The Number and the Siren

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A philosophical interrogation of the concepts of chance, contingency, and eternity through a concentrated study of Mallarme's poem"Un Coup de Des."A meticulous literary study, a detective story la Edgar Allan Poe, a treasure-hunt worthy of an adventure novel-such is the register in which can be deciphered the hidden secrets of a poem like no other. Quentin Meillassoux, author of After Finitude, continues his philosophical interrogation of the concepts of chance, contingency, infinity, and eternity through a concentrated study of Mallarme's poem "Un Coup de Des," patiently deciphering its enigmatic meaning on the basis of a dazzlingly simple and lucid insight with regard to Mallarme's "unique Number." The decisive point of the investigation proposed by Meillassoux comes with a discovery, unsettling and yet as simple as a child's game. The Number that "can be no other" can only be revealed to us via a secret code, hidden in the "Coup de des" like a key that finally unlocks every one of its poetic devices. Thus is also unveiled the meaning of that siren, emerging for a lightning-flash amongst the debris of the shipwreck- as the living heart of a drama that is still unfolding. With this bold new interpretation of Mallarme's work, Meillassoux offers brilliant insights into modernity, poetics, secularism, and religion, and opens a new chapter in his philosophy of radical contingency. The volume contains the entire text of the "Coup de des" and three other poems, with new English translations.

Reviews

A page-turner I haven't read a critical book with such eagerness to find out what happens next for a long time. Beautifully produced and translated, a book every poetry lover will want to have in his pocket to read on bus, train, and plane.

Meillassoux has added a crucial dimension nobody ever noticed despite innumerable close readings.

Author Bio

Quentin Meillassoux teaches philosophy at Universite de Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne), and is author of After Finitude. Robin Mackay is a philosopher, Director of the UK arts organization Urbanomic, and Associate Researcher at Goldsmiths University of London.