Luminous Debris

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.