The Speaking Stone

Stories Cemeteries Tell

The Speaking Stone
Michael Griffith
RRP:
NZ$ 86.00
Our Price:
NZ$ 73.10
Paperback
h227 x 156mm - 326pg
15 Apr 2021 US
International import eta 10-30 days
9781947602304
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
The Speaking Stone: Stories Cemeteries Tell is a literary love letter to the joys of wandering graveyards and the discoveries such wanderings can yield. Here, Michael Griffith roams Spring Grove (founded 1844), the nation' s third-largest cemetery, following curiosity and accident wherever they lead. The result is this fascinating collection, which narrates the lives of those he encountered on the way. Griffith lingers amidst the traces left behind-these are stories of race, feminism, art, and death, uncovered through obituaries, archival documents, and family legacies. Some essays focus on well-known figures like the feminist icon and freethinker Fanny Wright, but most chronicle the lives of lesser-known figures (a spiritual medium, a temperance advocate, the designers of caskets and hearses, the inventor of the glass-door oven) or of nearly unknown ones (a young heiress who died under mysterious circumstances, the daring sign-painters known as walldogs). The Speaking Stone examines what endures and what doesn' t, reflecting on the vanity and poignancy of our attempts to leave monuments that last. Archival photos grace the pages of these thirteen essays that explore a larger, deeply tangled complex of ideas about place, history, self, and art.
"Griffith finds a fruitful ground for his research into the past in the third largest [cemetery] in the country, that contains poignancies and mysteries alike. Entertaining. . . a fine prose rejoinder to Spoon River Anthology and other similar works. " * Kirkus Reviews * "Michael Griffith is a masterful and quirky storyteller, and his new book will be known to future generations as one of the great literary oddities. I would be happy to sell it out of the trunk of my car - that' s how much I love The Speaking Stone. " * David Kirby, Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English, Florida State University * "The Speaking Stone is a brilliant book of essays springing from Griffith' s soulful rambles around a cemetery in Cincinnati. It' s an ingenious anti-memoir full of strange and delightful tales from the lost corners of history, not least among them those concerning the author himself. " * Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen * "Michael Griffith' s The Speaking Stone is a marvel: a marvel of erudition, a marvel of curiosity and craft, a marvel of intellect and openness. This a book that is obsessed-with gravestones and signs and cities, sure, but also with the stories of the people who made the signs, who are under the stones, who lived in the cities. Those people are gone, but wherever they are, I hope they realize how lucky they are that Michael Griffith is the one telling their stories. By telling their stories, Griffith has come up with a one-of-a kind way of telling our own, and his own. What a wise, funny, deeply humane book!" * Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe? * "These essays track the subtle ways history intersects with individuals, and they remind us that pride and ambition lead inexorably to oblivion. Griffith simultaneously sharpens our sympathy for solitary lives and chastens us for harboring fantasies of immortality. " -- Sean Kinch * Chattanooga Times Free Press *
Michael Griffith' s previous books are Trophy (named one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2011), Bibliophilia, and Spikes. He is Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati and was the Founding Editor of Yellow Shoe Fiction, an original-fiction series from Louisiana State University Press.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781947602304
Published: 15 Apr 2021
Published In: United States
Imprint: University of Cincinnati Press
Publisher: University of Cincinnati Press
Format: Paperback
Height: 227mm
Width: 156mm
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 384g
Pages: 326

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information