse.
After the
shipwreck
of
Page
three
dissolves
into
the
whirlpool-
like
dizzyness
of
Page
four,
Mallarm6
makes
less
frequent
use
of
the
clever
positioning
of
words
until
the
plume
solitaire
eperdue
( solitary
bewildered
feather )
of
Page
seven.
The
hiatus
of
Pages
five
and
six
coincides
well with
their
meaning.
This
is
the
trough
of
the
wave,
the
pause
between
the
preliminary
assertion
of
the
poem
and
the
final
approach
to
the
constellation.
Here,
amid
the
circular
COMME
SI
...
COMME
SI
( AS
IF
...
AS
IF )
of
Page
five,
begin
the italics in which
reappear
many
of
the
themes
( silence,
gouffre,
vierge,
plume,
immobilise,
blancheur ;
silence,
abyss,
virgin,
feather,
immobilize,
whiteness )
which
Mallarm6
linked in
earlier
poems
to
his
inability
to
write.
The
poet
hesitant
about
writing
at
all
will
not
feel
the
need to
go
beyond
a
single
page.
In
any
case,
Mallarme
here
lacks the
self-
assurance he
would
need
to
strive
to
free
himself
from
narrow
boundaries.
With
plume
solitaire
eperdue
( solitary
bewildered
feather )
the scene changes. The feather, at once the plume in the hat which
the
image
of
Page
seven
implies
and
the
pen
with
which
Mallarm6
might
write,
remains
for
the
moment
alone
and
mad,
just
as the
words
themselves
float
almost
isolated
in
the
white
space
of
the
left-hand
page.
Yet
one
exception
breaks
the
white
silence:
sauf
41
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Poet
of
the Absurd
( except ).
Only
this one
further word
intrudes
to
the
left of the
spine,
but it
suffices
to link
the
feather to
the
following
text,
sauf/
que la rencontre .... ( except/that the encounter ... . ). The
encounter,
the
linking
of
sauf
( except )
and
que ( that ),
renews the forward
movement
of
the
poem.
At
this vital
point
of
linking,
Mallarme
once more
leaps
across the
spine
in a
reaffirma-
tion
of
the
power
of his
new
poetry
to
transcend
old
forms.
The full liberation
of the
poem
comes
slowly.
Page
eight
still
finds
Mallarm6's
expression
tentative,
but a
swagger
of
confidence
returns
as
once
more he
consciously exploits
the
position
of his
words. At first muet
( mute ),
isolated in
blank
space,
hesitates.
The rire
( laugh ) opposite
it
conveys only
an
empty laugh
with-
out
humor.
But the
renewed
tone of intellect
and
superiority
of
La
lucide
et
seigneuriale
aigrette
( The
lucid and
lordly
crest )
precedes
three
crossings
to
the
right
( de
vertige,
debout,
and
bifurquees ;
dizzyness,
standing,
and
split )
which Mallarme
carefully aligned
in
a vertical
progression.
At first the
de
vertige
( dizzyness )
recalls the
dizzy
aftermath
of
shipwreck
on
Page
four,
but
debout
( standing )
overcomes
this
falling.
With
bifur-
quees
( split )
Mallarm.
seems to break
loose
from
the
squames
ultimes
( last
scales )
to the left
and move
freely
forward
to
the
bottom of the Page which he marks with qui imposa/une borne a
l'infini
( which
imposed/a
limit to
infinity ).
Unlike
the
earlier
naufrage
( shipwreck ),
borne
( limit )
at
the
end
takes
the
measure
of the
Page.
The idea
of
imposing
a limit
implies
a
con-
trol
whether
of the
Page
or of the
infini
( infinity )
of
which
the
poem
becomes
the
emblem.
Soon
after
this
resurgence
of
confidence,
Mallarme
abandons
his
italics
with
Choit/la
plume/rythmique
suspens
du
sinistre
( Falls/the
pen/rhythmic
suspending
of
the
sinister ).
Here
the
potential
word
play
is
striking.
As
an
English
teacher,
Mallarme
might
have
noted
the
significance
of his use of
suspens
( sus-
pending )
at
the
moment
he let
fall the
pen.
The
idea of
a
bilingual
pun
becomes
even
more
persuasive
in
the
light
of le
mystere/pre-
cipite/hurle
( the
mystery,
thrown,
howled )
from
Page
six
where
hurle seems
closer
to
hurled
than
to
howled.
In the
context
of these
double
meanings,
what
should
we make
of the
sinistre
( sinister )
at
the close
of
the italics?
Should it not refer
also
to
the
left
and
to
the
fact
that
the italics
appeared
only
after the
major
text
had
retreated
to
the left
half of
the
Page?
Thus
suspens
du
sinistre ( suspending of
the
sinister )
indicates
not
only
the
closing
of this
movement
of the
poem,
but the end of the
sinister
left-side
text
as well.
As
Mallarme
moves
out of
the italics
back
to the
principal
phase
of his
poem,
he still
progresses
slowly
The heroic borne
( limit )
42
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South
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Bulletin
which
set the limit
of
Page eight
dissolves
as the next
two
Pages
end
with
la
neutralite
identique
du
gouffre
( the
identical
neutrality
of the abyss ) and en quoi toute realite se dissout (in which all
reality
dissolves ).
The eternal
forming
and
dissolving
of the
waves
echoes
in
each
Page
where
thought
must
re-form
out
of
emptiness.
Again
Page
ten
must
open
with
RIEN/de
la
m6morable
crise
( NOTHING/of
the memorable
crisis );
of
the
events
gone
before
nothing
remains.
But here the
text
at least
advances
much
more
rapidly
than
before toward the
right.
With
l'Tevnement/
accompli
( the
event/accomplished )
we sense that what
has
been
accom-
plished
is
simply
this
moving
on.
The move to the final Page brings the breakthrough toward
which
Mallarme has built the
entire
poem.
The
Page
portrays
the
constellation
of
the Bear
or
Dipper
with
black-printed
stars
on
a
white-page
sky.
In
the
light
of
Mallarm6's earlier
use of
space,
however,
two
further
things
strike
us
in
this
constellation.
First,
once
his
constellation
appears,
Mallarme's
Page
moves
markedly
to
the
right.
And,
on
the
left,
only
four
phrases
remain
correspond-
ing
to
the four
stars
stretched
out
into
the
handle
of the
constella-
tion:
EXCEPTE/i
l'altitude/PEUT-ETRE/aussi
loin
qu'un
en-
droit
( EXCEPT/on
high/PERHAPS/as
far
as a
place ).
The
first two of these phrases in fact call attention to their placing.
EXCEPTE
( EXCEPT ) points
out
how
they
differ
from the
rest
of
the
Page
while a
l'altitude
( on
high ) explains
the
reason
for it
by
reference
to
the
position
of
the
actual
constellation over-
head.
Further
on,
the
veillant/doutant/roulant/brillant
et
m6di-
tant
( watching,
doubting /
rolling
/
shining
and
meditating )
at
the
bottom
of
the
Page
repeat
in
smaller
scale the
motif of
four
stars
just
as
the
constellation
has
a
large
and
a
smaller
version in
the
heavens.
Mallarm6 continues to use words which comment on their own
placement.
After
the
four
preliminary
phrases
he
crosses
to
the
right
half
of
Page
eleven
with
fusionne
avec
au delt
( fuses
with
beyond ).
He
has
passed
out
of
the
limiting
first
half
of
the
Page
for
the
last
time.
Now
the
poem
continues
to
its
end
free
of
barriers;
its link
to
the
transcendent
becomes
permanent.
Meanwhile
hors
l'interet
( outside
the
interest )
detaches
itself
from
its
con-
text
much
as
hors
d'anciens
calculs
( outside
old
calculations )
did
on
Page
four.
In
terms
of
the
forward
movement of the poem, however, one
cannot
overlook
the
significance
of
Mallarm6's
choice
of
the
polar
constellation
as
his
last
major
image.
A
constellation
surpasses
the
dice
as
a
symbol
of
poetry.
Both
contain
points
of
light
or
darkness
on
a
contrasting
field and
echo
the
black
and
white
of
the
printed
43
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Poet
of
the
Absurd
page.
But
on
the
dice one
reads
only
the
number
of
points;
in the
constellation their
pattern
carries
additional
meaning.
With the
image
of the constellation Mallarme
posits
that which
endures
out of
the
poetic
act.
Thus
he
would
have
been
attracted
to
the
fixed
position
of
the
North
Star
as
an
image
of this
perma-
nence. But the
North
Star
does
not
form
a
part
of
Mallarm6's
con-
stellation. Rather
the
two
stars
to
the
right,
in terms
of the constella-
tion
on
Page
eleven,
point
to it and
help
locate it.
The
polar
star
itself
would lie outside
the
Page
of the
book and to
the
right.
Thus
Mallarm6's
general
movement toward
the
right
finds
its
completion,
but
simultaneously
the
elusive
star
indicates
once
again
how
the
complete poem
must transcend
the boundaries
of
the
book. This
distant
point
may
be
that
of Mallarm6's
final
phrase, quelque
point
dernier
qui
le sacre
( some
final
point
which
consecrates
it ).
If
the
poem
could
reach
this
final
point
of
permanence,
the
absolute
poem
toward
which
Mallarm6
strove,
the
achievement
would exalt
all
that
which
had
gone
before it.
The final
point,
however,
still
lies
beyond
Mallarm6's
last
Page.
The
poem
closes
with
the
same
phrase,
un
Coup
de Des
( a
Throw
of
the
Dice ),
with
which
it
opened.
This
circularity
coin-
cides
with the
arbitrary
nature
of
the
fall
of
the
dice.
Because
the
dice can fall in a variety of combinations, they cannot provide an
absolute
number.
After
the
dice
are
thrown
the
quest
for
an
absolute
still
goes
on.
The dice reflect
the
absurdity
of
man's
attempt
to
grasp
the
infinite.
Even
though
the
dice
fall
implies
an essential
futility,
Mallarm6's
last
sentence
asserts
that
this
does not
inhibit
new
beginnings.
There
can
be
many
new
Pages
in the
book.
Toute
Pens6e
&net
un
Coup
de
Des
( Every
Thought
throws
the
Dice ):
thought,
whether
of
poetic
quality
or
not,
can
throw
the
dice,
but
only poetry
can
over-
come
chance.
Thus
not
the dice
but
the
constellation
represents
true
poetry.
The
pattern
of the constellation, like that of Mallarme's
poem,
may
be
interpreted
simultaneously
through
sense
perception
and
intellectual
anailysis.
The
unchanging
patterns
of the
stars
further
suggest
a
meaning
which
should
be
eternally
valid.
The
constellation
provides
the most
apt
analogy
with
Mallarm6's
poetry
in
its simultaneous
appeal
to sense and intellect.
In his
pre-
face
to
Un
Coup
de
Des,
Mallarme
wrote
that
he
hoped
to
achieve
a fusion
of
various
literary
forms.
Le
genre,
que
c'en
devienne
un comme
la
symphonie,
peu
a peu, a cotd du chant personnel, laissee intact l'antique
vers,
auquel
je
garde
un culte
et attribue
l'empire
de
la
passion
et des
reveries.7
(Literary
form,
let
it
become
one
like
a
symphony,
little
by
little,
alongside
the
personal
song,
let
the old
poetic
line
44
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South Atlantic
Bulletin
remain
intact;
I revere
it and attribute
to it rule over
pas-
sion and
dreams.)
The sound of a
symphony
is more nuanced than that of
any
in-
dividual
instrument.
Similarly,
the
meaning
which results from
the
simultaneous
interpretation
of
the
definition
of a word
and
aware-
ness
of its
context within the
total
picture
of
the
Page
will
be
more
nuanced than a
meaning
based
on
either of
these
alone.
However,
in
the
process
of
this new
fusion of
form
and
meaning,
Mallarme
sought
to
retain
l'antique
vers,
auquel
je
garde
un
culte
( the
old
poetic
line,
which I
revere ).
The
essential
element
of
conventional
poetic
form,
once
the
restraints
of
rhyme
and
punctuation have been pared away, lies in the progression of the
words
and
hence
the
thought
form
left to
right
across the
page.
In a
sense,
Mallarm6
returns
also to
classical
form
where
the
end-
stop
line retained
a
unity
within itself.
Each
crossing
of
the
page
for
him
is a new
act
independent
of that
which
preceded
it.
Through
this
approach,
however,
Mallarme
allies himself
with
more
recent
poets.
Each
time
he
strikes
out
into
the
uncharted
territory
of a
new
Page
he
reaches for
an
affirmation
of
man's
power
to
overcome
restraints
which the
present
century
has charac-
terized
as
absurd.
The
rectangular
boundaries
of the
book
reflect
the essential limitations, both intellectual and
physical,
of man
himself. This
explains
why
the
practice
of
poetry
was
so difficult
for
Mallarme-as
he
wrote to
Valery,
un
acte
de
demence
( an
act
of
madness ).
It
is
a
struggle,
against
almost
impossible
odds,
to
reach
a
transcendent
goal
beyond
the
confines
of
the
book
itself.
Despite
repeated
failure,
the
true
poet
must
forever
renew this
struggle
because,
as
Mallarme
says
on
his
last
Page,
PEUT-ETRE
( PERHAPS ),
the
next
try
will
carry
him
to
his
Constellation.
Georgetown University
NOTES
1For
references
to
the
text,
I
have
followed
the
usage
of
designating
as
Page
(capitalized)
each
double-page
(verso-recto)
of
Mallarme's
poem.
I
have
con-
sidered
the
poem
to
be
composed
of
eleven
Pages,
not
ten.
Usage
differs
(see
Guy
Michaud,
Mallarme
[Paris:
Hatier,
1958]
who
seems to
use
both
systems),
but
the Pleiade
and
the
Nouvelle
Revue
Franfaise
editions both
separate
UN
COUP
DE
DES
(Page
one)
from
JAMAIS
.
..
(Page
two).
2Claude Roulet, Traitd de poetique supe'rieure (Neuchatel: H. Messeiller,
1956),
pp.
14-15.
3Roulet,
p.
27.
4Michaud,
p.
170.
sThe
first
and
only
lifetime
edition,
in
the
periodical
Cosmopolis,
did
not
the
poem
in
its
present
form.
The
posthumous
edition
of
the
Nouvelle
45
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46
Poet
of
the
Absurd
Revue
Franfaise,
prepared
from
Mallarm6's own directions on
type
face and
spacing, incorporated
his
corrections.
The
photocopy
of this
text
in
Robert
G.
Cohn,
Mallarme's Masterwork: New
Findings (The Hague: Mouton, 1966), pp.
89-111,
shows
that
most
of
Mallarme's corrections concerned the
failure
of
the
typesetter
to
follow his
intended vertical
alignments.
6Henri
Mondor,
Autres
precisions
sur Mallarme
et
Inedits
(Paris:
Gallimard,
1961),
p.
236.
7Stephane
Mallarme,
Oeuvres
completes
(Paris:
Gallimard,
1951), p.
456.
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