Podcast Episode 197: Alone Across the Outback

Source: Futility Closet

In 1977, a young woman named Robyn Davidson set out to pursue what she called a “lunatic idea” — to lead a group of camels 1,700 miles across western Australia, from the center of the continent to the Indian Ocean. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll follow Davidson’s remarkable journey alone through the Outback and learn what it taught her.

We’ll also dive into the La Brea Tar Pits and puzzle over some rejected customers.

Intro:

O.E. Young of Petersburg, Va., assembled a two-story house from the marble headstones of 2,000 Union soldiers.

In 1946 Stan Bult began recording the faces of London clowns on eggshells.

Sources for our feature on Robyn Davidson:

Robyn Davidson, Tracks, 1980.

Paul Smethurst, Travel Writing and the Natural World, 1768-1840, 2012.

Robert Clarke, Travel Writing From Black Australia: Utopia, Melancholia, and Aboriginality, 2016.

Amanda Hooton, “Travels of the Heart,” Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 8, 2014.

Robyn Davidson, “Walk My Country,” Mānoa 18:2 (Winter 2006), 7-17.

“The Inspiration: Robyn Davidson,” Australian Geographic 90 (April-June 2008), 112-112.

Dea Birkett, “The Books Interview: Robyn Davidson — Landmarks of an Accursed Art,” Independent, Aug. 4, 2001, 9.

Luke Slattery, “10 Questions: Robyn Davidson, Writer, Traveller, 59,” Australian Magazine, Oct. 13, 2012, 10.

Michele Field, “Robyn Davidson: A Literary Nomad,” Publishers Weekly 243:46 (Nov. 11, 1996), 52-53.

Cathy Pryor, “Tracks Author Robyn Davidson Reflects on a Changing Australia, 40 Years After Her Desert Trek,” ABC News, Dec. 8, 2017.

Richard Feloni, “16 Striking Photos of One Woman’s 2,835km Trek Across the Australian Outback,” Business Insider Australia, Feb. 15, 2015.

Robyn Davidson, “Tracks: The True Story Behind the Film,” Telegraph, April 19, 2014.

Duncan Campbell, “Making Tracks: Robyn Davidson’s Australian Camel Trip on the Big Screen,” Guardian, April 21, 2014.

Coburn Dukehart, “Rick Smolan’s Trek With Tracks, From Australian Outback to Silver Screen,” National Geographic, Sept. 19, 2014.

…

Click here to read more

The post Podcast Episode 197: Alone Across the Outback appeared first on FeedBox.