Lecture “Fables” – Par Anne-James Chaton

As part of “Des idées au Fonds”, a series of lectures, round-table discussions, readings, meetings and films…

*Fables* brings together 145 shop receipts from around the world, reproduced in the book, and an equal number of short stories written based on the words found on these receipts. For the author, every day, shop cash registers unwittingly print thousands of fables, love stories, science fiction tales, detective stories and adventure novels.

The reason for this is that Anne-James Chaton has identified on all these receipts the presence of the ‘rule of the three unities’, formulated in the 17th century by Boileau in his *Art poétique*: “That in one place, on one day, a single completed event / May sustain the theatre to the very end”. These three constraints are found on every shop receipt: In one place: the shop, the name of the street, the town, the restaurant, etc. In a single day: each receipt is dated on a specific day. A single completed action: the receipt records an act—the purchase itself—and so many others, depending on the action verbs present on the document.

All these pieces of thermal paper are thus so many promises of short stories, for those who know how to read them. Anne James Chaton freely selects a list of words from the receipt, this succinct lexicon then serving as the basis for the narrative. The book recounts the adventures of Emily, Stéphane, Iva… universal fables of our world, all stemming from a shop receipt.

“Fables” – Éditions P.O.L, April 2025, 304 pages.

In-person event. No booking required; admission subject to the exhibition’s visiting conditions.