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The Writing of Stones
The Writing of Stones is a fascinating meditation on the human imagination contemplating the interior of stones. Caillois examines patterns that are revealed by polishing sections of minerals such as agate, jasper, and onyx. He considers the impact these configurations have had upon the human imagination throughout history and he reviews man's attempt to categorize and explain them.
Marguerite Yourcenar [in her introduction] points out that "there had taken place in [his] intellect the equivalent of the Copernican revolution: man was no longer the center of the universe, except in the sense that the center is everywhere; man, like all the rest, was a cog in the whole system of turning wheels. Quite early on, having entered 'the forbidden laboratories,' Caillois applied himself to the study of diagonals which link the species, of the recurrent phenomena that act, so to speak as a matrix of forms." Caillois found the presence throughout the universe of a sensibility and a consciousness analogous to our own. One way which this consciousness expresses itself is in a "natural fantasy" that is evident in the pictures found in stones. Man's own aesthetic may then be no more than one of many manifestations of an all-pervasive aesthetic that reveals itself in the natural world.
Caillois also studies the artist's collaboration with nature in the modification of these picture stones. By cutting and framing a picture found or by elaborating the pattern in the stone, the artist admits that nature, with or without an artist, can produce shapes and colors that are works of art. Caillois reminds us that "nature not only provided a stock of models but also directly created works worthy of admiration--works capable of competing on equal terms with human achievements without having to pass through the alchemy of human art."
Where, then, do these speculations lead us? By turning on its head, as it were, the quintessential modern dilemma--whether expressed as a dualism of mind and body, as an antithesis of matter and soul, or as the separation of subject and object--Caillois carries the reader beyond the usual arguments about what is and what is not human.
The Writing of Stones will interest all who wish to understand what can be learned about the world and its slow and patient formation. Archeologists, gemologists, sculptors, students of art, aesthetics, history, literature, and philosophy will confront questions that they have felt but have not possessed, so far, a way to study in new ways. Here Caillois offers many fresh approaches that we have yet to resolve.
Marguerite Yourcenar [in her introduction] points out that "there had taken place in [his] intellect the equivalent of the Copernican revolution: man was no longer the center of the universe, except in the sense that the center is everywhere; man, like all the rest, was a cog in the whole system of turning wheels. Quite early on, having entered 'the forbidden laboratories,' Caillois applied himself to the study of diagonals which link the species, of the recurrent phenomena that act, so to speak as a matrix of forms." Caillois found the presence throughout the universe of a sensibility and a consciousness analogous to our own. One way which this consciousness expresses itself is in a "natural fantasy" that is evident in the pictures found in stones. Man's own aesthetic may then be no more than one of many manifestations of an all-pervasive aesthetic that reveals itself in the natural world.
Caillois also studies the artist's collaboration with nature in the modification of these picture stones. By cutting and framing a picture found or by elaborating the pattern in the stone, the artist admits that nature, with or without an artist, can produce shapes and colors that are works of art. Caillois reminds us that "nature not only provided a stock of models but also directly created works worthy of admiration--works capable of competing on equal terms with human achievements without having to pass through the alchemy of human art."
Where, then, do these speculations lead us? By turning on its head, as it were, the quintessential modern dilemma--whether expressed as a dualism of mind and body, as an antithesis of matter and soul, or as the separation of subject and object--Caillois carries the reader beyond the usual arguments about what is and what is not human.
The Writing of Stones will interest all who wish to understand what can be learned about the world and its slow and patient formation. Archeologists, gemologists, sculptors, students of art, aesthetics, history, literature, and philosophy will confront questions that they have felt but have not possessed, so far, a way to study in new ways. Here Caillois offers many fresh approaches that we have yet to resolve.
108 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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June 27, 2014Oh man, this sounds good!
Surrealist and Sociologist Roger Caillois was known for his writings on biomimicry, especially within the insect world, pareidolia and lithic scrying. His latter interest provided us with The Writing of Stones, a book in which he unravels the ‘unfathomable graphic madness’ etched onto the rocks contained within the ‘archives of geology’. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to a species of rock – in each he channels ever increasingly dense, extravagant, and at times morbid tales from the authorless inscriptions each stone contains.
http://www.dataisnature.com/?p=1990
Surrealist and Sociologist Roger Caillois was known for his writings on biomimicry, especially within the insect world, pareidolia and lithic scrying. His latter interest provided us with The Writing of Stones, a book in which he unravels the ‘unfathomable graphic madness’ etched onto the rocks contained within the ‘archives of geology’. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to a species of rock – in each he channels ever increasingly dense, extravagant, and at times morbid tales from the authorless inscriptions each stone contains.
http://www.dataisnature.com/?p=1990
January 14, 2024
Un libro di rara bellezza che fa ripensare al concetto di opera d’arte e natura. Super interessante. Grazie, Enrico 🫶🏻
March 6, 2023
beautifully articulated lens on stones. i’m curious to read more of callois writings on organically occurring beauty and mystery. this was very nice
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December 7, 2022stones!!!
August 1, 2019
A short, intriguing book on the cross-sections of stones. It covers Ruing and Landscape Marbles, Dream Stones, Septaria, Jaspers and Agates, and Limestones from Tuscany. But unless you are geology enthusiast that probably tells you little.
The wow experience first comes from the included photographs of these stones. In their exposed interiors, on the flat, glassy surfaces we see lines, circles, fractals, whole geometric landscapes that resemble people or birds or ghosts or alien worlds. The text mixes explanations of geologic origin with flights of artistic associations, and can be read as a background against which the photographs stand alone—proud—ready to be taken up by the reader's imagination.
I didn't think that stone, often symbolic of hard, cold ground and of death, could be something so alive and beautiful. With this book Caillois opens the door to another way of thinking about nature's accidental-design.
Enjoy.
The wow experience first comes from the included photographs of these stones. In their exposed interiors, on the flat, glassy surfaces we see lines, circles, fractals, whole geometric landscapes that resemble people or birds or ghosts or alien worlds. The text mixes explanations of geologic origin with flights of artistic associations, and can be read as a background against which the photographs stand alone—proud—ready to be taken up by the reader's imagination.
But in a stone the image—every image—is fixed, as if the thickness of the mineral preserved the cloud, the flame, or the waterfall at every moment of its kaleidoscopic metamorphosis. Each image is an immortal witness, recorded for a long period of time: forever, measured against the brief human season. So all one has to do is get hold of an outstanding example, by trial and error or the favor of fate. The flowing currents have suddenly become motionless, all of them paralyzed, indestructible, though within reach of the cutting diamond or the polishing wheel. Now the stone has only to be cut and buffed, through this must be done along the best axis and just to the point where the marking yields its utmost.
I didn't think that stone, often symbolic of hard, cold ground and of death, could be something so alive and beautiful. With this book Caillois opens the door to another way of thinking about nature's accidental-design.
Enjoy.
August 10, 2023
"Vedo in questo l'origine dell'invincibile attrattiva della metafora e dell'analogia, le ragioni di uno strano e permanente bisogno di identificare. Mi trattengo a stento dal sospettare in tutto questo un'antica e diffusa magnetizzazione, il richiamo del centro, il ricordo oscuro, pressoché annullato, o il presentimento, inutile in un essere così meschino, della sintassi generale"
April 25, 2023
natural fantasy!!!
such a wonderful, thoughtful exploration of the sublime and the beautiful, art and aesthetic. a thorough, minute collection of observances of natural phenomena and the wonder that accompanies such close looking and eager appreciation. reminded me of Barthes at times, especially in the section near the end on The Portrait. also brought to mind Tainaron, in a way--maybe something about the voice? not sure, but certainly a new favorite.
such a wonderful, thoughtful exploration of the sublime and the beautiful, art and aesthetic. a thorough, minute collection of observances of natural phenomena and the wonder that accompanies such close looking and eager appreciation. reminded me of Barthes at times, especially in the section near the end on The Portrait. also brought to mind Tainaron, in a way--maybe something about the voice? not sure, but certainly a new favorite.
November 13, 2021
Sempre molto interessanti le fantasticazioni iconografiche/iconologiche di Caillois, anche in questo ambito. Purtroppo l'edizione italiana più recente (Abscondita 2013) ha poche immagini e in bianco e nero, apparato molto misero in confronto all'edizione francese e ad altre.
November 20, 2023
It's so poetic
December 9, 2025
Possibly one of the most unique books I've ever read. Add it to the list of short books that can change your life. I'm obsessed with rocks now.
October 9, 2016
En présence de cette humanité sentie plus que jamais comme éphémère, en présence même de ce monde animal ou végétal dont nous accélérons le perte, il semble que l'émotion et la dévotion de Caillois se refusent; il cherche une substance plus durable, un objet plus pur. Il le trouve dans le peuple des pierres : "le miroir obscur de l'obsidienne", vitrifiée voici des milliers de siècles, à des températures que nous ne connaissons plus ; le diamant qui, encore enfoui dans la terre, porte en soi toute la virtualité de ses feux à venir ; la fugacité du mercure, le cristal, donnant d'avance des leçons à l'homme en accueillant en soi les impuretés qui mettent en péril sa transparence et la rectitude de ses axes - les épines de fer, les mousses de chlorite, les cheveux de rutile - et en poursuivant malgré elles sa limpide croissance ; le cristal dont les prismes, Caillois nous le rappelle en une formule admirable, pas plus que les âmes ne projettent des ombres.
Extrait de l'éloge à Roger Caillois par Marguerite Yourcenar
Extrait de l'éloge à Roger Caillois par Marguerite Yourcenar
January 17, 2008
this book Rocks.
Get it? IT rocks. It's the only book to treat seriously the images that we find, by chance, within cut stone. Caillois- god bless the man.
Get it? IT rocks. It's the only book to treat seriously the images that we find, by chance, within cut stone. Caillois- god bless the man.
July 10, 2008
Just reread this one last month. A beautiful meditation on the lithic, the aesthetic, the universe without anthropocentrism, inhuman art. Great illustrations as well.
March 9, 2010
A truly scathing review of this book could take the form of Dubuffet's mud-painting "Life Without Man". Or so I thought in a dream.
December 2, 2019
A wonderful meditation on natural aesthetics. Find an edition with full colour photographs if you can.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews