Where Light in Darkness Lies: The Story of the Lighthouse

Description

'[An] intriguing account of our fascination with lighthouses through the centuries . . . [della Dora's] book goes some way towards explaining that fascination.' - Daily Mail Suspended between sea and sky, battered by the waves and the wind, lighthouses mark the battlelines between the elements. They guard the boundaries between the solid human world and the primordial chaos of the waters; between stability and instability; between the known and the unknown. As such, they have a strange, universal appeal that few other manmade structures possess. Engineered to draw the gaze of sailors, lighthouses have likewise long attracted the attention of soldiers and saints, artists and poets, novelists and film-makers, colonizers and migrants, and, today more than ever, heritage tourists and developers. Their evocative locations, their isolation and resilience have turned these structures into complex metaphors, magnets for stories. This book explores the rich story of the lighthouse in the human imagination. Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Prologue 1. Loneliness and Networks 2. Beacons of Light 3. Beacons in the Darkness 4. Beacons of Power 5. Beacons of Sound 6. Beacons of Memory Epilogue: A Lighthouse in the Desert Appendix: The Making and Working of Lighthouses References Select Bibliography Associations and Websites Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index