Mallarmé and the Politics of Literature

Robert Boncardo is Sessional Tutor in the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy at Australian Catholic University. He completed his doctorate in French Studies at the University of Sydney and Aix-Marseille Université.

• AcknowledgementsAbbreviationsSeries Editor’s PrefaceIntroduction: Comrade MallarméJean-Paul Sartre’s Mallarmé: Hero of an Ontological Drama, Agent of the Counter-revolutionJulia Kristeva’s Mallarmé: From Fetishism to the Theatre-BookAlain Badiou’s Mallarmé: From the Structural Dialectic to the Poetry of the EventJean-Claude Milner’s Mallarmé: Nothing Has Taken PlaceJacques Rancière’s Mallarmé: Deferring EqualityConclusion: From One Siren to AnotherBibliographyIndex

The name Mallarmé has become a tool for the praise and condemnation of poetry. In French philosophy, he is associated with the intoxicating idea of poetry as politically efficacious, and the counter-charge of effete elitism. In this lively and impressive re-telling, we see how this poet becomes a magnet for a stunning cascade of delirious praise and vilification. Robert Boncardo convincingly shows that despite the insights of the French obsession with Mallarmé, we need new ways to formulate the links between politics and literature.