Why will "A roll of the dice never abolish chance"? Selected typographic manifestos in the perspective of literary studies

Abstract

The article attempts to isolate groundbreaking concepts for the development and distribution of text in publications, which are important typographic messages and can be considered as a manifestation of narrative typography. Examples of the manuscripts of Cyprian Norwid’s Vade-mecum and Stéphane Mallarmé’s A roll of the dice were used. The discursive statements of both artists show that they attached great importance to the typographic aspects of the text. The complicated editorial fates of those manuscripts and the lack of sufficient technological means caused the chirographic manifestos of Norwid and Mallarmé had to wait a long-time for publishing. In the context of poetic manifesto, both texts are important typographic messages that have highlighted the important problem of modernity – the process of language decomposition. It was also recalled that Mallarmé’s typographic poetics was an inspiration for the creators of literature.