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Article: Seeing with a thousand eyes.(Passion for reading)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- May 17, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FOR SEVERAL WEEKS I've toted around Bruce Chatwin's book The Songlines, on the off chance of having more time for it. Before he died at 48, Chatwin wrote a handful of' brilliant travel books, this perhaps the most brilliant--a funny and fascinating account of the Aboriginal songlines. Invisible to Western eyes, the songlines crisscross Australia, charting every rock and hollow. They are songs of creation, handed down from the Dreamtime, mythic maps of lands that white settlers have taken away. When the Aborigines walk and sing them, they re-create the world.
Chatwin knew from his experience as an appraiser for Sotheby's that possessions weigh down the soul. He ...