Songlines

The author describes his travel to the Australian Outback where he attempts to learn the meaning of the Aborginals' ancient "dreaming-tracks."
For its twenty-fifth anniversary, a new edition of Bruce Chatwin's classic work with a new introduction by Rory StewartPart adventure, part novel of ideas, part spiritual autobiography, The Songlines is one of Bruce Chatwin's most famous books. Set in the desolate lands of the Australian Outback, it tells the story of Chatwin's search for the source and meaning of the ancient "dreaming tracks" of the Aborigines—the labyrinth of invisible pathways by which their ancestors "sang" the world into existence. This singular book, which was a New York Times bestseller when it was published in 1987, engages all of Chatwin's lifelong passions, including his obsession with travel, his interest in the nomadic way of life, and his hunger to understand man's origins and nature.