Ladder Of Shadows: Reflecting On Medieval Vestige In Provence And Languedoc Project Muse Upcc Books

Bits of late Roman coinage, the mutilated torso of a marble Venus, blue debris from an early medieval glassworks, and the powder rasped from the reputed tomb of Mary Magdalene—these tantalizing mementos of human history found scattered throughout the landscape of southeastern France are the points of departure for Gustaf Sobin's lyrical narrative. A companion volume to his acclaimed __Luminous Debris, Ladder of Shadows__ picks up where the former left off: with late antiquity, covering a period from roughly the third to the thirteenth century. Here Sobin offers brilliant readings of late Roman and early Christian ruins in his adopted region of Provence, sifting through iconographic, architectural, and sacramental vestiges to shed light on nothing less than the existential itself. Content: Apt: Reading an Antique City as Palimpsest 5 -- Desolate Treasure 15 -- Crypto-Christianity: The Sarcophagi of Arles, I 20 -- Terra Sigillata 29 -- Relics: Membra Martyrum as Living Current 35 -- Venus Disfigured 44 -- The Blossoming of Numbers: The Baptistery at Riez 52 -- The Deletion of Shadow: The Sarcophagi of Arles, II 59 -- City of God 65 -- Laying the Dragon Low 76 -- The Dark Ages: A History of Omissions 85 -- The Blue Tears of Sainte-Marthe 92 -- The Blind Arcade: Reflections on a Carolingian Sarcophagus 99 -- Celestial Paradigms 107 -- Vaulting the Nave 113 -- The Dome: Architecture as Antecedent 120 -- Classical Roots, Evangelical Branches 126 -- Vanished Scaffolds and the Structures Thereof 136 -- Incastellamento: Perching the Village, I 143 -- Incastellamento: Perching the Village, II (The Circulades of Languedoc) 153 -- Faja Oscura 163 -- Psalmodi 169 -- The Fifth Element: From Manna to Exaction 175 -- Mary Magdalene the Odoriferous 184 -- The Death of Genesis 196. Bits of late Roman coinage, the mutilated torso of a marble Venus, blue debris from an early medieval glassworks, and the powder rasped from the reputed tomb of Mary Magdalene—these tantalizing mementos of human history found scattered throughout the landscape of southeastern France are the points of departure for Gustaf Sobin's lyrical narrative. A companion volume to his acclaimed Luminous Debris, Ladder of Shadows picks up where the former left off: with late antiquity, covering a period from roughly the third to the thirteenth century. Here Sobin offers brilliant readings of late Roman and early Christian ruins in his adopted region of Provence, sifting through iconographic, architectural, and sacramental vestiges to shed light on nothing less than the existential itself. Bits of late Roman coinage, the mutilated torso of a marble Venus, blue debris from an early medieval glassworks, and the powder rasped from the reputed tomb of Mary Magdalene - these tantalizing mementos of human history found scattered throughout the landscape of southeastern France are the points of departure for Gustaf Sobin's lyrical narrative. A companion volume to his acclaimed "Luminous Debris", "Ladder of Shadows" picks up where the former left off: with late antiquity, covering a period from roughly the third to the thirteenth century. Here Sobin offers brilliant readings of late Roman and early Christian ruins in his adopted region of Provence, sifting through iconographic, architectural, and sacramental vestiges to shed light on nothing less than the existential itself Gustaf Sobin ; Foreword By Michael Ignatieff. An Ahmanson Foundation Book In The Humanities--p. [4] Of Cover. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 211-224) And Index.