In this chapter I develop the concept of non-knowledge as a form of selfpresence. I start by analysing the use of allegory in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal [Det sjunde inseglet] (1957), and I problematise the hierarchies of allegories and symbols whilst calling for the exploration of the polyvalence of the symbolic mode. I continue to define the concept of non-knowledge by revisiting Bataille's notion of non-knowledge and Badiou's idea of inaesthetics. Finally, I focus on Khomeriki's A Tale About Darkness to examine non-knowledge as a world of prefiguration.

The Seventh Seal is a film about a medieval knight, Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), who is also a modern man, a soldier returning from a war. On his journey he meets M(ar)ia (Bibi Andersson), Jo(se)f (Nils Poppe) and their baby son, who are allegorical figures employed by the director to convey the events of the film as elements of an archetypal dramatic pattern. The overriding symbol of the film is the game of chess: at the beginning, the knight is shown playing chess with Death (Bengt Ekerot), which is an epitome of Antonius’ interior struggle. This symbol determines the development of the narrative and the use of dialogue, whereby the game of chess symbolises the interplay between geometrical order and control, on the one hand, and fear of chaos, on the other hand. (In the previous chapter I determined Delueze's overfocus on the Order as a linguistic concept and his disregard of the Order as a transcendental object.) While producing an internal, intra-textual hierarchy of symbols, the film also makes use of external, outer-textual associations, which are incorporated in a similar hierarchic fashion. For example, The Seventh Seal refers to the famous Swedish mural Death Playing Chess with Man (Täby Parish Church, Uppland). The meaning of the reference is that death is man's constant companion; the position of the reference in the system of visual allusions suggests that God is no longer the ultimate authority but a decorative figure, and the conversation with Death is more a conversation with the dead, with the knight standing at a border and looking at a world appearing in front of his eyes.