Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Nature, Fish & Ocean Life, Marine Life
Cover of the book Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer by Matthew Gavin Frank, Liveright
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Matthew Gavin Frank ISBN: 9780871402899
Publisher: Liveright Publication: July 7, 2014
Imprint: Liveright Language: English
Author: Matthew Gavin Frank
ISBN: 9780871402899
Publisher: Liveright
Publication: July 7, 2014
Imprint: Liveright
Language: English

Memory, mythology, and obsession collide in this “slyly charming” (New York Times Book Review) account of the giant squid.

In 1874, Moses Harvey—eccentric Newfoundland reverend and amateur naturalist—was the first person to photograph the near-mythic giant squid, draping it over his shower curtain rod to display its magnitude. In Preparing the Ghost, what begins as Harvey’s story becomes spectacularly “slippery and many-armed” (NewYorker.com) as Matthew Gavin Frank winds his narrative tentacles around history, creative nonfiction, science, memoir, and meditations about the interrelated nature of them all. In his full-hearted, lyrical style, Frank weaves in playful forays about his trip to Harvey’s Newfoundland home, his own childhood and family history, and a catalog of peculiar facts that recall Melville ’s story of obsession with another deep-sea dwelling leviathan. “Totally original and haunting” (Flavorwire), Preparing the Ghost is a delightfully unpredictable inquiry into the big, beautiful human impulse to obsess.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Memory, mythology, and obsession collide in this “slyly charming” (New York Times Book Review) account of the giant squid.

In 1874, Moses Harvey—eccentric Newfoundland reverend and amateur naturalist—was the first person to photograph the near-mythic giant squid, draping it over his shower curtain rod to display its magnitude. In Preparing the Ghost, what begins as Harvey’s story becomes spectacularly “slippery and many-armed” (NewYorker.com) as Matthew Gavin Frank winds his narrative tentacles around history, creative nonfiction, science, memoir, and meditations about the interrelated nature of them all. In his full-hearted, lyrical style, Frank weaves in playful forays about his trip to Harvey’s Newfoundland home, his own childhood and family history, and a catalog of peculiar facts that recall Melville ’s story of obsession with another deep-sea dwelling leviathan. “Totally original and haunting” (Flavorwire), Preparing the Ghost is a delightfully unpredictable inquiry into the big, beautiful human impulse to obsess.

More books from Liveright

Cover of the book Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book The Tides of Mind: Uncovering the Spectrum of Consciousness by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book Running Wild by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book The Honey Farm: A Novel by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book The Day of Creation: A Novel by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book Decoy: A Novella by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book Bitter Freedom: Ireland in a Revolutionary World by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book Hist Whist: And Other Poems for Children by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan: A Boy Avenger, a Nazi Diplomat, and a Murder in Paris by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book The Annotated African American Folktales by Matthew Gavin Frank
Cover of the book Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found by Matthew Gavin Frank
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy