Mallarmé et la poétique de l’hybridité

The hybridity that is seen everywhere in symbolist poetry is not so much evidence of a temporary trend of the era following the interest in the crossing of species in nature as much as it is an attempt to confront the very nature of “art” itself. The time of the “quarrel of monsters” has passed, and the hybrids of contemporary poetry – competing for a place in the mythological scene that is symbolism – roam guiltless. And yet, beyond literary conventions, this mythological bestiary is anything but innocent and outdated; in fact, it embodies a genuine mythopoetic repertoire. For Mallarmé in particular, this hybrid bestiary reflects the illusive “Chimera” of poetry.