De l'obscurité comme censure. Proust, Muhlfeld, Mallarmé

Proust’s paper « Contre l’obscurité » [“Against Obscurity”], published in 1896 by La Revue blanche, has been paid back with to rather rough answers : Lucien Muhlfeld’s paper « Sur la clarté » [“About Clarity”] and « Le Mystère dans les Lettres » by Mallarmé. One of the very few polemical texts of the poet, the latter paper deals with mechanisms of poetical meaning and reciprocal adjustment of both the literary text and his reader. Three kinds of censorship are at stake here. Censorship by the obscurity (Proust). Censorship of the obscurity (Muhlfeld). Censorship with and for the sake of obscurity (Mallarmé). The whole controversy being placed under the very sign of reading and critical evaluation.