The «Mallarmé question»: review and controversy about the poet in France in the 1960s

Abstract

In the 1960s, the French artistic and intellectual avant garde showed a renewed interest for Stéphane Mallarmé, as illustrated by the debates published in the magazine Tel Quel, especially between 1967 and 1969. This article makes an overview of these controversies: Why this renewed interest in Mallarmé? How did the new rea­ding of his work depart from Sartre's? What were the, often irreconcilable, positions of the magazine’s contributors with regard to his figure? This account will ultimately be aimed at understanding the «Mallarmé question», as it was defined by Tel Quel’s founding member Philippe Sollers, in its specific historical context.