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4.5★
“He knew he was dying and it enraged him. One by one, he had watched the young men go, or go to pieces. Soon there would be no one: either to sing the songs or to give blood for ceremonies.
In aboriginal belief, an unsung land is a dead land: since, if the songs are forgotten, the land itself will die.”
Bruce Chatwin was a highly regarded English writer and traveller with a deep curiosity about nomadic people. He was fascinated by the idea of songlines around the world that tell the story of t ...more
“He knew he was dying and it enraged him. One by one, he had watched the young men go, or go to pieces. Soon there would be no one: either to sing the songs or to give blood for ceremonies.
In aboriginal belief, an unsung land is a dead land: since, if the songs are forgotten, the land itself will die.”
Bruce Chatwin was a highly regarded English writer and traveller with a deep curiosity about nomadic people. He was fascinated by the idea of songlines around the world that tell the story of t ...more
May 15, 2017
Dee-Ann
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
non-fiction,
indigenous-issues,
memoir,
movie-material,
fantasy,
war,
dystopian,
travel,
weird
Not as expected. I thought it would be a story, but no, it was an account of one man's journey of discovery and enlightenment of the indigenous notion of songlines, which lead us not only to outback Australia as expected, but across the globe and through time and history ... in the form of notes describing travel, civilisation, war, aggression and more. A small book, which took me forever to read. This book had me laughing, cringing, confused and thinking about paragraphs, a long time after I ha
...more
The songlines or invisible pathways that criss-cross across Australia, were a factor in the saga of the bomb tests at Maralinga. The British and Australian governments foolishly promised that no Aborigines would be impacted by the bomb tests. Army representatives were sent to clear the Aborigines off the land - and maybe they did for a while. But other groups entered the area to use the songlines or pathways.
I read this book to find out more about these pathways and I did learn a little. What st ...more
I read this book to find out more about these pathways and I did learn a little. What st ...more
Sep 17, 2010
Velvetink
marked it as to-read
Sep 28, 2010
Pranksome Quaine
added it
Jun 27, 2013
Stephanie
marked it as to-read
Jul 29, 2013
Krista the Krazy Kataloguer
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
own-ebook,
to-read-biography
Mar 28, 2014
Craig Hodges
marked it as to-read
Jun 22, 2015
Michael Livingston
marked it as to-read
Oct 20, 2015
Tess Thomson
marked it as to-read
Jul 13, 2018
Kim
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
bookfair-180713
Jun 14, 2019
Claire
marked it as to-read
Nov 21, 2019
Michele
added it
Dec 30, 2024
Venessa Johnstone
marked it as to-read
