Gustaf Sobin (1935-2005) was a poet, novelist, and essayist. His books include the novel The Fly-Truffler and Luminous Debris: Reflecting on Vestige in Provence and Languedoc (UC Press).

• Foreword, by Michael Ignatieff Introduction Apt: Reading an Antique City as Palimpsest Desolate Treasure Crypto-Christianity: The Sarcophagi of Arles, I Terra Sigillata Relics: Membra Martyrum as Living Current Venus Disfigured The Blossoming of Numbers: The Baptistery at Riez The Deletion of Shadow: The Sarcophagi of Arles, II City of God Laying the Dragon Low The Dark Ages: A History of Omissions The Blue Tears of Sainte-Marthe The Blind Arcade: Reflections on a Carolingian Sarcophagus Celestial Paradigms Vaulting the Nave The Dome: Architecture as Antecedent Classical Roots, Evangelical Branches Vanished Scaffolds and the Structures Thereof Incastellamento: Perching the Village, I Incastellamento: Perching the Village, II (The Circulades of Languedoc) Faja Oscura Psalmodi The Fifth Element: From Manna to Exaction Mary Magdalene the Odoriferous The Death of Genesis Notes Index