"Du fond d'un naufrage": Notes on Michel Serres and Mallarm's "Un Coup de ds"

Author(s): Bonnie J. Isaac

Source: MLN, Vol. 96, No. 4, French Issue (May, 1981), pp. 824-838
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Noteson
"Du fondd'un naufrage":
MichelSerresand Mallarme's
"Un Coup de des"
BonnieJ. Isaac
Vainement ma raison voulait prendre la barre;
La tempete en jouant deroutait ses efforts,
Et mon ame dansait, dansait vieille gabarre
Sans mats,sur une mer monstreuseet sans bords!
Baudelaire, "Les Sept Vieillards"'
Shipwreck is always the risk of navigation. In Mallarme's "Brise
marine," the narrator asks:
Et peut-etre,les mats, invitantles orages
Sont-ilsde ceux qu'un vent penche sur les naufrages

..
Perdus, sans mats, sans mats, ni fertiles ilots

. 2

Vasco da Gama, passing the cape "Sans que la barre ne varie," is

nevertheless threatened by "Nuit, desespoir. . ." (OC, 72); the ship
of poets in "Salut"

risks "Solitude,

recif . . ." (OC, 27). And yet the

words elided from the above two verses, "pierrerie" and "etoile,"
announce the hope of the shipwreck of "Un Coup de des" (OC,
457-77). The Master of the vessel attempts to pit "sa petite raison
virile" against the elements; "Un coup de des ... quand bien meme
lance dans des circonstances eternelles du fond d'un naufrage"
1 Charles Baudelaire, "Les

Texte etabliet annote

Sept Vieillards,"Oeuvrescompletes,
par Y.-G. Le Dantec. Edition revisee par Claude Pichois (Paris: Gallimard,
1961), p. 84.
2
Texte etabliet annote par
Stephane Mallarme,"Brise marine,"Oeuvrescompletes,
Henri Mondor et G. Jean-Aubry(Paris: Gallimard, 1945), p. 38. All subsequent
referencesto Mallarme willbe made in the text,withthe abbreviationOC and page
number.
MLN Vol. 96 Pp. 824-838
0026-7910/81/0964-0824 $01.00
? 1981 by The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress

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M L N

825

would, in "cetteconjonctionsupreme avec la probabilite,"attempt

to transform chance into necessity: the dice-throw, "l'unique
Nombre qui ne peut pas etre un autre" would be transfiguredinto
the Constellation,glimmeringabove the tempest,"un destin et les
vents."
"Un Coup de des" has mostoftenbeen read in termsof relatively
straightforward
oppositions (chance and necessity,the real and the
the
success
or failure of Mallarme's enterprise):
ideal,
which
tend
towarda synthesis,whose goal, like that
interpretations
of the dice-throw,mightbe to "en reployerla divisionet passe fier."
Robert Greer Cohn, in his seminal "exegesis" of "Un Coup de des,"
maintains that the traditional interpretation, embodied by
Thibaudet, emphasizes Mallarme's failure to attain the Grand
Oeuvre, the absolute; the Master would renounce his lifetime
illusion,whichfactwould at least explain the title:"Un coup de des
jamais n'abolira le hasard."3 Thibaudet's analysisis however more
nuanced: the attemptsto attainnecessity,pure logic,are doomed to
failure,but the workwould figureless a shipwreck,an unsuccessful
battleagainstthe sea, than a battleagainstenigma, in the domain of
the spirit:4the factthatin "Un Coup de des" thereis no first-person
narrator,as in Baudelaire's "Les Sept Vieillards," might tend to
support this view. On the level of an abstractcombat, Deleuze's
assessment,froma Nietzscheanperspective,is much less optimistic.
If, for Nietzsche,the dice-throwdemands a strictinterdependence
of chance and necessity-chance being the dice before the throw,
sea and waves; necessity the dice after the throw, the
constellation-Mallarme is ultimately unable to maintain this
disjunctivesimultaneity.His failurewould resultfroma supposed
necessity to exclude chance, contingency being necessarily
subservientto the pure idea.5
The movements of "Un Coup de des"-both textual and
metaphorical-would tend to undercut such polarities. The
writingsof Michel Serres on thermodynamics,informationand
game theory,the mathematicsof large populations and atomism
exploit a certain kind of multiplicity which, though to my
knowledge,Serreshas neverexplicitlyanalyzed Mallarme,resonate
3 Robert Greer Cohn, Mallarme's"Un Coup de des": An Exegesis(New Haven: Yale
French Studies Publication, 1949), p. 4.
4 Albert
Thibaudet, La Poesie de StephaneMallarme(Paris: Gallimard, 1926), pp.
422-23, 429.
5 Gilles
Deleuze, Nietzscheetla philosophie
(Paris: Presses Universitairesde France,
1973), pp. 29, 37-38.

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826

BONNIE J.ISAAC

with a strange persistence with many Mallarmean metaphors,

particularlythose of "Un Coup de des." I by no means wish to
suggestthe impositionof a "scientific"model on a "literary"work,
particularlygiven Serres' frequentlyreiteratedcautionsagainstthe
passage fromthe "local" to the "global"; I wish to explore a fluid,
mobile relationship,its movementand flow.The local connections
suggested by shared concepts and metaphors, by similar
configurationsand dynamics,would not point to any generalizable
conclusions,such as "theoriesof science in Mallarme." I would wish
rather to approach a confluence, a convergence of riverswhich
flow,swirl,formeddies, whirlpoolsand turbulences,in uncertain
times and uncertain places, suggesting that combination of
indeterminatenessand rigor which Mallarme, in his formulations
of the nature of le vers,mightwish to attain.
For Serres, the basis of any system-linguistic,theoreticalor
scientific-is a stock,reservoir,chaos, chora: the "lieu" perhaps of
"Rien n'aura eu lieu que le lieu" of "Un Coup de des." It is, as in
Plato's Timaeus,a receptacle,womb: thatwhichchanges names but
has no name, thatwhichundoes or separates throughcondensation
or compression, clouds, fog or running water, displacement or
liquidation. It is anteriorto all movement,difference,nomination,
form:a topologicalspace where "tous les chemins,tous les sens sont
frayables,possibles"; itis the space before meaning,direction(sens),
circulation.6It is the space where atoms flowin a "chaos-verseau"
or fluctuatein a "chaos-nuage,"displaced, at uncertaintimesand at
uncertain places, by the clinamen, "ecart a l'equilibre," the
"diffirentielle,la fluxion, la foudre qui traverse la chute de la
pluie," a stochastic,aleatory"turbulence"in an "orderly"chaos,7a
spiralling motion which creates the possibility of order, of
relationships(NP, 34).
It is perhaps no accident that for Mallarme, the way one would
read differently,perceiving words "independently of ordinary
succession,"is "on a bias, contingently."The "meteorology"of the
"crisede vers" is a storm,the reflectionand refractionof raindrops
6 Michel Serres,HermesIV: La Distribution
(Paris: Minuit, 1977), pp. 60, 242. All
subsequent referencesto thisworkwillbe made in the textwiththe abbreviationD.
The reader should note the equal importance of the chora in the work of Julia
Kristeva,particularlyin her interpretationof Mallarme, in La Revolutiondu langage
poetique(Paris: Seuil, 1974).
7 Michel Serres, La Naissance de la
physiquedans le textede Lucrece:fleuves et
turbulences
(Paris: Minuit, 1977), pp. 11-12. Subsequent referencesto thisworkwill
be made in the text,withthe abbreviationNP.

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M L N

827

and lightning.Analogously, the relationshipbetween music and

lettersis also "meteorological": alternationsof light and shadows
characterize"le moderne des meteiores,la symphonie"(OC, 365),
provoking "intemperies"of "divers ciels" (OC, 646), perhaps the
same "circonstances"of "Un Coup de des." Language, at great risk,
would extracta direction(sens) from "la chute des sons nus" (OC,
385): for Serres as well, "meteorology"indicates risk-unpredictability,storm, shipwreck and tempest, "nuages, trombes,chutes
de grele ou giboulees, direction et force du vent. Accident, circonstances.Voisinage hasardeux, environnementevenementielde
l'essentiel,de la stance" (NP, 85).
If atoms are letters,then the text,information,can be born from
the same kind of turbulence,as Mallarme also suggests:
Le livre,expansiontotalede la lettre,doitd'elletirer,directement,
une
mobiliteet spacieux,par correspondances,
instituer
un jeu, on ne sait,
la fiction.Riende fortuit,
la, ou sembleun hasardcapter
qui confirme
1'idee....
(OC, 380)
For Serres, atom-letters"s'associent en phrases, se rassemblenten
volumes" (NP, 32); their aggregate is words, and meaning is
formed by the oblique flash of the clinamenacross background
noise. The poem is "coupe d'eclairs ... Hachures inclinees qui
dictent,tempspar temps,une nouvelle pente ... ses tourbillonsde
motsconjoints,sur un talwegcoupe de catastrophes"(NP, 46). For
Mallarme, the flow of words ("charroi," "courant" [OC, 1576])
necessitatessome kind of textual spacing.
For Serres,informationis characterizedby itsrarityin the face of
the constantflowof atoms, of the constantmovementof the cloud
he names "distribution.""Le message y est chaotique, un nuage de
lettres.Mieux, d'elements quelconques, peut-etre pas encore de
lettres... le bruitqui tourbillonne... au profitde la turbulence"
(D, 14). Informationattemptsto emerge as archipelagoesin a sea of
noise, a riskynavigationwhichengages a potentialemitter-receiver
in a violent world. Mallarme, in "Le Mystere dans les lettres,"
recognizesthe impossibilityof a "neutral" discourse, the necessity
of"diving"into a text(OC, 385). For Serres as well,"Nous baignons
dans des entrelacs de canaux ... plonge[s] dans les fleuves
objectifs.Recepteur,en son lieu, emetteursous tous angles. Battu,
frappe, blesse ... douloureux ..." (NP, 63). The text is one
circulationamong others,"Naufrage,inclinaisonde texte,chute des
atomes et cataractedes lettres"(NP, 88). In any such atmosphere,

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828

BONNIE J.ISAAC

any information, communication, would appear miraculous.

Discourse is a clinamen,among the cataractof atom-letters,
creating
a turbulencethroughwhich one must carefullynavigate:
on ne gouvernejamais un vaisseau que par l'angle d'inclinaisondonne
au gouvernail,autour de quoi les filetsd'eau laissentleurs turbulences:
alors l'iclair cligne et claque comme un clinamenperceptible,autour de
quoi les vents et les nuages formentleurs tourbillons.
(NP, 99, 102)

Between turbulences and whirlwinds, it is the relationships

between words which make language possible: "en-deca de la
relation,il n'y a que nuages dans le vide, lettresou atomes" (NP,
152-53).
It is thatrelationshipwhichattemptsto halt or reversethe other
consequence of the clinamen: irreversible time, entropy. The
clinamenmaydescribethe smallestpossible angle of deviation,but it
also formsthe greatestpossible angle of descent,decliningtowarda
new equilibrium;a necessarymovementso thatinvariancedoes not
mean repose, constancy stasis: stability itself can approach
movement.Language and writingattemptto resistthe currentof
the riverof entropy,resistinclination,decline, the usuryof time,by
the assemblyof atom-lettersinto the conjunctionand intersticesof
their combinations, signals emerging from noise. Their
relationshipsare forSerres,as forMallarme,embodied in a kindof
music: "Comment la chute deviee introduit-elle du reversible dans

l'irreversible?D'ou vientcettemusique, par rapportau chaos-bruit

de fond, d'oi vient le rythme par rapport a l'ecoulement sans
retour du verseau?" (NP, 168). The inclination of the clinamen
produces direction, vector, le vers. In the interstices of that movement, local effects, turbulences, permit reversibility. There are
two kinds of music: that of the river; that of the sea:
La musique va. Elle commence,elle s'acheve. Ou plut6tune musique va.
Elle va du silence au silence, elle a comme une source et un point de
terminaison.Une autre, interminable,s'arreteet ne s'arretepas, comme
a un bord mal difini, et commence aussi peu, elle nous ennoie, elle nous
submerge. Une musique coule comme un fleuve,l'autre est la mer. La
musique et le temps.
(NP, 180-87)
One can discern in Mallarme hints of the two kinds of music
Serres suggests. There is that which, like the ocean, can drown one
in a sea of emotivity, "La mer dont mieux vaudrait se taire que

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M L N

829

l'inscriredans une parenthesesi, avec, n'y entrele firmament"(OC,

403). For the "crise de vers," "orage lustrale" whose "bouleversements"attemptto liberate"la musicalitede tout,"the sea exercizes
a "vertu autrementattrayante,"a "plenitude" which is impossible
to describe other than by allusion, suggestion(OC, 366). Mallarme
would appear to prefer to the music-sea the music-river,that
which has a source and a terminus,but which neverthelesscan
impart movement,fluidity,to le vers. And yet, like navigation in
"Un Coup de des," river navigation can have its dangers, as the
"maraudeur aquatique" of "Le Nenuphar blanc" (OC, 285)
discovers.As Serres points out:
Tous les mariniers
saventbien . . qu'ilsne descendentpas toujoursun
fleuvesansefforts.
Les contre-courants
les immobilisent
parfois,parfois
les chassenten amont.Le fleuven'estpas toujoursune routequi les
meneou ils veulentaller.
(NP, 188)
Yet if one tries to go beyond one's limits,one's boundaries, the
"borne a l'infini"of "Un Coup de des," one risksthatpassage from
local to global thatforSerres leads to potentialviolence,risk,death.
The uncharted river in "Prose pour des Esseintes" (OC, 55-57)
presentsin the course of itsnavigationwhatforSerres is one of the
greatest threats: "La croissance, perdue comme menace, danger
incontrolables" (NP, 91). One cannot always control one's
navigation; the turbulence of the clinamencan produce order,
reversibilityin irreversibility,but like all "meteors" it occurs
unpredictably:it flickers("clignotant")in the blinkof an eye ("clin
d'oeil"), causing the shipwreckof the "yole a clins" (NP, 161): "Le
sens est formepar le bruitet le derive vers le bruit: espace-temps
du clignotementet du declin. Les signaux d'univers fontles dins
d'oeil de la profondeurdu nuage" (NP, 170). In Mallarme's terms,
"Un coup de des jamais n'abolira le hasard"; "rien n'aura eu lieu
que le lieu."
Derrida in "La Double Seance" alludes to theclinamenin the flow
of rythmos:8
"un din d'hymen. Une chute rythmee.Une cadence
inclinee" (DS, 293). The hymen, itself a kind of angle, a joint
8Jacques Derrida, "La Double Seance," La Dissemination
(Paris: Seuil, 1972), pp.
199-317. Subsequent references to this work will be made in the text with the
abbreviationDS. For Serres, rythmos,
from rein, form, indicates as well flow (a
commentary on the famous etymology of Benveniste): thus a "tourbillon,"
in irreversibility
(NP, 190).
reversibility

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830

BONNIE J.ISAAC

("clin"), a fold,indicatesa suspense, an interval,"Car la difference

est au moins l'intervalle necessaire, le suspens entre deux
echeances, le 'laps' entre deux coups, deux chutes, deux chances"
(DS, 309). The play between contingency,necessityand chance
becomes the textualspacing of "difference,""entre-deux,"a "crise
. . . rythme,cadence, declinaison, decadence, chuteet
du rythmos
in
retour" (DS, 312). The "crisis"becomes the risksof reversibility
a "coup de des":
irreversibility,
Hymenselon le vers,blanc encore,de la necessiteet du hasard ...
dans le suspensou chacune
se tiendrait-elle
Si-elle 6tait,la litterature
a lieu quand
de ses facesgardela chance.... La crisede la litt6rature
ou personnen'estla poursavoir.
rienn'a lieuque le lieu,dans l'instance
Personne-ne sachant-avant le coup-qui le dejoue en son
echeance-lequel des six des-chute.
(DS, 317)
"Un Coup de des" puts into motion the oppositions between
the sea and
and reversibility,
chance and necessity,irreversibility
the firmament, music and letters. It exploits metaphors of
whirlwindsand turbulences,of navigation and shipwreck,of the
"lieu." Mauron maintainsthat Mallarme's temporalityattemptsto
reverse the flow of entropy.9Jean-Paul Sartre sees Mallarme as
balancing "ce couple de contrairesqui perpetuellements'engendre
et se repousse: le hasard ... la necessite"in a heroic stance against
the inevitabilityof entropy: "L'homme mourant sur tout le globe
d'une desintegration de l'atome ou d'un refroidissement du
soleil. . . ."10
Blanchot transfersthe oppositions to problems of textuality.
Mallarme would be "liberated" from linear, temporal succession,
in favor of ruptures,discontinuities,a new
from "irreversibility,"
kind of mobility."Un Coup de des" "est ne d'une ententenouvelle
de l'espace litteraire,telles que puissent s'y engendrer, par des
rapports nouveaux de mouvement, des relations nouvelles de
comprehension."Language is perceived spatially,the "lieu" evoked
by Serres, "oiu, avant d'etre paroles determinees et exprimees, le
langage est le mouvement silencieux de rapports ...,"

where

"jamais l'instant ne succede a l'instant selon le deroulement

horizontald'un devenir irreversible."11

9 Charles Mauron, Des

au mythe
obsedantes
personnel(Paris: Jose Corti,
metaphores
1971), p. 233.
10Jean-Paul Sartre, "Mallarme," SituationsIX (Paris: Gallimard, 1972), pp.
191-201; pp. 198-200.
1 Maurice Blanchot,Le Livrea venir(Paris: Gallimard, 1959), pp. 286, 291.

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M L N

831

For Cohn, the movement of "Un Coup de des" is engendered

more "epistemologically," by the oscillation of opposites in
paradox. But the resonances of some of his readings echo with
those of Serres: "In a clusteringof words, as in atoms or planets,
lies the law." The organizationalcapacities of atoms, compared to
the eternal "revolution" of the firmament,emphasize however
formover movement.His reading of"circonstances"is antithetical
for this reason to that of Serres: if "circonstances"are that which
"stand around," "circonstanceseternelles"would not be perpetual
motion,but the freezingof time for one event.12
Mallarme evokes in his Preface to "Un Coup de des" (OC,
455-56) music as a resource which textual spacing and movement
should exploit. He cautions one in seeing in this work littlemore
than a "spacing of reading": what is engendered by the dispersion
of traditionalprosody by blank space and typographyis not space,
but movement.It accelerates the pace of reading; space does not
exist in itself,but is "scanned," "intimated" in a "simultaneous
vision of the Page" which is not however static: "La fiction
effleureraet se dissipera, vite,d'apres la mobilitede l'ecrit."The
successivenessof narrative,as well as that of time,by "raccourci,"
"hypothese,"multiplemeanings.Thought moves through"retraits,
prolongements,fuites"; the effectof the text is that of a musical
score,a "partition"whichcould be an accompanimentfor manyof
the motifs
found in Michel Serres.
Cohn suggests in passing that the project of the Master, his
"anciens calculs," could evoke "the mathematicaland physicallaws
whichlead to man's emergence."13As in Serres, the circumstances
whichsurround the dice thrown"fromthe depths of a shipwreck,"
however "eternal," are unpredictable, and ultimatelymenacing.
The "Abyss" contains both potential, oscillating, virtual
movement-the chora-and the possibilityof a clinamen-order out
of turbulence: "Soit que l'Abime ...

etale . . . sous une inclinaison

plane desesperement." The movement of the Abyss suggests a

downwardflight,and its "wing"could point to an effortto reverse
the flow of entropy: "par avance retombee d'un mal a dresser le
vol." The rockingof the boat reinforcesabortivemovement:"voile
alternative,""penche de 'un ou l'autre bord"; open and closed also
alternate: "tres a l'interieur resume l'ombre enfuie dans la
profondeur,""couvrantlesjaillissementscoupant au ras les bonds."
2
13

Cohn, pp. 10, 14, 39, 64, 66, 78, 93.

Cohn, p. 50.

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BONNIE J.ISAAC

832

"L'envergure" alternates with "beante profondeur" to suggest

that which is buried, potential, but which could emerge,
"chaos-verseau"or "chaos-nuage."
The Master navigates by means of the oblique "barre"; he "se
prepare s'agiteet mele comme on menace au poing qui l'etreindrait
un destin et les vents." At odds with the elements,his conflictis
indeed between them and destiny.His dilemma: should he throw
"l'unique Nombre qui ne peut pas etre un autre," the ultimate
dice-throw,"dans la tempete en reployerla divisionet passe fier,"
or "jouer . la partie au nom des flots"?Should he attempt,with
the ultimate Number, to master nature, to rejoin divisions, or
should he play the game in the name of the waves, in the hope that
the waves themselves,through their movement and turbulence,
can somehow produce order? His ancestors-"l'aieul"-have had a
perpetual intercoursewiththe sea: "ne d'un ebat la mer par l'aieul
ou l'aieul par la mer une chance oiseuse Fian:ailles dont le voile
d'illusion chancellera s'affalera folie." Such an uncertain union
wavers, falters, slides down to madness, a kind of entropy
engendered by decline, emplified by the large-typeN'ABOLIRA
immediately following. The root of "chancellera" is cadencia,
suggestingfor Cohn the fallof the dice.14But it could also indicate
the
the "cadence rythmee" of Derrida, the "chute" of rythmos,
must
to
which
all
of
the
the
movement
chora,
equilibrium
spacing
return,but also the ordering of chaos through movement from
which all codes, languages, texts,emerge.
The next set of double pages confirmsthis intuition,beginning
not only a section in italics,but formingalmost the literalcenterof
the poem: "Une insinuationsimple au silence enroulee avec ironie
ou le mystere precipite hurle dans quelque proche tourbillon
d'hilariteet d'horreur voltigeautour du gouffresans lejoncher ni
fuir et en berce le vierge indice." Cohn sees the "tourbillon"as a
spiral surrounded by the words "comme si," indicatingan eddy, a
momentarystasis,an expansion whichfigurescircleswhichalmost,
yetnot quite, turnback on themselves.Such a figureresonateswith
the very word "si": both "if" and "yes," "s" is the analytical,
dissolving,disseminatingletter; "i" is the letterwhich "resumes."
The essence of the whirlpoolis to suck in its surroundingsand yet
to fling out a circle of itself. But Cohn insists on the circular,
enclosed nature of the spiral throughouthis interpretation,even
though the patternof words clusteredaround the whirlpool-center
14

Cohn, p. 63.

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833

can move out of itself,making a spiral whose outer contour is

roughlyelliptical.15
For Serres, the spiral-whirlpool-turbulenceis equally crucial,
indicating the inclinationof the clinamenand the flow of atoms,
order from chaos and the flow toward entropy,a configuration
that would preclude the circular. Such a configuration also
indicates conflict,menace, danger, even physical distress,as the
perceivingsubject is buffetedby competing signals, a distressone
can also find in Mallarm6. Cohn does indeed sense the same
combination."Insinuation" could indicate the tortuouswrithingof
the Chimera which in Mallarme's "La Musique et les lettres"(OC,
648) createslanguage itself,but Cohn emphasizes the negativeside
of "art" rather than a productive movement. "Joncher"indicates
for Cohn that neither the "insinuation" nor the "tourbillon"
succeed in penetrating the "silence-mystere"from which they
arose, nor do theysucceed in fleeingit. Cohn would thus undercut
the possibilitiesof disseminationof the "tourbillon.""En berce le
vierge indice" would be the first "letter" emerging from
turbulence,as Serres mightalso suggest: the "horror"of disorder,
the "hilarity" of creation. But the spiral for Cohn ultimately
indicates an eternal return,though continuingto indicate that no
circle turnsback on itself.He explains however thatthisis because
no concept can exist without its opposite;16 we have seen that
straightforward
polaritiesare displaced by the verymovementthat
them.
Serres points out that an inclinationplus a circle
engenders
a
"La
turbulence de la nature, un poeme ecrit en
equals spiral:
tourbillon qui se boucle sans se boucler" (NP, 169). The spiral
would thus call into question movements of synthesis of
oppositions; eternal return would be always superseded by
entropy.
The "comme si" also governs the followingsectionof "Un Coup
de d6s." "Comme" is the establishment of a relation; "si" an
affirmation after negation: this section appropriately enough
evokes Hamlet, "prince amer de l'ecueil" (recall the "recif" of
"Salut") whose featheredcap is ludicrouslyerect in the face of "la
foudre": "plume solitaire 6perdue ... cette blancheur rigide
derisoire en opposition au ciel trop ... sa petite raison virile en
foudre." But we recall withSerres that"la foudre" is in a sense the
condition of possibilityof reason, a raritywhich falls with the
pp. 31, 65-67.
Cohn, pp. 68, 70, 93.

15 Cohn,
16

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834

BONNIE J.ISAAC

cadence of rythmosand the clinamen. Derrida remarks that

de
"l'Tlevationde la plume est toujours l'imminenceou l'Fv&enement
sa chute," and cites the "effets de glotte" of Mallarme's Le
Livre-"plusje plu me plumejet chute choc" (DS, 305-307)-which,
oddly enough, resonate with many metaphorical connections
found in Serres. Hamlet's crisis, figuringthat of the Master, is
echoed in the "crise de vers," which, we recall, is meteorological.
Derrida recalls that the original title of "Crise de vers" was
"Averses," suggesting an "orage historique ... pluie ... Faits
d'hiver" (DS, 314-15). We recall as well that the navigation of
"Salut" was governed by a poetic avant-garde, l'avant fastueux"
which "cuts"-always obliquely-"le flot de foudres et d'hivers."
The "hilarityand horror" of the whirlwindis echoed by the "rire
que SI" of Hamlet who "scintillede vertige,"and bythe contorsions
of drowningsirens,recallingthe "insinuation"of the Chimera, and
also the "Telle loin se noie une troupe / De sirenes . . ." of "Salut."
The "torsion de sirene . . . par d'impatientes squames ultimes

bifurquees"of"Un Coup de d6s" remind one, withSerres, that,in

the unlimited topology of the chora, it is the bifurcation that
produces "catastrophes"in the fall of "chreodes" (D, 244-45). But
bifurcationalso creates meaning,direction; in "Un Coup de des,"
the "ecueil" of Hamlet becomes a "roc faux manoir tout de suite
evapore en brumes qui imposa une borne a l'infini":a limit,a sort
of order, out of the "chaos-nuage."
The Number would be the ultimateorder, "issu stellaire,"a rare,
agonized resultof buffetingmovementwhich nevertheless,in the
uncertaintyof its apparition, does not abolish chance:
EXISTAT-IL autrement qu'hallucination eparse d'agonie
COMMENCAT-IL ET CESSAT-IL sourdantque nie et clos quand
apparu enfin par quelque profusion repandue en rarete SE
CHIFFRAT-IL
evidence de la somme pour peu qu'une
ILLUMINAT-IL CE SERAIT pirenondavantageni moinsindifferent
maisautantLE HASARD
The Number bubbles up when denied, profuse and rare,
participatingin infinity("chiffrat")but also in order ("existat,"
"commencat,""cessat," "illuminat"):the music of the sea and that
of the river,witha beginningand an end. But it participatesno less
in the rhythmicalcadence which tends, despite archipelagoes of
negentropyon the sea of background noise, toward equilibrium,
neutrality,entropy:"Choit la plume rythmiquesuspens du sinistre
s'ensevelir aux ecumes originelles nagueres d'ou sursauta son

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M L N

835

delire jusqu'a une cime fletrie par la neutralite identique au

gouffre." That which subsists is not therefore the Number, but the
place, the "lieu," the chora:
RIEN de la memorable crise ou se futl'evenementaccompli en vue de
tout resultatnul humain N'AURA EU LIEU une elevation ordinaire
verse l'absence QUE LE LIEU inferieur clapotis quelconque pour
disperser lacte vide abruptement que sinon par son mensonge eit
fonde la perdition dans ces parages du vague en quoi toute realite se
dissout
We find the flow of the "chaos-verseau" ("verse"), the descent of
the "point extremal" of the "crise" toward the "inferior"; the
distribution
of the
dissemination,
dissolution,
dispersal,
the
into
which
all
is
"chaos-nuage":
vagueness
reality
ultimately
dissolved.
But the final pages indicate the far-off hope: the constellation
which is not however a static transcendence, but which participates
in the same movement of shocks and declines which engenders it:
EXCEPTE a l'altitude PEUT-ETRE aussi loin qu'un endroit fusionne
avec au-dela hors d'interet quant a lui signale en general selon telle
obliquite par telle declivitede feux vers ce doit etre le Septentrionaussi
Nord UNE CONSTELLATION froidel'oubli et de desuetude pas tant
qu'elle n'enumere sur quelque surface vacante et superieure le heurt
successifsideralementd'un compte total en formationveillantdoutant
roulant brillantet meditantavant de s'arretera quelque point dernier
qui le sacre
We encounter again that elevation ("altitude"), that "point
extremal" of crisis. In "La Musique et les lettres" however Mallarm6
indicates that pyrotechnical fusion at great height is not a
transcendence, but another kind of ephemeral pattern (OC, 647).
The constellation belongs perhaps less to the firmament of eternal
revolution than to the reflection and refraction on a bias of words
on a page, which, in "L'Action restreinte," mirror the stars black on
on n'ecrit pas,
white, white on black: "Tu remarqueras,
lumineusement, sur champ obscur, l'alphabet des astres, seul, ainsi
s'indique, 6bauche ou interrompu; l'homme poursuit noir sur
blanc" (OC, 370).
In "Un Coup de des," the "total number" is in formation only,
observed only at the moment beforeits supposed consecration, the
halting of its movement. The time of "Un Coup de des" is thefutur
anterieur,of incomplete, deferred action. The Mime of "Mimique,"

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BONNIE J.ISAAC

836

"ici devanjant, la rem6morant, au futur, au passe, sous une

depresent... installe,ainsi,un milieu,pur,de fiction"
apparencefausse
n'aura eu lieu que le lieu, excepte peut-etreune
"rien
(OC, 310):
constellation."But the constellationdoes not "take place" any more
than does the "place": never formed, always in motion, it
participatesin entropywhile restrainingits movement,like music,
like language, like the movement of atoms, "turbulences,"
"tourbillons,"in Michel Serres.
Jean Hyppolitelinks"Un Coup de d6s" withinformationtheory,
entropy, and Maxwell's Demon.17 For Hyppolite, "Un Coup de
des," by replacing chance withnecessity,confirms,by questioning
the conditionsof possibilityof the message itself,thatthe "content"
of the message is its "form." Informationis characterized by an
almostimpossiblemiracle,whichemerges only to almostinevitably
disappear. Yet it is opposed to entropy: the general systemmay
tend toward equilibrium,but local singularities(what Serres calls
turbulences) produce order out of disorder. The increase of
entropy is for an instant avoided; the unpredictable (Serres'
"meteorological") replaces the monotony of irreversibility.
Maxwell's Demon is the personificationof attemptsto retard that
flow: his calculations, like those of Mallarme's "aieul," would
extract maximum informationfrom the probable, pure chance,
disorder and repetition. Typography would also for Hyppolite
confirm those calculations, "modelling" information,affording
form in regularity, originality within the unpredictable,
distinguishablefrombackground noise, chance, the dissipationof
any message. The message would thus for Hyppolite abolish
chance, becoming a sort of necessity. The constellation would
exhibitthistendencytoward the static,the constitutionof meaning
through the risk of tracing a message which is a message only.
Neither triumphant logos nor extreme finality, the message
revolveslike the stars,"revolu aussit6tquejet6."18 While Hyppolite
senses the movement to which I have pointed at the end of "Un
Coup de des," like Deleuze, like Cohn, he maintains polaritieschance and necessity,informationand entropy.The Master, like
Maxwell's Demon, sorts disorder to obtain the greatest possible
amount of information,producing, through Number, the con17 ean
Hyppolite, "Le Coup de des de Stephane Mallarme et le message," Etudes
4 (1958), 463-68.
philosophiques,
18
Hyppolite, p. 468.

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M L N

837

stellation: "Toute pens6e emet un coup de d6s," but stabilityis

emphasized over movement, an interpretation we have seen
opposed by figuresas diverse as Blanchot, Derrida and Serres.
Serres sees the attemptto gain greaterand greaterquantitiesof
information,to make more and more exact measurements,as an
indicationof potential transcendencein a scientificdiscourse: the
universethatcan be measured can be mastered (NP, 173) through
Number, a constellation.But, as Serres points out, exactitude is
paid for-"anciens calculs"-in an infinite quantity of negentropy; the "money" of knowledge is obtained only at the expense
of an infiniteamount of futuretime in which to acquit one's debt.
Thus masterycan produce bankruptcy (D, 33-36), and we are
"hurled, precipitated" to that future anterior where nothing is
accomplished, all is deferred, where entropyis halted but where
movementis incessant:the time-spaceof the "lieu," of the Number,
of the "tourbillon,"of the Constellation.Maxwell's Demon is the
fictionbywhichthe Second Principleof thermodynamicsfails;he is
the sorter producing the spatial deviation that is the condition of
possibilityof order, differentiation,information(D, 48, 55): that
in irreversibility.
whichdiffersis deferred,introducingreversibility
His order is not static necessity,but participates in the kind of
movement that characterizes chance itself. As negentropy
increases, one discovers that rich, exceptional situation that was
capable of producing a constellation:"celle ou se trouvele D6mon
de Maxwell a la fin de son oeuvre de selection et de tri" (D, 56).
But Maxwell's Demon impliesa desire fororder: the tendencyin
science is to master,measure laws of nature. But, Serres suggests,
science should view the acquiring of informationas a game rather
than as a combat. It is a game withadversaries,rules,ordered play;
the player must make a choice or decision from a multiplicityof
possibilities. But if science were less concerned with absolute
mastery,it would have open to it the movementof the aleatory,of
risk,but of possible gain. Serres suggests a new displacement of
science, which also implies a redefinition of communication,
whereby one can nevertheless sort, read, know, form relations
(D, 223).
Mallarme, in "Un Coup de d6s," may well have, rather than
failed, simply renounced the kind of mastery that necessity,
appropriation, measurement implies. But renunciation or
displacement of masterydoes not imply the renunciationof the
formingof relationships,of information,of communication. In

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838

BONNIE J.ISAAC

"La Musique et les lettres,"and elsewhere, Mallarme introduces

the categories of "game" or "fiction" to displace any potential
moment of final unity,of transcendentsynthesis.He points to
the "supercherie" of an "attirancesuperieure comme d'un vide,"
of "quelque 6elvationd6fendue et de foudre! le conscientmanque
chez nous de ce qui la-haut 6clate" (OC, 647). One can play the
game withall seriousness,but the "final move" never takes place,
or rather is displaced by "un tour de trop," or "de trope," by a
constantmovementof textualityitself."A quoi sertcela?", Mallarm6
asks in the same above-cited passage: of what use is the potential
for transcendence? "A un jeu," he answers: the dice-throwthat
thoughtemits,"du fond d'un naufrage."
ofCalifornia,Berkeley
University

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