Mallarme said it all : these conversations with three of France's leading philosophers explore the complexity of the poet's thought, moving from the broadly humanistic to the more overtly political. By tying each interpretation to the personal evolution of each thinker, the two editors enhance our understanding both of these readings of Mallarme and of the philosophers themselves. ... Read more
Rosemary Lloyd, Rudy Professor Emerita of French, Indiana University Bloomington The interviews conducted by Robert Boncardo and Christian Gelder with Alain Badiou, Jean-Claude Milner and Jacques Ranciere are invaluable, and for more than one reason. They confirm that Stephane Mallarme is an unsurpassable figure in the French literary and intellectual field for whoever reflects with even the slightest seriousness on the relations between literature, philosophy, science and politics. They provide a very illuminating overview of the mental universes of some of the greatest contemporary French intellectuals, and prove in passing that, no, they have not yet completely disappeared. And finally, they suffice to show that, in a period of academic regression in literary studies, it is possible to assign this discipline tasks far more exhilarating than what today's reigning neo-philology can imagine.
Vincent Kaufmann, Director of MCM Institute, Univeristy of St. Gallen, Switzerland When properly conscious of Mallarme at all, the Anglophone world has rarely if ever registered the astonishing variety of the thought he has provoked in modern France, and his crucial importance for a range of philosophical, linguistic, political, aesthetic and mathematical debates. With a long and well-informed introduction, these searching and absorbing interviews tell us much, not only about how Mallarme has mattered and continued to matter to his compatriots, but about why he should matter to ourselves.
Andrew Gibson, former Research Professor of Modern Literature and Theory, Royal Holloway, University of London and member of the Conseil Scientifique of the College International de Philosophie in Paris The interviews with Badiou, Ranciere and Milner, as occasioned and recorded in this important new book restore Stephane Mallarme to the world of real artistic, political and scientific events and actions, and hopefully contribute towards further emancipating the great poet's work from perceptions of inaccessibility and obscurity.
Sydney Review of Books, 20 April 2018
[Le livre] a le grand merite, d'abord, de rappeler que le poete est encore a l'origine de pensees abstraites, malgre la domination depuis une bonne dizaine d'annees, dans un champ toujours en expansion, de l'approche socio-historique.
French Studies, 72/2
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