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Notes
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Title usually represented in this form: A Fluke: A Mistranslation of Stéphane Mallarmé's 'Un Coup de Dès'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Aussi / Or: Un Coup de Dés and Mistranslation in the Antipodes
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , May no. 91 2019;'‘Shipwrecked on the shoals of contingency’, Australian poetry is haunted by Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem Un Coup de Dés. Its publication in Cosmopolis in Paris in 1897 struck a nerve or, rather, a vessel within Australian poetry bloodlines, starting with Christopher Brennan. Un Coup de dés was the score that inspired him to compose ‘Musicopoematographoscope’, also in 1897, a large handwritten mimique manuscript, or pastiche, that transposed the more extreme aesthetics of an avant-garde French Symbolism into the Australian poetic psyche. Now well into the twenty-first century, Un Coup de dés is still a blueprint for experimentation in Australian poetry, spawning a number of versions, two of which are homophonic mistranslations – ‘A Fluke’ by Chris Edwards and ‘Desmond’s Coupé’ by John Tranter – both published in 2006, and both revelling / rebelling in the abject, and in “errors and wrecks’. This essay/assay provides a comparative reading of these homophonic bedfellows, traces their relation(ship)s to their antecedents, to various theories of translation and punning, and begins an enquiry into the significant influence of Mallarmé’s great ‘vessel’ on Australian poetry and poetics.' (Introduction)
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Barbecued Sunrise
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 3 no. 18 2018;'This essay argues for an expanded definition of the category of ‘Australian Literature’ by analysing work at its fringes: experimental literary translation by Australian, English-language, writers. While considerable attention has been given to translation as a mode of literary circulation and as a metaphor for an ethics of cross-cultural exchange, there has been little work done by proponents of World Literature on the linguistic problem of what happens in translation. By contrast, this essay develops a mode of close reading, via theories of transnationalism and translation, applied to two playful translations of Stéphane Mallarmé’s ‘Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard’ (1895) by Christopher Brennan (1897) and Chris Edwards (2005).' (Publication abstract)
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"A Fluke? [N]ever!" : Reading Chris Edwards
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012; 'This paper investigates the use of collage, mimicry and hieroglyphics by the innovative Australian poet Chris Edwards in his latest book of poetry, People of Earth (Vagabond Press, 2011). With scissors in hand, Edwards goes hunting for Jacques Derrida's "non-phonetic functions" and "operative silences of alphabetic writing", those poetical score-marks that are neither "factual accident nor waste" (Derrida, 'The Pit and the Pyramid'), but rather, endlessly renewable resources. The collagist is a recycler and composter, and also a compositor - a filmic sculptor who tricks visual fragments into new entities. Edwards is a deft and seamless crafter, often producing grammatically flawless collages whose motion from scene to scene is subtle and kaleidoscopic. An appendix to People of Earth compiles hundreds of texts that are sources for Edwards' poems. They are a gentle invitation to detective work, but mostly, a museum of tools tended by a fastidious drafter. This paper will explore the radical materialism of Chris Edwards while invoking along the way the ghosts of Christopher Brennan, Charlie Chaplin, Stéphane Mallarmé and Charles Olson. -
Fluking It, with Chris Edwards
2012
single work
essay
— Appears in: Jacket2 2012; -
Four Recent Collections of Poetry: Language and Communication
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 66 no. 1 2006; (p. 158-170)
— Review of Walking to Point Clear : Poems 1983-2002 2005 selected work poetry ; War is Not the Season for Figs 2001 selected work poetry ; A Fluke : A Mistranslation of Stephane Mallarme's 'Un Coup de Des' Chris Edwards (translator), 2005 selected work poetry ; Smoke Encrypted Whispers 2004 selected work poetry
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Poetry
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Island , Winter no. 105 2006; (p. 87-89)
— Review of A Fluke : A Mistranslation of Stephane Mallarme's 'Un Coup de Des' Chris Edwards (translator), 2005 selected work poetry -
Four Recent Collections of Poetry: Language and Communication
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 66 no. 1 2006; (p. 158-170)
— Review of Walking to Point Clear : Poems 1983-2002 2005 selected work poetry ; War is Not the Season for Figs 2001 selected work poetry ; A Fluke : A Mistranslation of Stephane Mallarme's 'Un Coup de Des' Chris Edwards (translator), 2005 selected work poetry ; Smoke Encrypted Whispers 2004 selected work poetry -
Fluking It, with Chris Edwards
2012
single work
essay
— Appears in: Jacket2 2012; -
"A Fluke? [N]ever!" : Reading Chris Edwards
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012; 'This paper investigates the use of collage, mimicry and hieroglyphics by the innovative Australian poet Chris Edwards in his latest book of poetry, People of Earth (Vagabond Press, 2011). With scissors in hand, Edwards goes hunting for Jacques Derrida's "non-phonetic functions" and "operative silences of alphabetic writing", those poetical score-marks that are neither "factual accident nor waste" (Derrida, 'The Pit and the Pyramid'), but rather, endlessly renewable resources. The collagist is a recycler and composter, and also a compositor - a filmic sculptor who tricks visual fragments into new entities. Edwards is a deft and seamless crafter, often producing grammatically flawless collages whose motion from scene to scene is subtle and kaleidoscopic. An appendix to People of Earth compiles hundreds of texts that are sources for Edwards' poems. They are a gentle invitation to detective work, but mostly, a museum of tools tended by a fastidious drafter. This paper will explore the radical materialism of Chris Edwards while invoking along the way the ghosts of Christopher Brennan, Charlie Chaplin, Stéphane Mallarmé and Charles Olson. -
Barbecued Sunrise
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 3 no. 18 2018;'This essay argues for an expanded definition of the category of ‘Australian Literature’ by analysing work at its fringes: experimental literary translation by Australian, English-language, writers. While considerable attention has been given to translation as a mode of literary circulation and as a metaphor for an ethics of cross-cultural exchange, there has been little work done by proponents of World Literature on the linguistic problem of what happens in translation. By contrast, this essay develops a mode of close reading, via theories of transnationalism and translation, applied to two playful translations of Stéphane Mallarmé’s ‘Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard’ (1895) by Christopher Brennan (1897) and Chris Edwards (2005).' (Publication abstract)
-
Aussi / Or: Un Coup de Dés and Mistranslation in the Antipodes
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , May no. 91 2019;'‘Shipwrecked on the shoals of contingency’, Australian poetry is haunted by Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem Un Coup de Dés. Its publication in Cosmopolis in Paris in 1897 struck a nerve or, rather, a vessel within Australian poetry bloodlines, starting with Christopher Brennan. Un Coup de dés was the score that inspired him to compose ‘Musicopoematographoscope’, also in 1897, a large handwritten mimique manuscript, or pastiche, that transposed the more extreme aesthetics of an avant-garde French Symbolism into the Australian poetic psyche. Now well into the twenty-first century, Un Coup de dés is still a blueprint for experimentation in Australian poetry, spawning a number of versions, two of which are homophonic mistranslations – ‘A Fluke’ by Chris Edwards and ‘Desmond’s Coupé’ by John Tranter – both published in 2006, and both revelling / rebelling in the abject, and in “errors and wrecks’. This essay/assay provides a comparative reading of these homophonic bedfellows, traces their relation(ship)s to their antecedents, to various theories of translation and punning, and begins an enquiry into the significant influence of Mallarmé’s great ‘vessel’ on Australian poetry and poetics.' (Introduction)