New York. 1983. October 1983. Dodd Mead. 1st Edition. Very Good in

New York. 1983. October 1983. Dodd Mead. 1st Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0396081894. 213 pages. hardcover. keywords: Oceania Australia Aborigine Literature World Literature. DESCRIPTION-The author is this haunting novel, born of mixed aboriginal-European heritage, has lived in the tradition of tribal poetry, much of it taught to him by his late tribal wife, Djumala, the heroine of his tale. According to the fertility cult of the aborigines, the land is an extension of man's body and soul, a unity with nature that ensures regeneration cycles. If it is disturbed, life would cease. Here, it is the white man, the balandas, who are the disturbance as they ravage the earth in their lustful search for uranium wealth, even as they rape and mutilate the tribal girls whose destruction will extinguish the tribe and vacate the mineral-rich territory for the whites. In this story we follow Djumala, carrying her unborn child, as she journeys with her dog, Muru, across the familiar Australian bush away from the land of the white man to Gamitji, her tribal country, her walg, or womb. She seeks her mother to learn the tribal secrets of motherhood and thus prolong the life of her decimated tribe. It is a desolate journey through the shattered landscape that the white man has strangled by his plunder, stealing the magic that made the rain. But there is still magic left in the protection of the tribal spirits and the legend that life can sprout from dust, if there is a woman around to mother it. inventory #2690.