THE MYSTIC WRITING PAD: DERRIDA ON FREUD
The Mystic Pad is a slab of dark brown resin or wax ... over the slab is laid a thin transparent sheet. The top end of which is firmly secured to the slab while its bottom end rests on it without being fixed to it. This transparent sheet is the more interesting part of the little device. It itself consists of two layers, which can be detached from each other except at their two ends. The upper layer is a transparent piece of celluloid; the lower layer is made of thin translucent waxed paper. When the apparatus is not in use. The lower surface of the waxed paper adheres lightly to the upper surface of the wax slab. To make use of the Mystic Pad. One writes on the celluloid portion of the covering sheet which rests on the wax slab ... At the points where the stylus touches, it presses the lower surface of the waxed paper onto the wax slab, and the grooves are visible as dark writing upon the otherwise smooth whitish-grey surface of the celluloid. If one wishes to destroy what has been written, all that is necessary is to raise the double covering sheet from the wax slab by a light pull, starting from the lower end. The close contact between the waxed paper and the wax sheet at the places which have been scratched ... is thus brought to an end. The Mystic Pad is now clear of writing and is ready to receive fresh notes.
SIGMUND FREUD. from 'A Note Upon The Mystic Writing Pad·.
Why was Freud so fascinated by the Mystic Writing Pad? In his essay "Freud and the
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