Cultural Writing. Essays. Literary Criticism. Gustaf Sobin's final book of essays continues his meditations on the meaning of archaeological vestiges in the south of France. Sobin's writing synthesizes insights from anthropology, philosophy, theology, and the history of art to produce a spiritual and poetic travelogue through vanished time. Left uncompleted at the end of his life, the present volume would have concluded the trilogy whose first two volumes were published by University of California Press (Luminous Debris [1999] and Ladder of Shadows [2008]). The scope and ambition of Sobin's poetic archaeology can be compared only to Walter Benjamin's Arcades project, also left uncompleted, and which similarly sought to draw poetic and philosophical insights from the remnants of material culture.

Author City: Goult FRA

Gustaf Sobin (1935-2005) was born in Boston but lived most of his life in the Provence region of France. Among his many books are AURA: LAST ESSAYS (Counterpath Press, 2008), THE PLACES AS PRELUDES (Talisman House, 2005) and BY THE BIAS OF SOUND: SELECTED POEMS, 1974-1994 (Talisman House, 2005).

Reviews and Other Links
Fiona Sze-Lorrain at Galatea Resurrects