 The Songlines features a narrator named Bruce whose biography is almost identical to Chatwin 's . The narrator spends time in Australia trying to learn about Aboriginal culture , specifically the songlines . As the book goes on , it becomes a reflection on what Chatwin stated was " for me , the question of questions : the nature of human restlessness . " Chatwin also hinted at his preoccupation over his own mortality in the text : " I had a <unk> that the ' travelling ' phase of my life might be passing ... I should set down on paper a resume of the ideas , quotations , and encounters that amused me and obsessed me ... " Following this statement in The Songlines Chatwin included extensive excerpts from his moleskine notebooks . 
