Stones of Aran : pilgrimage / by Tim Robinson ; introduction by Robert Macfarlane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robinson, Tim, 1935-2020.

Series:

New York Review Books classics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Robinson, Tim, 1935-2020.

Walking.

Travel.

Aran Islands (Ireland)--Description and travel.

Aran Islands (Ireland).

Robinson, Tim, 1935-2020--Travel--Ireland--Aran Islands.

Robinson, Tim.

Walking--Ireland--Aran Islands.

Ireland--Aran Islands.

Physical Description:

xiv, 395 pages : maps ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York Review Books, [2008]

Summary:

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 Arainn, 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 Arainn. 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 Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia, Stones of Aran is not only a meticulous and mesmerizing study of place but an entrancing and altogether unclassifiable work of literature. Robinson explores Aran in both its elemental and mythical dimensions, taking us deep into the island's 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. Robinson's voyage continues in Stones of Aran: Labyrinth

Contents:

Timescape with Signpost 5

I South 23

Before Beginning 25

The Architecture of Destruction 29

Connoisseurs of Wilderness 31

This Vale of Tears 33

Ocean Walls and Windows 34

Little Sean's Boulder and Other Stones 37

Prospective 39

A Class Division 41

Sea-Marks 42

Signatures 44

Nine Fathoms 46

Duchathair 50

Styles of Flight 55

Wrack 57

Arguments from Weakness 58

The Cliffman's Kingdom 63

A Marine Cathedral 70

Seats on the Clifftop 72

Brachiopods and Bullets 76

Harbour Without Boats 78

The Worm and the Root 81

Dun Aonghasa: The Direct Approach 84

Dun Aonghasa: A Legendary Perspective 86

Posthumous Career of the Fir Bolg 94

Dun Aonghasa: A Closer Look 103

Perdition's Edge 110

Tides of the Other World 114

Life on the Brink 116

Divisions of the Land 119

An "Agrarian Outrage" 122

Fear of Falling, Fear of Failing 128

Looking Back 132

II Excursion 139

III North 159

Premonitions 161

Leviathan 162

A Difficult Mile 166

The Seaweed Gatherers 171

On the Shores of the Past 175

Shore Divisions 180

Blackweed and Redweed 183

Women's Work 186

Poets on the Shore 189

Fortune and Misfortune 192

The Kelp Age 194

Smoke and Ash 199

Afterimages, Afterthoughts 205

Man of Aran 212

History of a Stranger 222

Fishermen of Cill Mhuirbhigh 225

Writing on the Beach 229

The Luck of the Shore 234

The Irish Iodine & Marine Salts Mfg. Co. Ltd. 239

The Fingerprint 243

Sailing on a Stone 246

Looking into Other Lives 254

Differences Between Limestone and Granite 260

Yet Two More Bays 266

The Drowned Woman 268

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul 269

The Minister's Sand 274

The Generations 280

Destruction and Reconstruction 285

Point of Arrival 291

The Bay of Doubt 298

The Field of the Cloak 305

Cill Einne: The Village 309

Aircin: The Castle 313

Aircin: The Pawn 330

Cromwell's Walls 335

Aer Arann 339

Bones in the Sand 342

Sands in the Wind 348

Straw Island 357

The Step 360

Easy Going 365

Upon This Rock 368

The Aran Islands and Neighbouring Coasts 381

Arainn 382.

Notes:

Reprint. Originally published: Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland : Lilliput Press, 1986. With new introduction.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 371-380) and index.

ISBN:

9781590172773

1590172779

OCLC:

185095706