Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Magic number!


Loving the idea of finding a secret numerical code ("l'unique nombre") hidden in Mallarmé's poem. Quentin Meillassoux speculates it all in this book.

1 comment:

  1. Meillassoux's book would be a wonderful parody. I mean it seems to mimic and lampoon the most perfectly counter-Mallarméan, dumb-ass reactionary reading of Mallarmé, with its return to intentionalism, its Da Vinci Code-style numerological essentialism ('If you count up all the words in 'Un Coup', subtract the number of letters in Mallarmé's name, and divide it by my social security number, then you get his hidden message - which is... wait for it... Jesus!'); all as though the revolution in poetic and critical thinking Mallarmé instituted had never taken place. The only problem is, Meillassoux seems to actually be serious. Does it count as a parody if the parodier doesn't know it's a parody?

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