Product Description

Four decades ago, folklorists Jack and Olivia Solomon began documenting Southern cemeteries, recording the names, lives, and epitaphs of thousands of the deceased. The volume they now share with us is not a Book of the Dead, but a Book of Life.

The Solomons reveal here their love and respect for the "final resting places" of this world. In these pages are recorded the sorrow for a lost child, the anger over the murder of a brother, the strengths of an admired civic leader, the life of a beloved preacher, the character of a stalwart soldier, as well as the grief for a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a wife, a husband. Many of these epitaphs console and give promise of a "better home over yonder." Others remind one of the shortness of life and the surety of death. As in life, there is wit-the humor of a wife who reminds her spouse, "I told you I was sick!"-and profundity-the laconic remark, "She hath done what she could." The book also discusses historical precedents for Alabama epitaphs, different types of epitaphs, gravestone writings as folk literature, gravestones as architecture/sculpture, and the lettering of epitaphs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #657146 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 132 pages

About the Author
Jack and Olivia Solomon are well-known Alabama folklorists and writers. Their books include Cracklin Bread and Asfidity, Zickary Zan, Ghosts and Goosebumps, Sweet Bunch of Daisies, and Honey in the Rock. Susannah Solomon is their daughter.

Customer Reviews

Great book,except for the text
In"Gone Home;Southern Folk Gravestone Art"authors Jack & Olivia Solomon present us with a wide array of interesting epitapths,and photographer Suzannah Solomon adds to the work with some fairly nice pictures...If only the whole book was just gravestone epitaphs and photographs..Alas,this is not the case..the authors Solomon have added several dozen pages of "expert"mumbo-jumbo concerning thier "expert"view on grave symbols,thier meaning,thier origins,and whatnot...
While certain symbols are undoubtedly universal,the way in which these symbols are used and/or the meanings they have for individuals differs from area to area,from culture to culture...Oftentimes symbols appear on a headstone at the direct request of a survivor,but just as often they appear on the whim of the stonemason,or come pre-carved..
One branch of my family came from Italy,and among that branch was a stonemason who did much cemetery work prior to 1950...Before he himself died he told me some of the stories related to his work..Angels often were merely carvings of his wife or children with wings attached,the wings being accepted as being part and parcel of what an agel was expected to look like..symbols that appeared on many of his carved headstones did so because he found them easy to carve and/or they were favorite devices of his,and not because they necessarily had any folkish value,or followed any pre-concieved notions about community values ,expectations,or iconography..Further,he said that this viewpoint,these habits,were widespread amongst stonemasons of his generation,who more often than not were trying to impart something of themselves and/or thier families into permanenece rather than observing any widespread folkish tradition,as the Solomons would have us believe..
All in all this volume would have been a lot better if the Solomons had dispensed with thier "expert"opinions and just let the stones speak for themselves.

Deceiving Title
I don't think I've ever given such a bad review before, but this is horrible and not worth your time or money. Although the cover looks very professional, don't be fooled. This is a couple's ideas on cemetery inscriptions, most of which can't be backed up and seems pompous as well as being either wrong, or so simple that it need not be mentioned. And the book has almost nothing to do with "Art" or "Folk Art", but is a collection of some of their favorite inscriptions in a 3 county area in Alabama. So the Title "Gone Home: Southern Folk Gravestone Art" is practically a lie. The insides of the book feel more like one of those cookbooks your church or school use to put together to raise money, rather than what the lovely cover would have you believe. A significant portion of the book are the poorly calligraphied copies of some of those inscriptions that the authors so enjoyed, most of which were dull and mundane, and added nothing to the reader's understanding of the past. And the writing style of the book is atrocious, trite and affected. Wow, what a waste of a perfectly great idea.

Memoir more than scholarly work.
I debated what rating to give this. I purchased it expecting a somewhat scholarly work on folk gravestones in the South - unfortunately, this book is a combination family memoir of their trips to visit cemeteries and sort-of travel journal. The description of symbolism lacks any citations or discussion of how symbolism varies with culture. The photographs and illustrations vary in quality, although as explained in the text they were taken by one of the authors' children over the span of several years so that is to be expected.

Ultimately, this is the sort of volume you would expect to find in a small-town visitor center, something written by locals about the immediate area. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this except that the book is billed as covering the South, when it covers only a small portion of the region in Alabama. If you are looking for a resource on Alabama, give this a look. If you enjoy reading about cemeteries you will find that in this book as well, but if you're looking for a scholarly analysis of cemeteries across the South you will not find it in this volume.