Monographic Course - The Songlines - Page four
In this section, I'm going to try to write an essay on "The Songlines" by Bruce Chatwin, 1988 Penguin Books.
"Music", said Arkady,"is a memory bank for finding one's way about the world".
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Initiation and Transformation
Chatwin abyss is his inability to rest, to settle down, to move into a house and live a quiet life with his wife Elizabeth. He tried to do so, but failed each attempt, becoming one with his destiny: perpetual traveling, restlessness. He is still identified as one of the restless travelers ever to roam the surface of our planet. He never succumbed to his abyss. He incarnated it, until he could walk with his last breath.Abyss in Australia is the outback and the bush. Deadly animals, scortching sun and dry desert, dull landscapes, lack of water, danger at every corner. Abyss could be the western world too, at the point when they have to decide whether to follow their ancestors way or settle down and enter australian western society. Sadly, far too many Aboriginals retreated and succumbed to the second kind of abyss they face. Like I said, 40 out of 440 tribes are left. Nevertheless, their land is being handed back to them, expecially in Northern Territory. A good sign, and possibly the salvation of these peaceful heroes.
