Available Formats
A Roll of the Dice
By (Author) Stephane Mallarme
Translated by Jeff Clark
Translated by Robert Bononno
Wave Books
Wave Books
7th August 2024
Bilingual edition
United States
General
Non Fiction
Typography and lettering
841.8
Paperback
96
Width 184mm, Height 266mm
467g
Previously only available in hardcover, and after a long period of being unavailable, one of Wave's most popular titles, A Roll of the Dice by Stphane Mallarm, is now available in paperback.
Through brilliant collaboration, Robert Bononno and book designer Jeff Clark translated one of Mallarms most well-known and visually complex poems into contemporary English language and design. This bilingual softcover edition not only includes Mallarm's original preface, but also matches the typography of the last round of proofs that Mallarm was correcting at the time of his death. Clark's presentation is both visually stunning and typographically radical, mirroring the dark mystery of Mallarms poem. With a keen understanding of poetics, Bononnos translation offers myriad interpretations, while capturing the visionary spirit of the original. Together, Clark and Bononno have created a singular version of A Roll of the Dice that is markedly unique in its attention to the ways layout, design, typeface, and language all contribute to the meaning making of this masterpiece.
Stphane Mallarm (1842-1898) was born in Paris and lived there for many years. He held salons whose regular visitors included W.B. Yeats, Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Valry, Paul Verlaine, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and many others. Mallarm is widely regarded as one of the most important figures of 19th century French poetry.
Jeff Clark is the author of Ruins and Music and Suicide (winner of the James Laughlin Award), among other works, and has made his living as a book designer for nearly thirty years. He is the designer for Wave Books. His studio, Crisis, is based in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he also does some community organizing and radical publishing.