The songlines are the invisible pathways that criss-cross Australia, ancient tracks connecting communities and following ancient boundaries. Along these lines Aboriginals passed the songs which revealed the creation of the land and the secrets of its past. In this magical account Chatwin recalls his travels across the length and breadth of Australia seeking to find the truth about the songs and unravel the mysteries of their stories. (19980720)
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The late Bruce Chatwin carved out a literary career as unique as any writer's in this century: his books included In Patagonia, a fabulist travel narrative, The Viceroy of Ouidah, a mock-historical tale of a Brazilian slave-trader in 19th century Africa, and The Songlines, his beautiful, elegiac, comic account of following the invisible pathways traced by the Australian aborigines. Chatwin was nothing if not erudite, and the vast, eclectic body of literature that underlies this tale of trekking across the outback gives it a resonance found in few other recent travel books. A poignancy, as well, since Chatwin's untimely death made The Songlines one of his last books.
Review
"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 )
"Chatwin delves into aspects of landscape that are beyond road signs and highways, and into a way of living that is entirely alien to the average European. those who are open to a bit of a wander will adore it" (Evening Herald )
"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 )
"Chatwin delves into aspects of landscape that are beyond road signs and highways, and into a way of living that is entirely alien to the average European. those who are open to a bit of a wander will adore it" (Evening Herald )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The songlines criss cross Australia; the paths taken by the first men as they sang creation into being. Each Aborigine tends his section of the line, and must regularly sing the songs that keep creation new.
Chatwin's wanderings took him to Australia's red centre to explore the origins of these lines, as part of a project he was toying with (but never completed, so far as I'm aware) exploring the roots of man's incessant need to travel.
His prose is as sparse and dusty as the landscape itself as he meets the native and European Australians who inhabit the vast emptiness of the outback. The result is as beautiful and strange as the outback itself.
The book uncovers a little about the Aborigines, a group who have not been often explored in mainstream wirting before, as well as the racism felt by many Australians towards them.
But its main success is opening up the dusty interior itself - a place on a scale that is unimaginable to Europeans. Chatwin's triumph is to reveal the magic that pervades Australia - that a stagnant pond can be as important a spiritual site as Ayers Rock.
For anyone with an interest in Australia, Aboriginal culture or the nature of man's wanderlust, this is an essential read. Highly recommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a unique and unclassifiable book, part novel, part travel book, part notebook full of quotations and speculations. Chatwin focuses on the notion that language and human thought began in songs that sang the landscape and living things into existence. Aboriginal culture continues this tradition in songlines which are explored as living entities, maps, boundaries, calendars, catalogues, survival systems, myths. Chatwin says the ultimate question he is asking is, why are humans so restless? He argues that this is the ultimate human quality. We are nomadic in our core. He quotes a European tramp: "It's like the tides were pulling you along the highway. I'm like the Arctic tern, guv'nor...what flies from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again." This book doesn't provide answers. Indeed it plunges into even wider speculations about war, prehistory, mythology and culture. But it goes far beyond the predictable "Aboriginal wisdom for the westerner" that I expected. A fascinating, difficult, but intriguing book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was recommended this book by several different people, if you are interested in the 'aboriginal' culture/travelling or you think you might be then this book is for you. Although it is classically written & occasionally quite heavy I found it very interesting. Bruce Chatwin goes on a journey to study the songlines and on the way he ponders the origin of man, presenting evidence that man was originally Nomadic & also writes 3/4 chapters worth of short passages taken from all over the globe to give atmosphere to this claim, one of the most amazing facts was that an aboriginal in the far north can understand an aboriginal from the far south without understanding his language, he translates the melodies of his songs & therefore knows which path he is walking & therefore where he is from, this book has been a great help in understanding more about the ancients in OZ for me, personal accounts of cultures are always more informative than text books I find & this book is no exception :-)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting ideas, irritating style
The Songlines is part Australian travelogue, part account of the aboriginal (although the book eventually discounts that word) songlines, part personal philosophy, part... Read more
Published 16 days ago by P. G. Harris
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a read
Strange book, but worth reading. Gives a good insight into the clash of native v. 'white' culture' in the outback.
Published 4 months ago by Mark Twigg
3.0 out of 5 stars
Please tell me more about the songlines
Based on comments I'd heard about the book previously, when I began reading I expected a very dry and difficult prose, but I actually found it a very easy read and got into it... Read more
Published 11 months ago by neverendings
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good writing, a bit dated
The book is called a "classic," perhaps rightly so, but feels dated now. Australia has changed greatly in the years since Chatwin visited and did his "research. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lewis White
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mediocre
This is an interesting topic and I was looking forward to learning more but I have not found the written style very easy to follow or get into. Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2011 by clova
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Songlines
This interesting and knowledgeable travel book left me wanting to know more about the subject of Aboriginal culture and customs. Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2011 by Maria Staal
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent book and in exactly state described
really enjoyed the book, makes me want to go out into the boonies next time I'm in Oz. Like his other great book In Patagonia makes me want to travel to some of the places he's... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2010 by liddler
3.0 out of 5 stars
flatters to deceive
It starts so well, but doesn't go anywhere. It threatens to give us an insight into Aboriginal culture; but in the end it is merely the scrapbook of a privileged Englishman who,... Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2010 by gille liath
4.0 out of 5 stars
Personalised Outback experience
Chatwin's skill in conveying the experience of his travels, the breath of daily existence, is masterfully portrayed in The Songlines. Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Mick Read
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very human book
This book by Bruce Chatwin is a rare pleasure, written by a man truly interested in all the peoples of the world including their culture, language, arts and metaphysics. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2009 by Frank Bierbrauer
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