Luminous Debris: Reflecting on Vestige in Provence and Languedoc - Softcover

Sobin, Gustaf

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520222458 ISBN 13: 9780520222458

Publisher: University of California Press, 2000

Synopsis

Interpreting vestige with the eloquence of a poet and the knowledge of a field archaeologist, Gustaf Sobin explores his elected terrain: the landscapes of Provence and Languedoc. Drawing on prehistory, protohistory, and Gallo-Roman antiquity, the twenty-six essays in this book focus on a particular place or artifact for the relevance inherent in each. A Bronze Age earring or the rippling wave pattern in Massiolite ceramic are more than archival curiosities for Sobin. Instead they invite inquiry and speculation on existence itself: Artifacts are read as realia, and history as an uninterrupted sequence of object lessons.

As much travel writing as meditative discourse, Luminous Debris is enhanced by a prose that tracks, questions, and reflects on the materials invoked. Sobin engages the reader with precise descriptions of those very materials and the messages to be gleaned from their examination, be they existential, ethical, or political.

An American expatriate living in Provence for the past thirty-five years, Gustaf Sobin shares his enthusiasm for his adopted landscape and for a vertical interpretation of its strata. In Luminous Debris he creates meaning out of matter and celebrates instances of reality, past and present.

About this title

Review

"With the sensual, lyrical, accretive methods of a gifted essayist, Sobin puts forward a radical agenda: to enter the conversation between past and present, to place ourselves within 'the dialectic between two orders of time.' After reading this book one feels more humble to be modern, but more proud to be human." --"Hungry Mind Review, Winter 2000 issue

Synopsis

This text explores the landscapes of Provence and Languedoc, drawing on prehistory, protohistory, and Gallo-Roman antiquity, focusing on a particular place or artifact for the relevance inherent in each. A Bronze Age earring or the rippling wave pattern in Massiolite ceramic are more than archival curiosities for Gustaf Sobin. Instead they invite inquiry and speculation on existence: artefacts are read as realia, and history as an uninterrupted sequence of object lessons. As much travel writing as meditative discourse, this book is enhanced by a prose that tracks, questions, and reflects on the materials invoked. Sobin engages the reader with precise descriptions of those materials and the messages to be gleaned from their examination, be they existential, ethical, or political.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0520222458
• ISBN 13: 9780520222458
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 260