Mallarmé, or the Poet of Nothingness

This is the first translation of a major text by Sartre on one of the greatest modern French poets, Stephane Mallarmé, whom Sartre hailed as a "hero, prophet, wizard, and tragedian." Written in 1953, Sartre's text provides not only an invigorating and convincing interpretation of Mallarmé by also an original overview of French literature in the nineteenth century.

“Sartre as literary critic was never better than in this posthumous work.”—Hazel E. Barnes, author of Sartre & Flaubert

“Mallarmé, like Baudelaire, always maintained that works of criticism should be written with as much commitment and force as poetry. Too few are; this one is.”—French Studies

“Ernest Sturm's work is a distinguished and laudable contribution of Anglo-Saxon understanding of Sartre's thinking, and captures the very strength of Sartre's most powerful style. It has the lucidity used in the subtitle of the French edition.”—Annie Cohen-Solal, author of Sartre

Ernest Sturm is Professor of French at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Literary Studies

           Literary Theory & Criticism