The Terrapin Archive
About The Giant's Harp by Robert Hunter
The Giant's Harp is a fantasy novel by Robert Hunter (1941–2019), the principal lyricist of the Grateful Dead. Composed between 1984 and 1996, it was published serially on the World Wide Web rather than through any commercial press, and is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Garcia, who died in August 1995 while Hunter was completing the manuscript.
The book at a glance
- Title: The Giant's Harp
- Author: Robert Hunter (born Robert Burns)
- Composition: 1984–1996
- First publication: Serial, on the World Wide Web, 1996
- Dedication: In memory of Jerome John Garcia (JJG), November 1, 1996
- Setting: Terrapin — the mythic landscape Hunter first sketched in the Grateful Dead's "Terrapin Station" suite (1977)
- Structure: Twenty-one chapters and an Epilogue
- Genre: Mythic fantasy, literary, allegorical
The Terrapin connection
Hunter began drafting The Giant's Harp in 1984, seven years after "Terrapin Station" appeared on the Grateful Dead album of the same name. The novel is set in Terrapin and expands the mythic geography Hunter gestured at in that song cycle — the Eagle Mall, the Stone Library, the lady with a fan, the doubly drowned. Readers familiar with Hunter's lyrics for "Terrapin Station," "Lady with a Fan," "Eagle Mall Suite," "Ripple," and "Stella Blue" will recognize names, images, and motifs throughout. Hunter himself described the project, in correspondence, as the long-form prose statement of the world the songs only glimpsed.
Why this edition exists
The Giant's Harp has been functionally unavailable for many years. It was never issued in print, and the original web pages drifted offline. This site, The Terrapin Archive, presents the complete novel as a single, beautifully-set reading edition for educational and archival purposes. There is no commercial intent and no profit derived from its publication. Rights holders are invited to contact us via the footer.
What you'll find on this site
- Cover — title page and spoiler-free teaser
- Index of Chapters — full table of contents
- Author — biography of Robert Hunter
- Analysis — a critical essay, "A Stone Library With Its Arms in the Clouds"
Recommended citation
Hunter, Robert. The Giant's Harp. Composed 1984–1996. Web edition, The Terrapin Archive, https://thegiantsharp.online.