The Songlines

by Bruce Chatwin
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'Extraordinary - a remarkable and satisfying book' Observer

Available Formats

  • The Songlines Paperback ISBN: 9780099769910 Published: 04/09/1998 Imprint: Vintage Classics Extent: 304 pages Subject: $12.95 RRP

Synopsis

'Songlines' or 'Dreaming Tracks' are what all Europeans call the labyrinth of invisible pathways that meander all over Australia. To Aboriginals, they are the 'Footprints of the Ancestors'; they are both intricate sources of personal identity and territorial markers. From such ancient line, Bruce Chatwin has been able to trace a great deal about an Aboriginal culture as complex as it is different from our own. The conflict between the two ways of life mirrors that within 'civilised' man himself. Disputes over the right to excavate land that is sacred to wandering tribes highlight the importance of myth and instinct in the human psyche. What might in other hands seem theatrically picaresque, Bruce Chatwin transforms into something approaching the scale of Greek tragedy. . .

Editorial Reviews

"That Chatwin is one of the most distinct and original writers we have is confirmed by the publication of another quite remarkable book" - Nicholas Shakespeare

"The songlines emerge as invisible pathways connecting up all over Australia: ancient tracks made of songs which tell of the creation of the land. The Aboriginals' religious duty is ritually to travel the land, singing the Ancestors' songs: singing the world into being afresh. The Songlines is one man's impassioned song" - David Sexton, Sunday Telegraph

"Chatwin is not simply describing another culture; he is also making cautious assertions about human nature. Towards the end of his life Sartre wondered why people still write novels; had he read Chatwin's he might have found new excitement in the genre" - Edmund White, Sunday Times

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