Mallarmé and the Strategy of Transformation in `Igitur'

The article is a reading of Mallarmé's unpublished tale, "Igitur," with emphasis upon the changes of setting in the text. The analysis makes reference to phenomenology and to the imagery of alchemy. It is argued that the transformation of setting underpins the act of depersonalization of the central character. The conclusion is that the text, as we now have it, can be read as constitutive of a synthesis of the key terms, "l'absolu" and "l'infini," a synthesis that can be compared with the alchemical "albedo" or stage of "whitening." (NMH)