Matter and Memory

Leonurdo,Vol. 3, pp. 93-95. Pergamon Press 1970. Printed in Great Britain MATTER AND MEMORY* Francis Ponge** Unless you are ready for it, your first sight of a lithographic stone will astonish you. Thus Lily, at first, complainedpolitely that this room has been turned into a cemeteryfor smalldogs. And it is true that the studio of a printer-lithographer, that of Messrs Mourlot frckes, rue de Chabrol, Paris, for example (the best example)much more even than a branch of the British Museum, Department of Ancient Architecture, resembles a depot or library of miniature gravestones. Several workmen or artists are employed there in a leisurely way. Nevertheless, you hear neither hammer, nor cold chisel. A music more discreet-like bedside music. Softmillstones,tender drills,bigwinches,littlefans; and long looks, sprinklings, careful pressures: these stones are treated gently. A conservatory rather or the basement-shop of a seller of musical instruments. But the writer or draughtsman: ‘What notepads !’ Expectinga stone,he is slightlydisappointed to find a page. Such a square one. So smooth. Yet he should look at it (or feel it) more closely. Beneath the page, he will soon find the stone again. A strange stone, it’s true, pumiced with the utmost care. Gently flayed. The finest grain of its skin has been bared. It has been sensitized. Made likea mucousmembrane. In the most mercifulway, by polishing. And here again may be seen in it something resembling a lute. Asked about the provenance of these stones, M. Mourlot states that they have been here for a very long time (as far back as his father ...). When he wants to add to his collection, he has stones sent from Central Europe: the banks of the Danube, near Pappenheim, the quarry at Solhofen .... Thus, these are German stones. Philosophic,with a taste for the arts. Hard, yet soft. Compact, heavy, slightlyservile. Good: thiswillbe useful later. These are not stones to sculpt, nor even to engrave . They are not meant to have their form modified by the artist. He must not turn them over, or look at them from behind. Nor must he lacerate them. These are not stones for the light, the sun. They are not at all like the stones of Alyscamps. No. Each must be treated like a page. But here, a warning! It concerns a very peculiar page. As Excerpt from Tome Premier (Paris: Gallimard, 1965). Translatedfrom Frenchby Lane Dunlop. (Received 5 March 1%9.) (Permissionto publish obtainedby translator.) **34 rueLhomond, 75-Paris 5, France. I’ve said, each resembles a thick note-pad, impossible to thumb through. A pad of which one will always alienate only the first page. Nearly white. Sometimesalmost gray or mastic. And all the other leavesare intimatelysoldered to it, adherent. Made toupholdthefirst,totakeitupon themselves,tocome to its support. But not with other affirmations. It is alwaysthe same thing. Always the same thing that will be imprinted to a certain depth, beneath which nothing will be imprinted at all. A certain thickness is needed for the affirmation of the unchanging reasons and, beneath, a certain thickness for the affirmation of nothing at all. This is necessary .... This thick album, then, shows a certain persistence in receiving that which is imposed on it. It receivesit for severalpages. It isdeeplyconvinced of it. All this, besides, with no outward sign, rather secretively, in the dark, with a rather hermetic air. What occursis likea surreptitioushoarding. If then the artist must treat this instrument as a page, it will be as the first page (ultra-sensitive)of a stone. And he may do well to reflect upon it (or under it) .... When one inscribes on lithographic stone, it is as if one was inscribing on a memory; as if what was said to a person’s face was inscribed, not only on his thought in the depth of his head but appeared in its own right on the surface, the epidermis, the skin of his face. Here, then, is a page that manifests immediately what you entrust to it, if it is equally capableof repeatingit agreat manytimesafterward. As a price for this service, or a compensation, it sharesin the making, the formulation of the expression . It reacts upon...