What's Inside
This volume pulls together fifteen narratives that navigate the strange, shadowed corners of early American life. It is not a sequence of linked events but a series of observations — some bordering on the surreal, others rooted in the daily struggles of blacksmiths, students, and widowed sisters. Whether examining a literal carving on a mountainside or a puppet-show depicting the march of human history, the pieces move between historical record and invented allegory. You will find schoolboys battling the concept of work, recluses sealing themselves away in stone, and newspapers that survived long after their printers vanished into the dust. It serves as a survey of how one person imagined the ghosts of his own country.
Works & figures
- Ernest
A villager who gazes at a stone mountain feature. (in “The Great Stone Face”)
- Mr. Toil
An ancient, stern schoolmaster representing the reality of work. (in “Little Daffydowndilly”)
- Richard Digby
An intolerant recluse who traps himself in a cave. (in “The Man of Adamant: An Apologue”)
- Edward Hamilton
A refined gentleman who orchestrates a cruel social experiment. (in “Sylph Etherege”)
What it's really about
- Inherited history
- The weight of the past on the present.
- Isolation
- The physical and mental cost of withdrawal.
Why it's memorable
- A mountain face lit by a setting sun.
- A blacksmith’s shadow dancing on a wall.
Where to start
Begin with 'The Great Stone Face' to see how the landscape acts as a mirror for human character.
For your book club
- Can history be captured by a crank-turned panorama?
- Does isolation ever lead to actual enlightenment?