Travels to a remote country in search of a strange beast and, in the course of his travels, describes author's encounters with the people whose stories delay him on the road. This book is a quest or a Wonder Voyage. It is about wandering and exile.
"Songlines" are what Europeans call the labyrinth of invisible pathways that meander all over Australia - they are both intricate sources of personal identity and territorial markers. From these, Bruce Chatwin has traced a great deal about Aboriginal culture, as complex as it is different.
Presenting a collection of profiles, essays and travel stories, the author takes us to Benin, where he is arrested as a mercenary during a coup; to Boston to meet an LSD guru who believes he is Christ; to India with Indira Gandhi when she attempted a political comeback in 1978; and to Nepal where he reminds us that 'Man's real home is the Road.
Includes letters that give a synopsis of the author's changing interests and concerns throughout his life.