AML ti‘The cancept that coreponds to a shell is 40 clear, so
hard, sad sure hat 2 pot, table simply to draw ie
ad, reluced rather to speaking of ib at Bot a 2s
for images. He is areed in his fight towards dress
values by the geometrical reality of the forms And these
forms ae so numerous, often so original, that alter pst
tive examination ofthe sell words the imagination de
fest >y realty. Here ie is nature that imaging, and
ature very clever. One has only to look a Petre of
ammontes(o realae that, as ealy st the Mesowie Age,
‘olluis constructed their shells acting tothe tne,
ings ofa wanscendenal geometry. Aone but they
homes mound the axis of logurithmic spa (A ney
dear acount of this conutuction of geometieal tomas by
Iie maybe readin Monod Hersens excelent book
(A pox naturally understands ths eee exegory of
Ue, ané Paul Valeryseauy Les coquilges (hell) By
Yeah the spit of geome. For Vales "A pte,
flower or x sel wands oot rom the wual anda de,
‘most pereptibl things. They are privileged
iat are more ineligible forthe eye, cven though
Iserious forthe mind, than all the others we te
Morne, Pipes de “Yo
Gar Var rth ae eb
orc, oe we he ning ine the nace wets
ls The poneny o's poco th mre et106 the postin of space
indistinety.”* For this poet, whose thinking was enentially
(Cartesian, a shell seems to have been a ruth of well oid
fed animal geometry, and therefore “clear and distin.”
‘The created object itself is highly imteligible; and ie isthe
formation, not the form, that remains mysterious. AX t0
‘the form it would eventually astume, 2 vital deision gor.
fered the inal choice that involved knowing. whether
‘the shell would col to he left or tothe right. This original
vortex has provoked endles commentary. Actually, how-
‘ever, life begins less by reaching upward, than by
‘upon ivelf Bue what & marvelously insidious, eubte image
‘of life 2 coiling vital principle would be! And how many
‘dreams the leftward oriented shell, or one that didnot
‘conform to the rotation of its species, would inepitel
Paul Valéry lingered long over the ideal of 2 modeled,
‘or carved object that would justify its absolute value by
the beauty and solidity of Its geometrical form, while
remaining’ unconcerned with the simple matter of pro-
tcctng its substance. In this ase, che mollusk’ motto would
be: one must ive to build one's howe, and not build one
howe to live in.
‘However, in a second stage of his meditation, Valéry
‘Becomes aware of the fact that a shell carved by a maa
‘would be obtained fom the outside, through a series of
‘cnumerable acs that would bear the mark of touched
Deauty: whereas “the mollusk exudes its shell” (loe. ek
1p to) it let the building material “seep through.”
its marvelous covering a8 needed.” And when the
starts, the house is already completed. In this way
slow, continuous formation.
of his meditation,
‘museum of forms. The collection is ustrated
colors by PaulA, Robert who, before he started
hnad prepared the object by polishing all the
delicate polishing laid bare the roots of the
‘Paul Vary, Lv merle de mer a oul
sade it posible to paripate in a will to color, in the
very history of coloration. And a cis point the house warns
fut to be so beautiful, so deeply beautiful, that it would
be a sacrilege even to dress of living in it
‘A phenomenologist who wants to experience the images of
the fonction of inhabiting must oe be subject o the charms
of external beauty. For generally, beauty exteriories and
Gisturbs intimate meditation. Nor can a phenomenologat
follow for long the conchologs, whose duty iti to claaty
the immense variety of shells, and who is looking for di
verity. However, 2 phenomenologist could learn a lot
{rom a conchologs, ifthe latter were to share with him his
‘own original amazement.
Yor here too, as with nest enduring interest should
begin with the original amazement of a nalve observer.
Init posible for a creature to remain slive inside stone,
‘Inside this pice of stone? Amazcment ofthis kind is rarely
{ele ewice. Life quickly wears it down. And besides, for one
“living” shell, bow many dead ones there arel For one i
Iabited shel, how many are empty!
Bau an empey shell, ike an empty next, invites daydreams
refuge. No doubt we overseine our dayéreams when we
‘Such simple images ab these. Buti is my belief that
jst should go inthe direction of maximum
- And therefore T believe chat itis worthwhile
' phenomenology of the inhabited shell
sign of wonder is exaggeration, And since the
of shell an amare the imagination will
Amating ceature, more amazing tan realy,
fhe el in urs Bvoihs foevlune
moyen dgefantasigue, we fad repreductins
in which "the moat unexpected aniacie
sag ora dog, come out of shel xs fom106 the pote of pace
Indistnetly.”s For this poet, whote thinking was esentialy
(Cartesian, a shell seems to have been 2 truth of well oid
fied animal geometry, and therefore “clear and distin.”
‘The created object itselt is highly intelligible; and itis the
formation, not the form, that Yemains myrterioat. Ax to
the form it would eventually asume, «vital decision gov.
‘emed the initial choice that involved knowing whether
the shel would col othe left or wo the right. This original
vortex has provoked endles commentary. Actually, how.
‘ve, life begins les by reaching upward, than by toring
‘upon itself Bue what 2 marvelovsly insidious, subtle image
‘of life a coiling vital principle would be! And Bow many
‘reams the leftward oriented shell, or one that did not
‘conform to the rotation ofits species, would inepirel
Paul Valéry lingered long over the ideal of « modeled,
or earved object that would justify its absolute value by
the beauty and solidity of Su. geometrical form, while
remaining’ unconcerned with the simple matter of pro:
tectng its substance. In this ese, che mollusk's moto would
be: one must live to build one's howe, and not build one
oust live in,
However, in a second stage of hit meditation, Valéry
becomes aware of the fact that a shell carved by & mam
would be obtained from the outside, dhrough 2 series of
‘enumerable acs that would bear the mark of touched.
‘beauty: whereas “the mollusk exuder its shell” (006. ek
to) icles the bullding material "seep through’
‘ts marvelous covering needed.” And when the
staru, the hovse {s alteady completed. In this way
returns to the mystery of forgiving life, the
slow, cantinuous formation,
‘But this relerence to slow formation is only one
of his meditation, and this book i an in
‘museum of forms. The collection is usrated.
colors by Paul-A. Robert who, before he started
had prepared the object by polishing all the
delicate polishing lid bare the rots of the
Daal Vall, Ler evil del mr La collage
107 sete
sade it posible o participate in a will to color, in the
very hitory of coloration. And at this poin dhe house tra
‘out to be 40 beautiful, so deeply beautiful, that it would
be a sailege even to dream of living init.
‘A phenomenologist who wants to experience the images of
the function of inhabiting must not be subject o dhe charms
of external beauty. For generally, beauty exterorzes and
Sisturhs intimate meditation. Nor can a phenomenologst
follow for long the conchologi, whore duty ite to claify
the immense variety of shells, and who is looking for d-
verity. However, a phenomenologist could learn a lot
from a conchologs, che latter were to sare with him his
‘own original amazement.
Yor here too, 25 with nests, enduring interest should
Degin with the original amazement of a naive observer.
inside this piece of tone? Amazement ofthis kind i ately
{ele ewice. Life quickly wears fe down, And besies, for one
“living” shell, bow many dead ones there are! For one ine
Aabited shel, how many are empty!
Bucan empty shell ike an empry nest, invites daydreams
tefuge. No doubt we oversefine our daydreams when we
such simple images at these. Buti is my belief that
should go in the direction of maximum
Sign of wonder is exggerasion. And since the
fa shel can anase wh the imagination wil
Amaing ceature, mare amazing than really,
ite shell In Jurgis Baltrusitis's fine volume
open dge fonastgue, we Gnd reprodactions
{in which “the mow unexpected animal
2g. dog. come out ots shel fom108 the poets of space
fut of a magician’s hat." This compariton with a magi-
an’ hat will be quite wseles to anyone who taker up his
position in the very center where imager develop. When
we accept slight amazement, we prepare ourselves to
Imagine great amazement and inthe world of the imagins
ton, it becomes normal for an elephant, whichis am enor
‘mous animal, to come out of a snail shell. It would be
‘exceptional, however, if we were to atk him to go Back into
i Ima later chapter, {shall have an opportunity to show
that, in che imagination, to go in and come out are never
symmetrical images. "Large, free animal escape mystri
‘ously from some small object,” writes Baltusitis,and he
adds: "Aphrodite was born in these conditions." Beauty
and magnitude cause spores to swell, As I shall show later,
fone ofthe powers of attraction of smallness les inthe fact
that large things can issue from small onex
Everything about a creature that comer out of shell it
ialecical. And since it does not come out entirely, the
part that comes out contradic the pare that remains icy
fide, The creature's rear parts remain imprisoned in the
solid geometrical forms. But life ie in such haste when it
‘comes out that it does not always take on a designated
form, such as that of a young hare or a camel. Certain
‘engravings show strangely mixed creatures, as in dhe ate
‘ofthe snail shown in this work by Baltusitis (p58), "with
{bearded human head and hares ear, weal
‘mite, and with four animal feet” The shell i a wl
‘cauldron in which bestiality is brewing, Accoeding €9
trusstis, "Les Heures de Marguerite de Beaujeu” are
‘of grotesque figures of this Kind. Several of them have
farded their shells and remained coled in the form of
shell Heads of dogs, wolves and birds, as well ax
Iheade, are attached directly to mols” And
bridle, bestia! daydream produces diagram for
ened version of animal evolution. In her wore
“Jus Barut, Le moyer-ge fetta 9G
‘erg Bai oe po -om he cm
sw er ihe he wn oe
109 shee
to achieve grotesquenes, it slices o abridge an evolution.
‘And the faces that a creator that comes out of its sell
soggests daydreams of a mixed creature that i not only
hall fh, half flesh” but also half dead, half alive, and, in
extreme cates, half stone, half man. This is jst the opposite
ofthe daydream that petifes us with fer. Man is born of
Stone. If In C.G. Jungs book Poychologie und Alehemic,
wwe examine closely the figure shown on page 86, we set
Melusins, not the romantic Melsines that spring from
the waters of lakes, but Melusines that are symbols of
alchemy, who help us to formulate dreams of the sone
from which the principles of fear sid to come, Melusine
cially comes forth trom her saly, gravelly tai, which
reaches back into the distant past, and i slighty spiraled.
‘We have not the impression that this inferior being hat
retained its energy. The tilshell doesnot eject its iabie
fant. eis rather a matter ofan inferior form of life having
‘een reduced to nothing by a superior one, Here, a eae!
where, life is energetic at its summit. And this summit ac
ulres dynamism in the Snished symbol of the human
Being, forall dreamers of animal evolution have man in
‘mind. In thee drawings of alchemical Melusines, the hi-
‘man form issues from a poor, ayed form, to which the
fart has devoted litle cre. But inertness doesnot incite
4o daydreaming, and the shell is » covering that wil be
“The forces of eres are such, the forces of pro-
And birth are wo alive, that two human beings, Both
indems, may be seen half emerged from the form
abel, in figure 11 of Jung's book. This i the “doppel-
"or tworheaded Melusine
‘ofthese examples furnish us with phenomenological
for a phenomenology of the verb "to emerge,”
fare all the more purely phenomenological in that
to invented types of “emergence.” In this
animal is merely a pretext for multiplying the
of “emerging” Man lives by images. Like all in
bef emerge fom would demand considerable
course of which, besides concrete examples,
lect the hardly percepeible movement of ce.MO the poetic of space
abstractions. We seme litle or no more action in
‘grammatical derivations, deductions or inductions. Even
‘yerbs become congealed a if they were nouns. Only images
‘an Set verbs in motion aguin.
On the shell theme, in addition to the dialectics of small
and large, the imagination is stimulated by the dialectics
fof creatures that are free and others that ate in fetes: and.
‘what can we not expect fom those that ae unfetered!
To be sure, in real life, a mollusk emerges fom its shell
Jndolenty, so if we were studying the actual phenomena
‘of snail “behavior,” this behavior would yield to observae
tions with no diay If, however, we were able to reap
‘ture absolute nalveté in our observation il, hati, realy
to reexperience our inital observation, we should give
fresh impetus to the complex of fear and curiosity that
companies all inal action on the world. We want to
See and yet we are alraid to see. This is the perceptible
threshold of all knowledge, the threshold upon which in
terest wavers, falters, then returns. The extmple at hand
for the purpose of indicating the fear and catioity com.
plex is not sizable one. Fear ofa anal ie calmed isnned
fly, isan old story, itis “insigiicane” But then this
study is devoted co insignificant things. Occasionally they
reveal strange subdete. In order to bring them out I sall
place them under the magaityng glat of the imagination:
‘These undulations of fear and cusisty increste
reality isnot here to moderate them, that i, when We
imagining. However let’ not invent, but rather give
ments concerning images which have actually been
tne dr, ‘and which he remained ‘nga
precious and other stones. There isa pasiage in
by Jurgs Baltusitis in which he recalls the ation
ait who shows a dog that “leaps from its
ppounces upon a rabbit One degree more of
ness and the shellog would atack a man. This
fxample of the progresing type of action by
Mi shee
hich imagination spats ely. For here the magia
tion acs upon not only geomerial dimensions, but Upon
tlements of power snd sped aa well-not in a0 enlarged
{pac ltr bo n'a more rapid tempo, When the moon
Plcore camera scclestr the welling of tower, we
Feecie 4 ble image of ofeing its thowgh the
flower we sce opening to quill and without reeration,
tem the meaning of a ita though it were pe ooh
the word But ithe cinema showed = sail Cneging
from it shell in fae motion. or pushing i ores toa
the sky very rapidly, what an aggreion that woul el
‘Wat tggrenive bora Al our caroaty woud be blocked
by ears ad he fear curiosity complex would be tor pare.
“There fs» sgn of violence fn all thee figures in which
an oeresiied creature emerge fom a lite wel Here
the aie preipstes his tinal daydream Sine they
telong to te nme ype of dayteams, ve most anodate
abireiaons of animal that have threads od le
fastened together-the aris having neglected 1 chow the
Intermediary par of tier boucs-with thee nalabells
from whic emerge quadrpecy, bis and human being,
“Todo say with what is beeen ofcourse om eal of
‘pect, and thanks vos sort ofsrleration of the inagined
“Mia impute cestre tht emeses om the pound
inely asses piognemy
But the vious dynamism of thee exravagant Sars
Sin the facta they come alive in the dati of what
and what is manifest. A Gesture that ies tod
io is shes preparing + "way oaths
Sf heen al of metaphor, rom the rere
an in his grave tothe nsden outburst ot one
Mong been sent it we resin athe her ofthe
fonsideration, we have the impresion th
{i te moinlenne of i shell the sestre
Jemporal explosions, not to ny vhivinds of
JBon dynamic apes uke place in coe of
td not in the Baby latins of te asy
nly desire isto go and be lary teewher,
the imaginary paradox ofa vigor tolU2 the poetic of space
Tuk—the engravings in question give ut excellent depic-
tions of them—we attain to the mott deckive type of
aggresivenes, which i+ postponed. aggressiveness, agree
slvenes that bides its time: Wolves in shells are crueler than,
stray ones,
By adhering to a method which seems to me decisive in a
Phenomenology of images, and which consists of desig:
‘ating the image as an exces of the imagination, Ihave
accentuated the dialectics of large and small, hidden and
‘manifest, placid and aggresive, abby and vigorous. I have
also followed the imagination to a point well beyond real
ity, in is tak of enlargement, for In order to surpass, one
‘ust first enlarge. We have sen how freely the imagination
acts upon space, time and elements of power. But the action
‘ofthe imagination is nat limited to the level of images. On.
the level of ideas too, it tends towards extern, and there
re ideas that dream. For instance, certain theories which
were once thought to be acientic are, in reality, vat,
boundlest daydreams. 1 should like to give an example of
4 dreamsidea ofthis type, which takes Use sella dhe clear
feat proof of life's ability to constitute forts. According to
this theory, which vas propounded in the eighteenth een.
tury by J.B. Robinet, everything thc has form has shell
‘ontogeneiy and It's prineipsl efor i to make abel
is my opinion that at the center of Robine’s immeme
evolutionary table there was a vast dream of shells Indeed
the ttle alone of one of his books: Puce philorophiques de
a gradation naturelle des formes de tre, ov ex ens de
4a nature qui apprend a faire thomme (Philowphical
views onthe natural gradation of forme of existence OF
attempts made by nature while lerning to este
“Amsterdam, 1768), deribes the orientation of his
ing. Thote who have the patience to read the entre
will discover 2 veritable commentary, in dogmatic
‘on the type of drawings T mentioned carlier. Here £09)
tal enimal forms appear on every side. Foils for
US sete
are bits of life, roughcasts of separate organs, which will God
‘their coherent life at ehe wummit of an evolution that i
preparing the way for man. We might «ay thatthe inside
(of 4 man's body is an assemblage of shell Each organ has
its own causality, that has already been ied out during
the long centuries when mature wat teaching hell 10
make man, with one shell or another. The function con
struc its form from old. models, and lie, although only
‘arta, constructs its abode the way the shelfch construct
ite shel
‘fone can succeed in reliving this partial lif, in the
precision ofa life that endows ise with a form, the being
‘that possesses form dominates thousands of years. For every
form retains life, and a fossil is not merely a being that
‘once lived, but one that is stil alive, asleep in is form.
‘The shell isthe most obvious example ofa universal shell.
oriented life.
‘Al of this is famly stated by Robinet* “I amr persuaded
that fos are alive" he wits, "if not from the standpoint
‘of an exterior form of life, for the reaton that they lack
perhaps certain limbs and senses, (I thould hesitate to
Amer this however, at lease from that of an interior, Bide
den form of lif, which is very real ofits kind, eventhough
‘gute inferior to that of x sleeping animal or plant, But
far be it from me to deny them the organs necessary tothe
functioning of their vital economy. And whatever theit
Teonsder it as progres toward the for of their
in dhe vegetable world, among insects, large ani-
and, lastly, among men.”
fs book goes on to give descriptions, accompanied
Nery fine engravings, of Lithocardites (hear stone),
(hich are 2 prelude to the brain), stones that
4 jaw-bone, the foot, the kidney, the ear, the eye,
Mand muscles—then Orch, Diorehis, Triorchis, the
Golites and Phalloids, which imitate the male
fod Hinterapetia, which imitate the female organs
‘bea mistake to see nothing in this bu a refer
PaM4 the peter of space
ence to language habits that name new objets by compar
Ing them with other commonplace ones. Here names think
and dream, the imagination is acive Lidhocardites are
Iheart shell, rough draughts of a heart that one day will,
beat. Robinet's mineralogical collections are anatomical
‘reso what man willbe when nature learns to make him.
‘A critial mind will object that our eighteenth century nat-
‘uralnt was a "victim of his imagination.” A phenomenol-
‘ogit, however, who avoids all criticism on principe, can-
‘not fail to recognize that in the very extravagance of the
Deing given wo words, in the extravagance of his images, is
‘manifexed a profound daydream. On all oceasions Robinet
‘thinks of form, from the inside out. For him, life originates
orm, and itis perfectly natural cae lif, which is che use
‘of forms should create living forms. Once again, for such
‘daydreams at hese, form isthe habitat of life
‘Shells like foul, are so many attempts on the part of
nature to prepare forms of the diferent pars of the human
body; they ae bits of man and bis of woman. Ia fact Rob
ret gives @ description of the Conch of Venus that repre
sents a woman's vulva. A psychoanalyst would not fal t0
{ees sexual bain in these designations snd descriptions
that enter into ruch detail, Nor would he have any did
culty finding, inthe shell museum, such representations of
fantams a that of the toothed vagina, which is one of the
principal themes of Marie Bonsparte’s study of Edgar
‘Allan Poe. Indeed, if we listened ro Robine, we should be
Inclined to belive that nature went mad before man did,
‘And one can imagine the diverding reply chat Robinet
‘would make in defense of his system tothe observations of
Deychoanalsts or prychologis. With simple gravity be
‘wrote: "We should not be surprised at che assidity wih
‘which Natare has multiplied models of the generative
‘rans, in view of the importance of there organs.” (oe. ele
P73)
‘With a dreamer of scholarly thoughts such as
who organized his visionary ideas into sytem, a
U5 hate
analyst accustomed to untangling family complexes would,
bbe quite powerless. We should need a eosmie psychoanalys,
fone that would abandon for a vcond human considerations
‘and concern iuelf with dhe contradictions of the Coxon
We should also need psychoanalysis of matter which, at
the same time that it accepted the human accompaniment
fof the imagination of matter, would pay clover atention
fo the profound play ofthe images of inate. Here, in the
‘ery limited domain in which we are studying images, we
‘should have to resolve the contradictions of the shell which
at times i so ough outside and so sft, so pearly, in its
{nimacy. How is it posible 1o obtain this polish by means
of friction with a creature that isso soft and Aabby? And
Goesn't the finger that dreams as it strokes che intimate
mother of pest! surface surpass our human, all too human,
reams? The simplest things are sometimes psychologically
complex.
‘But if we were to allow ourselves to indulge in all the
aylreams of inhabited stone there would be no end to it
(Guriously enough, these daydreams are at once long and
Iriel Te is possbie to go on with them forever, and yet
‘flection can end them with a single word. At the slightest
sign, the shell becomes human, and yet we know immed
‘nly hac itis not human. With a shell the vital inhabit
‘ng impulse comes to 2 close too quicly, nature obeaine
quickly the security of a shutin lf. But a dreaher ie
to believe that the work i Gnished when the walls
Doll, and thus itis that shelleonstructing dreams give
and action to highly geometrically sociated molecules
these dreams, the shel, in the very tue ofits matter,
Proof of this may be found in a grest natural
Prion, Father Kircher, once asserted that om the
Silly “he shels of shell sh, after being ground to
{206 to life again and stare reproducing, it this
is with salt water” The AbDE de Valle-116. the poetic of space
mont cites tis fable asa parallel to that of the phoentx
that rises from its atx Here, thea, isa water phoenix.
However, the ABb¢ de Vallemont gives litle credence to
the fable of either one ofthese phoenixes. Bu fr me, whose
‘oullook is governed bythe inaginaton, there can be but
fone conciion’ both phoenines were products of the
Imagination. ‘These are facts of the imagination, the very
positive facts of the imaginary worl.
“Moreover, these facu of the imagination are related to
allegories of very ancien origin, Jurgis Baltrusatis reals
(Une et gp) eat aslate asthe Carolingian epoch, burial
{grounds often contained snail shellean allegory ofa grave
fn which man will avaken.” And in Le Bestiare du Christ,
'. 922, CharbonnentxLastay writes: “Taken as a whole,
‘with bodh is ard eovering and ts sentient organism, the
Shell, for the Ancients, was the symbel ofthe human being
{in its eniery, body tnd soul. In fact, ancient symbolic,
‘ed the shell ara symbol for the human body, which en-
clote the oul in an ouside envelope, while the soul qulek-
fens the entre being, represented by the organism of the
‘mollusk. That, they sid, the body becomes lifelew when
the soul has lef it Inthe same way that the shell becomes
Incapable of moving when itis separated from the part
that gives it life” A wealth of documentation could be
auembled on the subject of “resurrection shelln"® There is
‘ho need, however, given the simplicity of the problems
treated in tis work, for us to insist on very remote tad
tions Al we have todo isto ak ourselves how, inthe ease
‘of certnin naive daydream, she simple lagen cam aureus
4 tradition, CharbonseauscLasay says these things with
the simplicity and salveté one could wish. After quoting
the Book of Job with it invinible hope of reuureciom.
Ihe adds, (Lo. cit, p. get): "How did it happen that the
AND de Valmont Cri de ate de Pat a I bli
tio ou Fart ee ednage dt lor perfection, tl
Chroot Lanny qu ito a bic He sh rea
17 shette
‘ulet earth:bound snail should have been choten to sym
otis this ardent, invincble hope? ‘The explanation is
that atthe gloomy time of year, when Winters death holds
earth in its grip, the sail plunges deep into the ground,
shuts itself up inside is sel, a though in a. cofia, by
‘means ofa strong, limestone epiphragm, until Spring comes
and sings Easter Hallelujahs over its grave . . » Then
{ears down its wall and reappear in broad! daylight, ull of
ia
1 shal ask readers who may be inctned to smile at such
cnthusiam, to ty to imagine the amazement of the ache
lopist who discovered in'a grave in the Indre et Loire
department “a cofin that contained neatly three hundred
‘mail shells placed about the skeleton from fet to wait
fine” Such 2 contact with a elit places us a the origin of
all belief. A lost symbolise: begins to collec dreams aga
Al the proofs that we are obliged to present one alter
the other, of capacity for renewal, of resurrection of re
avakening of being, must be taken as eaalescence of ev.
ies
If we add to thee allegories and symbols of resurrection
‘he synthesizing nare of dreams of the powers of tater,
‘We understand the fat that profound dreamers are unable
forule out the dream of a water phoenix. The shell we
hich a resurrection is being prepared in the synthesis.
ream, is subject to resrrection. For ifthe dus ia the
‘an experience resuretion, there jt no reston why
lverizd shell shoud not recaptare ite apiraling
‘pune, a critical mind will soft at unconditioned
land a realist woull soon demand control exper-
Hire, as elsewhere, he would want (0 verily the
‘by confronting them with reality. If he were shown
filled with crushed shell, he would say, now make
Bat s phenomenclogits projects ae more ame
wants to live asthe great dreamers of images
him. And since 1 have underlined cert
all ak the reader to note that the word at is
the word like, which at % happens, would8 the pot of space
omit a phenomenological nuance. The word lke imitates,
‘whereas the word as implies that one Becomes the person
‘who dreams the daydream,
‘And so, we shall never collect enough daydreams, if we
want to understand phenomenologicaly how a snail makes
its howe; how this labbiest of creatures constitutes such a
Ihard shell; how, inthis ereture that is entirely shut
the great commie hythm of winter and spring vibrates none
theless. And from the psychological standpoint, this is not a
‘vain problem. Ie arises automatically, infact a soon as we
turn to the thing itself, a» phenomenologits put it, as
toon at we start to dream of 2 house that grows in propor-
tom to the growth of the body that inhabits it. How can
the ltd ena grow in its sone prison? This is a natural
‘question, which canbe asked quite naturally. (I should pre
fer not to atk i, however, bcawse it takes me back to the
questions of my childhood.) But for the Abbé de Vallemont,
{eis a question that remains unanswered, and he adds:
"When i a matter of nature, we rarely Sind ourselves on
familiar ground. At every sep, there Is something that
‘humiliates and mortifes proud minds" In other words, a
‘alls abel, cis howe dhe grows with it inmate, is one of
the marvels of the universe. And the ABbé de Vallemont
‘concludes that, in general, (oe cit, p. 255) shells are “sub>
Time subjects of contemplation forthe enind”
{cis always diverting to se a destroyer of fables become the
vitin of a fable, At the beginning ofthe eighteenth cane
tury, the Abbé de Vallemont believed no more in the fre
[phoenix chan he did in he water phoenix; but he did
Delieve in palingeness that, in a sor of mixture of bot
we reduce a fern to aes, which we disolve in pure wate
then allow the water to evaporate, we obtain lovely tals
that have the form of a fern frond. And many other
ples could be furnished of dceamers meditating in onder
9 het
divover what I sould cal started grow sof formal
But ‘dover to the problems with which we are concerned
jut now, obe feels in the ABDE de Vallenonts book the
{ect of contamination ofthe net fag and tow of
the abl At one pin his author speaks of the ansire
plant o the amare shell ah thet grows onthe wood of
thie oe cit. gs). "Ie nan auemblge of eight sel
Ihe wr, “that loo ater likes bunch of tlie = ll
of the same subwance os mel hella» The entrance
the top, and ie coed by means of ide door that are
jpine together Sn mone dese wy, Al thet renann
{Fond ot how thi wean sn he ite Sater that
‘cccpy thoe atiially ceated spatmenty are forme”
“hfe pgs on, the contamination of the shel the
at presenied quite cary. ‘The ell are net ore
‘weird have Bown (p.#40, “I say tha te eferent
Tel of my anatre pant ar nests in which the bids
tf obser origin hatin Franc, we ell mscreer coer
Ss, form ad atch
er we have a confusion of genres tht i quite comson
to the dayéreams of presintfc epoch Soter docks were
fuppsed tobe cold-blooded birds Ii wat sted how these
Tiras hatced thir young, 4 tequen reply wert why
should their hens te since by natue, ey can waren
Iter the eggs nor the nesting? The Abbe de Vallomont
Ais (psn) ton“ pry nf thst, ae at
fhe Sorbonne, decide that they would witha wor
hats rg he iter pot tem inh fh
This being the cn, they ean be eaten fn Lent
Before ic leaves ts netaell the acter dick, which
lah atched ti by» pedonclaed bee
2 learned dream collec legendary hyphens, Mere
fp yeas of we and sl are prone wo
rs that could be tid tobe inrecjproalanamor.
‘Net and shel are vo rent image tha sect back
mat de Pettifer,120 the poeta of space
their daydreams. Here forms do not suice to determine
‘uch affinities. Indeed, the principle of the daydreams that
elcome such legends goes beyond experience. For here the
To live alone; there's a great dream! ‘The mort lifeles,
‘the mot physically absurd image, uch at that of living in
Ashll can serve at origin of rach dream, For it ea dream
hat, in life's moments of great sxines, i shared by every.
ody, both weak and strong, in revolt agaist the injustices
men and of fate As, for intance, Salvin, a weak, sad
ho takes comfort in his narrow room precily
‘is marrow and permits him to say: "What would
Date Confin de mina Cp. VE.12 he poetic of pace
do if hadn't this tle room, this rom hat i as deep
and secret as a shell? Abt snails don't realize their good
fortune.”
‘At times, che image is very unoberusve, hardly percept:
bie, but itis effective nonetheles I express the lation
‘of the human being withdrawn into himeell A poet. atthe
same time that he dreams of ome childhood house, maga.
fied in hismemory to become
Lavitile mason oi vont t vewnent
Lacie leroe
(The old howe where ar and one
Come ang)
Mon ombre forme un coquilage sonore
[le potte cout passe
‘Dans ta coquile de Fombre de 1 corp.
(My stad fn roma helt
‘And the pos linens is past.
‘Ime shel his bodys shadow)
At other times, the image acquirer is force through the
sffect of an isomorphism of all restul space. Then every
hospitable hollow is a quiet shell The poet, Gaston Puel,
Ce matin je ira lsimple bonhewr da homme
along au reux dune borg,
Loblongue cogil um eno et ferme a ae
dor. Cet une monde La brgue
‘comme unit pow le sommel
(This morning shal el he simple hapines
‘ofa man sreched out inthe alow fs Dost,
“The oblong shell of» st has cloned over him,
He sseeping. An slmond. The bt, lie 3 bed,
‘ponies ep)
Maine Aled, ee et ph Cia, Ps
Cason Po Le chant ie dae
125 sete
‘Aman, an animal, an almond, all find maximum repose
in a shell. The virtues of repose dominate all of these
images
Since it is my endeavor to multiply all the disectialshad-
{ngs by which the imagination confers life upon the sim
plest images, I should like to note a few references to the
offensive capacity of shells. In the same way that there are
tmbusbshowses, there exist tapabells which the imagina-
tion makes inio fishnet, pereced with bait and shay
Pliny gives the following account of how the pescra
suse finds its sustenance: "The blind sell-sh opens up,
thus exposing its body to all the small fh playing about.
‘When they sense that they can enter with impunity, they
become emboldened and fll the shel. At this moment. the
cab, which is on the alert, warns the mussel by means of
Ite bite, upon which the latter closes the sel, crushing
everything that caught between the valves, then divides
{he prey with its partne."™
In the way of animal stories It would be hard to do bet
ter. To avold multiplying examples, therefore, I shall re
eat this ame fable sinc i is borne ovt by another great
fame. In Leonardo da Vines Notebooks, we read: “An
‘ter opens wide at full moon. When the crabe ses thi it
Uhrows & pebble ot a twig at the oyster to Keep it from
closing and thus have it to feed upon" Da Vind adds the
following suitable moral to this fable: “Like the mouth
tha, in telling its secret, places ielf at the merey of an
fndncreetlixener
Extemive peychological research would be needed to
‘determine the value of the moral examples that have al-
een drawn trom animal le. T only point this out
Tanti, tc tsp The me tbe gue oy
(Gewrscinbit, vat np 90. The as
dewalt preemie cane of etal” hens ah
inte shee hen hela tee ee
hey tc poy128 the pots oprpace
in paming, howe, sine our encounter with the problem
is quite accident But there are names that tll eis own
sory such asthe name ofthe Bernard TEs, or herait
‘ab. This molluk does not build its own shell buat
‘rye knows, gest ie in an empty shell Nt changer
hen it fees too camped for space
The image ofthe hermit crab thst goes to live ia aban:
doned shells is sometimes suoiaed with the habits of
{he cuckoo, which lay its egg in other nets Ia both ese
[Nature seems o enjoy contacting natural morality, The
imagination, wheted by exceptions of all Kinds) takes
lestre in adding eodres of inning and ngencity to
{he characteris of this bid squatter, The euhoo, we ae
‘ol, after making sure thatthe sting motherbid has
fone, breaks an eg inthe ex in which plan to ly,
Lic lays two egg breaks tw. In pte of identing
cal, the cuchoo tao past master fn the art of conse
rent it loves to play hide and seck, And yet noone ae
cer acen it As lien happens tn real lil the name Is
eter known than the beater Who, for instant, came
tinguish between the ramet and the blond cuckoo? Aco
ing to Abbé Vineebe (oe itp. rs) ceain observes have
‘ainiained that the rset choo I simply the pay echo
hen itis young, and that If some "migrate norterd an
hers southward, with the result thatthe two species me
‘otto be found inthe same locality iti Deeatee among
‘mien indo and young rarely ve the same county
it any wonder, then, th his bird, wih fais for
seaecy, should have been credited with such powers of
metamorphosis that, for centuries, acording to ALDE Vince
Jou (p10) “the ancients Believed thatthe cuckoo be
fame transformed into + hawk™ Musing upon a legend
‘ofthis Kindy and realli tha te cuckoo isan gel
‘sugges thatthe soy of turning into a hawk night be
summarized ina sarcey altered enion of the Bench
proverb: Qui vole tn cu, ele boeuf! (He who seals
Snegg will ary ofan ox)
2 The crc yl ements Bm
(ee enna ps oh
ep shale
Then th rl ge en
San aceere eaten
Seasons neclingteasiacunicase
ae acme oeae ees
TEL nga
ens
See aac eee
Sr eee
metas acy tr ae vs
bescraeeeeseh eae
Era aolidifying,selteontaning salt shelly manifen this
‘aimy” creatures that inhabit them, play a réle In thelt
hhard consistency. Indeed, the principle of solidification is
40 powerful the conquest of hardnet i carried 4 fr, that
the shell achieves i enamel beauty a8 though it had
‘ben helped by fre. Beauty of sbstance i added to beauty
fof geometrical form. For a poter or an enamels, a shell
‘nut indeed be a subject for inknive meditation. But there
‘ae many animals beneath the enameled glaze of this
fitted poter’s plates, that have made the hardest posible
hells oftheir akin. If we relive Bernard Pally’ pasion,
in the cosmic drama of diferem sors of matter, of in the
struggle between clay and fire, we can understand why the
Tumble snail chat secreted it own shell should have pro-
ide him with food for infinite dreaming how
“Among all these daydreams, I shall note here only
‘at furnish the most carious images of the house. The
following, enscled: “About a ferress city” (De la ville de
is included in Palinys Receple vértable® In
Aummaizing it I shall wy 10 retain the amplitude of the
Teed wih hail danger of wa” Beard Pliny
em century wl, per and enamel One of he ctr
becca in Fane
Pag Reape ible,»128 the poetic of pace
‘contemplated a design for a “fortress city.” He had lot
‘hope of finding an existing plan “inthe cites bile tay
Vitruvius himself could be of no help inthe century of tie
‘anon. So he journeyed through “forests, mountares snd
valleys to see if he could find some industrious animal that
‘had built some industrious house.” After inquiring every:
where, Paliay begun to muse about “a young slg that was
Duilding its house and fortress with its own sliva” Indeed,
the passed several months dreaming of » contruction from
‘within, and most of his leisure time was spent walking be-
side the sea, where he saw “such a variety of howes and
fortresses which certain litle Saher had made from thelr
‘wn liquor and saliva that, from now of, I began to think
that here was something that might be applied to my own
roject.” “The bates and acts of brigundey” that take
place inthe sea being on a larger scale than those that take
‘Place on land, God “had conferred upon each one. the
dlilgence and sill needed to build a howe that had been
surveyed and consructed by means of sch geometry and
architecture, that Solomon in all his wisdom could ever
Ihave made anything lke i"
With regard to spiraled shell, he wrote tht this shape
‘was not at all “for mere beauty, there's much more to ie
than that. You must understand tha there are several fa
with such sharply pointed beaks that they would devour
‘mot of the above-mentioned fh if the laters tbodes were
in a aight line: but when they are attacked by ther
‘enemies on the threshold, just as they are about 0. wich
raw inside, they twist and turn inspiral line and te thi
way, the foe can do them no harm.”
‘Meanwhile, someone brought Palisy two large shells
from Guineas: “A murex and a whelk” The murex being
the weaker must be the best defended, according to Pally
philosophy. As a matter of fact, the sbell having “a mum.
ber of rather large points around the edges, I deided that
these homs had been put there for a purpose, which wat
for defense of the forrest.”
Ye has seemed necesary to give all theve preliminary
29 sete
desl, beni ey sow that Play wt looking foe
nature! inspieton. He toh nahing eter or coe
Stucing hit forest tha to “ake the fore of the
‘ove senoned mex an example” Wathen in
find ware work on his pln Inthe Yer eet he
{eres cy, there wast be tm pen uae on ich the
foverors howe would be locked. Saring om hs
Siiue sngie set wold ron foot case woe the
tose on a we cea tat pom Be ape ofthe
‘sre; tin wo oangonabapel Gri All oom und
inion in'tis qurope wining set wee toe
Sato the ine of the forse 0 Cat the ack ofthe
Sra would coe one adios val The lat of
the howell wa o backup asia the cy wall which
would form agate sa
NGtinard Pay alge a length on the advantage of
sta ts, en fu a fl ey
Shere would slay remain Pity of eres Ia a,
wtp once of rere it cried te
fener ine ofthe inage, Nor would enemy cxanon
ico tlw threveat nd rake the eto te cle
Sy. any nly would beat appa the
Spbinch bate nareudcn had heen whe hey ted to
ack ed hl
Th is acer, which may acento lon tothe ender
A he vs ae nein het
of mined imager am prct, A pycologit who
Pays text ne by ne wou at ae edo rot
images hare wtnenes of ein tiation Tis
Ainple scans pychoiogaly compen: Bat for un in
Ais cncary, te enn of ich image longer
Gotrncing” We no longs tae to belne in ata
hod when tlltary men alld "hedgehog" de
fees they know shat they en fn he domain ot the
a inthe of mpi metaphor Ic weld be & gene
Tower, if we were 10 conte te gee tad
Palins saiorme ors simple neuer, This
image that has inhabited rest nnd190 the poetics of space
As for myelin leurely book ofthis kind, in which
ej ll he images Tas obliged 1 Unger over hit
‘And in order to show that, through the simple play of
the imagination, any image may be increased in it, I
should like 10 quote the following poem, in which a snail
sume the dimensions ofa village"
Cen um ergot énorme
(Qu dicnd de la montagne
Eile ruisessPacompagne
‘Desa bave blanche
Teta views, il ne plu ge come
Cents out elocer eae,
(ee gant malt
Decenting the mowatnin
‘Wiha ide
‘Very only one hor et
‘Whi iss shoe, square belly)
‘And the poeta:
Le cies es coils
(The mano ie shell...)
‘Buc there are other passages in Bernard Palisy’s works
wich acentuate ths predestined image tha we are obliged
{to recognize in his shellRouse experience. Av it happens
this potential constructor of a ahelLfortrest wat also an
architect and Jandscape gardener, and to complement his
plans for gardens, he added plane for what he called
Phambera! These “chamber were place of retreat that
were as rough and rocky on the outide as an oyster shell:
“The exterior of the aforementioned chamber,” wrote
Palsey3 “will be of masonry made with large uncut stones
{in order that the outside should not seem to have been
‘mam aile” Inside, onthe contrary, he would like it to be
nt Rene abn dvr he.
1st stele
1s highly polished at the inside of a shell: "When the
Inasonry is nse, I want to cover Se with several layers,
of enameling, from the top of the vaulted ceiling down to
the Boor. This done, I should like to builé a big fre ini
‘until the aforesaid enameling hat melted and coated
ihe afore masonry... In this way, the “inside of the
chamber would sem tobe made of one piece... and would
be o highly plished thatthe Haards and eardhworms that
ome in there would see themscive a in a mirror.”
"This indoor Bre lighted for the purpote of enameling
bricks isa far ery from the “blaze” we light in our time t9
“ary the plate.” Here, peshaps,Palissyrecapered visions
‘of his potter’ kil, in which the fie left brick tears on the
walls In any cae, am extraordinary image demands ex
CGnordinary means, Here a man wants to live in a shell
Hie wants the walls that protec him to be as smoothly
poled and as frm ae if his senive esh had to come in
{iret contact with them. The shell confers a daydream of
[ptely physical intimacy. Bernard Palisys daydream ex
Prenes the fonction of inhabiting in tems of touch.
‘Because dominant images tend to combine, his fourth
chamber i synthesis of house shell and cave: The inside
‘masonry will be 20 skilfully executed," he wrote (loc. cit,
pfs) "that ie wil appear to be imply a rock that has been
Followed out in order to cut stone from the interior: and
the sforesid chamber will be ewsted and humped with
Several skewed humps and concavities having nelther ap-
Pearance nor form of either the chseler’s art or of work
done by human hands; and che ceiling vaults will be 0
fortaous that they will look as though they are about 10
fall, for the reason that there will be several pendant
Tumpe” Needle to ay, the incide of thie spiraled house
Will sso be covered with enamel. Ic will be a eave in the
form of a coiled shell. Thus, by means of a great sum of
labor, tis cunning architect sceeeded in making
‘atursl dwelling of i. To accentuate the natural char
‘ofthe chamber he had it covered with earth "so that,
planted several tees the aforesald earth, ie would
seem to have been built.” In other words, the real home182 the pots ot space
‘of this man of the earth was rubterrnean. He wanted to
live in the heat of a rock, or sball we say, in the shell of
4@ rock. The pendant hurmps il this dwelling with 4 night
‘are dread of being crushed, while the spiral that pene.
trates deep into the rock gives an impretion of anguished
depth. But a being who deies to live underground i able
to dominate commonplace fears. In his daydreams, Bernard
aliny was her of subterranean life In his imagination
the derived pleasire~so he said—from the fear manifested
by a dog barking at the entrance ofa cave; and the seme
thing was true ofthe hesitation, on the part ofa visitor «9
‘enter further int» the tortuous Inbyrinth, Here the tell.
‘ave fs aho a “Terres city” for a man alone, a man who
loves complete solitude, and who knows how to defend and
Drotect himself with simple images. There's no need of a
fate, no need of m ironstimmed door; people ste afraid to
In any case an important phenomenological investiga
tion remains to be made on the subject of dark entrance
halle
‘With nests, with shellmat the risk of wearyng the rader—
have multiplied the images that seem to me to ilatrst
the function of inhabiting in elementary forms which may
‘be too remotely imagined. Here one senses clearly that this
isa mixed problen of imagination and observation. Ihave
simply wanted to show that whenever life seks to shelter,
protect, cover of hide itself, the imagination sympathies
‘with the being) that inbabits the protevied space, The
imagination expeciences protection in all is nuances of
security, from life in the most material of shells, to more
subtle concealmert through imitation of surfaces At the
poet Noél Amand express i, being seeks dssimlaton in
similarity To be in safety under cover of a eolr is exry
‘ng the tranquility of inhabiting to the point of calming
tion, not to say, inprudence. Shade, too, can be inhabited,
Not Arad da Pabouhe Pai
‘Alter this stay of shell, we could, of coure, tell « number
(of stories about the ture which, at the animal with the
howe that walks, would lend itelf to much facile com.
‘mentary. However, this commentary would only ilutrate
with new examples themes that have already been treated
1 shall therefore forego writing a chapter on the turtle's
house
‘But since slight contradictions to primal images can oe-
casionally simulate the imagination I should like to com.
‘ment upon a pasage fom the Flemish travel notes of the
Italian poet, Giuseppe Ungareti! At the home ofthe poet
Franz Hellens~only poets possess such treaures—Ungatett
saw a woodcut “depicting the fury of woll which, having
stacked a curl that had withdrawn sno its bony carapace,
‘went mad, without having appeaed its hunger”
“These three lines keep coming back to my mind, and 1
tell myelf endless stories around them. Ice the wolf ariv-
ing from a distant, famineetricken land. 1 is lean and
Inangry looking, its tongue hanging out, red and feverish
Ac that moment, what should come aut fom under « bush
‘but a turtle, considered by epicure the world over to be
4 particularly delicate morsel With one leap, the ‘wolf
sei its prey, but the curl, which s endowed by nature
With unusual alacity when it wants to withdraw head,
limbs and tail into it house, is quicker than the woll. For
the famished wol, itis now nothing but a stone on the
read,
‘One hardly knows which side to tke in this dramatic
+ fncidene of unger. E have tied to be impartial. 1 don't
Hike wolves. But for once, the curtle might have refrained
‘rom actin. And Ungaret, who hid thought lengthily
About the engraving said explicidly ha the artist had wwe
‘6eded in making "the wot likeable sad the turtle odious.”
(A Phenomenologist would have many comments to make
‘this commentary! ‘OF course, the paychologeal inter:
exceeds the fact, since no drawn line can inter
rae eure eeplenn, th oe 9184 the pote of pace
lini box ace of
‘tvece,ihas become 4 one of inpenceble si
ognony. ‘The phenanenolog hereto hve
‘ite ie fable ofthe wol sod the tude He wll kee
to elevate the drama to the coe lel and rom hone
edie upon woriunger, To put tare Sid ae
Btenomelorse would Heed to hav. or one Noses
the ental ofthe wal eed wid pre that hs toed
‘uta sone
TE had reproduction of an engraving ofthis Lind, 1
should we hem iflerentate aad nase peopl ies
tnd the depth of their partipon fn hunger tase
throughout the wor Almont ure this pericpation
‘would marifet a can ambiguiy, Some weal give on
{the dominen ofthe worytlingfancon and eee
Play ofthe old el iage sured. They woud
fe pleture inthe wicked anal rsnenent ta oop
‘up leis deeves at te tare that witirer Ina St
‘thes, however, hang been lene by Ungar ee
Prettion, might reve the sation, Suh's eval
ble that has long lin mane ini teak coud
fave a rejuvenating fet on the fonction of string
For here the nagiation makers essa whieh oe
‘eof advantage phenomenslogs Revert of ts st
tay sem to have oly ight documentary nce en oe
allefeizee schol of phenomenologite Who take te
Wend et nt dee iio Pet a ate
conscious of being of and in the word But the poleg
Tomes more complied for s phenomenclogi of te
‘nagination constantly contoned with the soaogtans
ol the world. And what ir more the imagination, by tree
‘tis tesnen and town pci acy, an make ioe
ital ito whats ange. Wiha single poet
the imagination consoat un withsnew worl Fro hee
on the detail tkes precedence ovr the patent
Simple image, i ie new, wil open up an ie wes
UW ooked at through the ousand window of fang oe
vot ist a sae of constant change Te Berto pe
trea mel tothe probe of phenomenaogy By ee
185 shee
ees
Eid ee eri ie er
Uae ihe nue pce contsna nothing that i ii
in