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Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First
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Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer Hardcover - 2014 - 1st Edition

by Matthew Gavin Frank


From the publisher

Moses Harvey was the eccentric Newfoundland reverend and amateur naturalist who first photographed the near-mythic giant squid in 1874, draping it over a shower curtain rod to display its magnitude. In Preparing the Ghost, what begins as Moses's story becomes much more, as fellow squid-enthusiast Matthew Gavin Frank boldly winds his narrative tentacles around history, creative nonfiction, science, memoir, and meditations about the interrelated nature of them all. In a full-hearted, lyrical style reminiscent of Geoff Dyer, Frank weaves in playful forays about his research trip to Moses's Newfoundland home, Frank's own childhood and family history, and a catalog of bizarre facts and lists that recall Melville's story of obsession with another deep-sea dwelling leviathan. Though Frank is armed with impressive research, what he can't know about Harvey he fictionalizes, quite explicitly, as a way of both illuminating the scene and exploring his central theme: the big, beautiful human impulse to obsess.

Details

  • Title Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer
  • Author Matthew Gavin Frank
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 320
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York
  • Date 2014-07
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780871402837 / 0871402831
  • Weight 0.75 lbs (0.34 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.4 x 4.7 x 1.2 in (18.80 x 11.94 x 3.05 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1851-1899
    • Cultural Region: Canadian
    • Geographic Orientation: Newfoundland
  • Library of Congress subjects Giant squids, Harvey, M
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2014005845
  • Dewey Decimal Code 594.58

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 07/01/2014, Page 11
  • Kirkus Reviews, 06/01/2014, Page 0
  • New York Times Book Review, 07/20/2014, Page 30
  • Publishers Weekly, 04/21/2014, Page 0
  • Shelf Awareness, 07/15/2014, Page 0
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Preparing the Ghost : An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer
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Preparing the Ghost : An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer

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Preparing the Ghost

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

by Frank, Matthew Gavin

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Preparing the Ghost : An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer

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

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

by Frank, Matthew Gavin

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by Frank, Matthew Gavin

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

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