The Songlines
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: unclipped dj.
What if the entire Australian continent were criss-crossed by an invisible web of music, ancient paths sung into existence by the first ancestors at the dawn of time? The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin plunges the reader into the sun-scorched heart of Australia's outback, where the narrator — a restless traveller named Bruce — joins forces with a Russian-born Australian, Arkady Volchok, to unravel the sacred Aboriginal concept of the Songlines: invisible pathways that traverse the land, each one a melody encoding the geography, law, and memory of a people who have walked the Earth for tens of thousands of years. At once a travel narrative, a philosophical inquiry, and a work of lyrical fiction, the novel blurs the boundaries between genres with effortless authority, drawing the reader into a landscape that is as spiritual as it is physical. Chatwin's prose is precise yet luminous, carrying the weight of deep anthropological research while never surrendering its literary grace. The book argues passionately for nomadism as the fundamental human condition — that our restlessness is not a malady but an inheritance, written into our very bones — and it marshals myth, science, philosophy, and personal observation to make its case. Populated by eccentric settlers, Aboriginal elders, and wandering souls, The Songlines is a meditation on identity, belonging, and the primal human urge to move. Long regarded as one of the defining works of late 20th-century travel writing, it leaves the reader with one haunting question: what song does your own landscape sing?
Author: Bruce Chatwin
Format: Hardback
Published: 1987, Jonathan Cape
Genre: Travel & exploration
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: unclipped dj.
What if the entire Australian continent were criss-crossed by an invisible web of music, ancient paths sung into existence by the first ancestors at the dawn of time? The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin plunges the reader into the sun-scorched heart of Australia's outback, where the narrator — a restless traveller named Bruce — joins forces with a Russian-born Australian, Arkady Volchok, to unravel the sacred Aboriginal concept of the Songlines: invisible pathways that traverse the land, each one a melody encoding the geography, law, and memory of a people who have walked the Earth for tens of thousands of years. At once a travel narrative, a philosophical inquiry, and a work of lyrical fiction, the novel blurs the boundaries between genres with effortless authority, drawing the reader into a landscape that is as spiritual as it is physical. Chatwin's prose is precise yet luminous, carrying the weight of deep anthropological research while never surrendering its literary grace. The book argues passionately for nomadism as the fundamental human condition — that our restlessness is not a malady but an inheritance, written into our very bones — and it marshals myth, science, philosophy, and personal observation to make its case. Populated by eccentric settlers, Aboriginal elders, and wandering souls, The Songlines is a meditation on identity, belonging, and the primal human urge to move. Long regarded as one of the defining works of late 20th-century travel writing, it leaves the reader with one haunting question: what song does your own landscape sing?