Fragments - Anatole’s Tomb.

Stéphane Mallarmé, born Étienne Mallarmé on 18 March 1842, was a distinguished French poet and critic, pivotal in the later Symbolist movement. His works anticipated, and greatly influenced various 20th-century artistic trends, including Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism.

Mallarmé was born in Paris and educated at the “Pensionnat des Frères des écoles chrétiennes à Passy”. He pursued a career as an English teacher, living modestly, but gained prominence due to the intellectual salons held at his rue de Rome residence. These gatherings, known as 'les Mardistes' due to their occurrence on Tuesdays, were central to Paris's intellectual scene, attracting figures like W.B. Yeats and Rainer Maria Rilke.

He married Maria Christina Gerhard on 10 August 1863, with whom he had two children: Geneviève and Anatole. The latter's death in 1879 deeply affected him. Mallarmé died on 9 September 1898 in Valvins, near Fontainebleau.

Mallarmé's initial works were influenced by Charles Baudelaire, but he later evolved a unique style blending poetry with other arts. His experimentation with textual form and spatial arrangement was exemplified in his 1897 poem 'Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard'. His complex verse has posed significant challenges for translation.

His poetry inspired many musicians, including Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Additionally, his literary approach influenced 20th-century French criticism and theory, contributing to the structuralist and deconstructionist movements.

Mallarmé's innovative use of typography and white space in 'Un coup de dés' was influential in the conception of hypertext. Posthumous editions of this work have sought to faithfully reproduce his original typographical design. His legacy has had a profound impact on modernism.

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