ABSTRACT
It is possible to think of Rene Daumal as one who, through an unbounded vouloir-dire, brought the logic of poetic foundation as that of the optimally communicative act in language to an impasse of sorts. The dual recognition of language's contingency and of its deforming potential challenges the poet to rethink the question of what might constitute a radical creative gesture. The poet becomes a figure acutely aware of language's ability to serve as a vehicle for group or individual narcissism rather than a modality of other-oriented practice. The poetry of presence becomes a commitment to the possibility of a shared apprehension of the object. The practice of an 'essential' vocabulary is seen as opening onto a dimension of language as foundational – a kind of minimum degree, or universal elementary particle of human existence. The fragility of poetic speech is accompanied by a mass of descriptive-prescriptive programming and commentary.
