
Figured Stones
Exploring the Lithic Imaginary
Paul Prudence(Author)
Xylem Books (Publisher)
Published on 19. August 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-9163935-7-8 (ISBN)
Description
'Figured Stones' is a masterpiece of natural philosophy and a vital contribution to the emerging field of vibrant materialism. It is both a manual of visionary geology and a treatise on lithic scrying; a manifesto on rock veneration and an exploration of deep-time consciousness. In vivid and lucent prose, Paul Prudence crosses the 'blood-brain barrier of dimensionality', condensing and expanding both space and time by drawing the extremities of scale into paradoxical alignment. Vast landscapes become visible in miniature surfaces, and, liberated from our reductive impressions of time, rock itself becomes pliant, mercurial and alive. In this expanded state, the lithosphere is self-aware, memorising its own telluric activity, from weather patterns to the fluid dynamics of rivers.
With Prudence as a guide we encounter rocks as messengers, talismans and oracles. Stones become portals to other worlds and act as intermediaries to the domains of gods, demons and spirits. Geology acts as a divinatory system for decoding dreams, or as a tool for connecting us to our greater ancestral consciousness. At a time when we are barely cognisant of the lives of other-than-human beings, Prudence resuscitates the pre-Socratic doctrine of hylozoism - that all matter has life. Throughout the pages of 'Figured Stones', rocks become agents for studying planetary introspection and geological sentience - they reveal an 'inter-animating spirit of mind and matter where biological and mineral kingdoms collude'.
'Figured Stones' is destined to become an important book in a new movement that acknowledges and embraces more-than-human life at a critical time in our global ecology.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 190 mm
Width: 120 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
174 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-9163935-7-8 (9781916393578)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Paul Prudence is a writer and artist. His essays have been featured in Reliquiae, Substance and Holo, and he is a regular contributor to Neural Mag. His audio-visual work has been exhibited and performed internationally at intermedia arts festivals.