The Songlines
The Songlines (originally The Songlines ) is the most famous novel of British Bruce Chatwin ( 1940-1989 ). The novel was published in 1987.
Content
The novel The Songlines is partly autobiographical and describes the journey of the protagonist " Bruce " by the interior of Australia. During this trip he met the Russian immigrants Arkady Wolschok know. From this encounter, a close male friendship. Wolschok who has renounced as dropouts the objectives of civilized society is fighting against the repression and the extinction of the culture of the Australian aborigines, the Aborigines.
The central theme is the Songlines Aboriginal, an invisible, mythic map of Australia, which is further supported by vocals from generation to generation and the basis of the hikes ( Walkabouts ) is the native population. The Aboriginal creation myths of the Dreamtime are therefore a detailed description of the country; they are learned and retained so that each Aboriginal communities in the traditional music of carrying a detailed map of the country and its myths from the Aborigines in the form of songs. This map is changed by today's civilization by construction, so that the cultural roots of the original inhabitants will be destroyed and lost.
The last third of the novel consists almost exclusively of short notes, quotes and observations that the narrator Bruce has collected in the course of his travels. In these Chatwin drives his thesis on nomadism and origins of mankind ahead: the man, his conviction is born to a nomadic lifestyle; Wars and excessive violence in communities arise only where people settle down and develop property claims.
Reception
Songlines is the most famous and largest circulation novel of the British Chatwin and is in many ways as a masterful reading material for the inner Australia. At the same time the novel was heavily criticized because Chatwin was based on the obscure theories of Theodor Strehlow ( the son of Carl Strehlow ). He also left his companions in the dark about his intention to write a novel, which she describes recognizable and partially just stellend. Only the protagonist Bruce (ie Chatwin himself) appears to be significantly fined in his actions.