Mallarmé and the Politics of Literature

Recounts the radical readings of Mallarme's seminal poems by some of France's most important 20th century thinkersWhy is Stephane Mallarme, one of modernity's most ingenious yet obscure poets, so important to French philosophers? With in-depth studies of Jean-Paul Sartre, Julia Kristeva, Alain Badiou and Jacques Ranciere, along with shorter analyses of Jean-Claude Milner and Quentin Meillassoux, Boncardo situates Mallarme within these thinkers' philosophical and political projects.Key FeaturesExplains different thinkers' distinct approaches to Mallarme's poetry and prose, in particular to their political significanceReflects on the various ways literature has been conceived of politically by French thinkersThe first work of English-language scholarship on each of these thinker's reading of Mallarme and the first work to read each of these thinkers in tandem, locating their points of contact and difference