Politics Of The Aesthetic:On Jacques Ranciere’s Interpretation Of Mallarme

Jacques Rancière’s later research turns from the field of political philosophy to the field of literature and art.He selects a number of writers and artists,as well as different texts and scenes,for analysis to present a variety of possibilities.Stéphane Mallarmé is the object most often interpreted and quoted by Rancière,which gives him important inspirations covering several key concepts in his academic theories.Through the interpretation of Mallarmé’s poetries,Rancière believes that Mallarmé’s poetics is “poetics of mystery”,and the key to understanding Mallarmé is to understand the double assumptions of the poetries’ contents.Poets are like the cunning and mysterious sirens,and the poems he writes are like fans,whose mysterious meaning lies in its folds: nothing and infinity.At the same time,comparing with the musicals created by compromised Wagner,Mallarmé insists on the abstractness and mystery of the poetry and music.The new religion that Mallarmé identifies with is the music religion.By explaining the two works of Mallarmé,Conflit and Confrontation,Rancière argues that workers and poets are each other’s “intruders”,and that as equal subjects,they should not be distinguished.“The politics of the intruder” is not a political intervention of the subjects,but as an intruder,literature is a form of politics,which is the politics of literature.Mallarmé’ politics is not Mallarmé’s involvement in politics,but Mallarmé’s writing itself is about politics.In addition to the interpretation of Mallarmé’s literary works,Rancière also discusses the concepts of “types” and “aspects” abstractly extracted by Mallarmé in the field of art,which inspire him with “the politics of art”.“Types” is a simplified form,which is a rupture of hierarchy of genres,while the surface of design and art is an equal surface.“Aspects” means a new kind of fiction,and the new fiction is not the fiction about the plot,but a kind of form.At the same time,Rancière also insists that all kinds of arts should not be autonomous,but open and equal.Jacques Rancière’s interpretation of Mallarmé is ostensibly a criticism of literature and art,but the inspiration he gets from it is always in response to politics,which we call “politics of the aesthetic”.