Description
The Aran Islands, in Galway Bay off the west coast of Ireland, are a unique geological and cultural landscape, and for centuries their stark beauty and their inhabitants traditional way of life have attracted pilgrims from abroad. The Aran Islands, in Galway Bay off the west coast of Ireland, are a unique geological and cultural landscape, and for centuries their stark beauty and their inhabitants traditional way of life have attracted pilgrims from abroad. After a visit with his wife in 1972, Tim Robinson moved to the islands, where he started making maps and gathering stories, eventually developing the idea for a cosmic history of rainn, the largest of the three islands. Pilgrimage is the first of two volumes that make up Stones of Aran, in which Robinson maps the length and breadth of rainn. Here he circles the entire island, following a clockwise, sunwise path in quest of the good step, in which walking itself becomes a form of attention and contemplation.
Like Annie Dillards Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Bruce Chatwins In Patagonia, Stones of Aran is not only a meticulous and mesmerizing study of place but an entrancing and altogether unclassiable work of literature. Robinson explores Aran in both its elemental and mythical dimensions, taking us deep into the islands folklore, wildlife, names, habitations, and natural and human histories. Bringing to life the ongoing, forever unpredictable encounter between one man and a given landscape, Stones of Aran discovers worlds.
Robinsons voyage continues in Stones of Aran: Labyrinth
Author: Tim Robinson
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Published: 05/01/2008
Series: New York Review Books Classics
Pages: 416
Weight: 0.9lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.00w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781590172773
Language: English
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.