Georges Perec: Montblanc 146 Or 149?

[fcarbon]

Could someone help me find out if Georges Perec's Montblanc - in the pictures - is a 146 or a 149?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Ghost Plane]

Looks 146 to me, both from grip in the hand & compared to the page lines & width. That's guessing both hand size & dimensions of the pad. Perspective can be a tricky thing.

[alkman]

I feel like he would have mentioned it somewhere in his writings...with his obsessive cataloging of his world.

 

However I did find the following quote taken from Harry Mathews I Remember sequence about Perec (found here):

 

 

I remember Georges Perec telling me that once on a radio broadcast he vaunted the largest Mont Blanc fountain pen at considerable length in the hope that the manufacturer would send him one.

 

Edited September 29, 2013 by alkman

[MisterBoll]

It would be better if all these posts contained no letter e.

[brunico]

It would be better if all these posts contained no letter e.

 

I did not know who this Gallic-sounding author was, but I must thank fcarbon for spurring brunico on to absorb much information about lipograms in various locations, and also about Pilish and sundry word pursuits and distractions. It brought to mind a Spanish author - his matronymic or patroynmic calling I cannot put in writing, so as not to fall foul of such a stipulation - whom my pa did point out many autumns ago.

[alkman]

I think GP is right given the Mathews quote, but I will a void this topic from here on out.

[MisterBoll]

I did not know who this Gallic-sounding author was, but I must thank fcarbon for spurring brunico on to absorb much information about lipograms in various locations, and also about Pilish and sundry word pursuits and distractions. It brought to mind a Spanish author - his matronymic or patroynmic calling I cannot put in writing, so as not to fall foul of such a stipulation - whom my pa did point out many autumns ago.

 

My hat goes off to you, Sir! A fantastic illustration.

[MisterBoll]

At this point I want a Montblanc 149 writing tool - just to honor GP.

[Ghost Plane]

Try one and you may want it for itself. (Bows low with a sweeping flourish of my pen wipe)

[MisterBoll]

A crystal ball is showing that in a forthcoming (birthday) month.

 

(still no e's)

[guyless]

Wow– what a truly great puzzle and thread.

 

I for one would love to know a bit more about the photos, their year, and all else the op can tell.

 

My own vote would be for a 146-- but higher res scans would be both a huge help and of great interest, and reveal not just what pen but his handwriting and what exactly he was writing on this occasion in longhand. Unless he was a man with HUGE hands, a 149 (even a smaller, pre-1960 celluloid one seems, to me at least, unlikely).

 

Sorry about all the "e"s. But even Monsieur Perec could only manage this for one book. . . .

 

I do SO hope the MB marketing folks take the hint, and make up for failing to send him a 149 (my own theory) by adding him to a future writers series.

Edited September 30, 2013 by guyless

[georges zaslavsky]

I think it is a 146 as well

[fcarbon]

Wow– what a truly great puzzle and thread.

 

I for one would love to know a bit more about the photos, their year, and all else the op can tell.

 

My own vote would be for a 146-- but higher res scans would be both a huge help and of great interest, and reveal not just what pen but his handwriting and what exactly he was writing on this occasion in longhand. Unless he was a man with HUGE hands, a 149 (even a smaller, pre-1960 celluloid one seems, to me at least, unlikely).

 

Sorry about all the "e"s. But even Monsieur Perec could only manage this for one book. . . .

 

I do SO hope the MB marketing folks take the hint, and make up for failing to send him a 149 (my own theory) by adding him to a future writers series.

The pictures are screenshots of an interview by Viviane Forrester from 1976, which I found on the INA.FR website. He is writing La Vie Mode d'Emploi, an absolutely brilliant and magnificent book which is, contrary to what most people think, VERY readable, VERY entertaining and extremely beautiful.

 

I add another still from the documentary film Perec wrote and co-directed with Robert Bober: "Récits d'Ellis Island" (1980) or "Ellis Island Tales" in English. Unfortunately I don't think I can get more high-resolution screenshots...

 

I hope the extra still helps ... Maybe Perec, like most of you suggest, changed his mind on the 'biggest Montblanc' and found the 146 more comfortable? Is it more comfortable than the 149 for most hands?

 

Thanks,

fcarbon

 

You can find both (interview and documentary) and more in the COFFRET PEREC VOL.1 DVD

Edited September 30, 2013 by fcarbon