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Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''
In Patagonia ''In Patagonia'' is an English travel book by Bruce Chatwin, published in 1977, about Patagonia, the southern part of South America. Preparations During the Second World War, Chatwin and his mother stayed at the home of his paternal grandpare ...
'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, interested in bringing to light unusual tales. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel '' On the Black Hill'' (1982), while his novel '' Utz'' (1988) was
shortlisted A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...
for the
Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
. In 2008 '' The Times'' ranked Chatwin as number 46 on their list of "50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945." Chatwin was born in Sheffield. After completing his secondary education at Marlborough College, he went to work at the age of 18 at Sotheby's in London, where he gained an extensive knowledge of art and eventually ran the auction house's
Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Meso ...
and Impressionist Art departments. In 1966 he left Sotheby's to read
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
at the University of Edinburgh, but he abandoned his studies after two years to pursue a career as a writer. '' The Sunday Times Magazine'' hired Chatwin in 1972. He travelled the world for work and interviewed figures such as the politicians Indira Gandhi and
André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed by P ...
. He left the magazine in 1974 to visit Patagonia, Argentina; a trip that inspired his first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977). He wrote five other books, including ''
The Songlines ''The Songlines'' is a 1987 book written by Bruce Chatwin, combining fiction and non-fiction. Chatwin describes a trip to Australia which he has taken for the express purpose of researching Aboriginal song and its connections to nomadic travel ...
'' (1987), about Australia, which was a bestseller. His work is credited with reviving the genre of travel writing, and his works influenced other writers such as
William Dalrymple William Dalrymple may refer to: * William Dalrymple (1678–1744), Scottish Member of Parliament * William Dalrymple (moderator) (1723–1814), Scottish minister and religious writer * William Dalrymple (British Army officer) (1736–1807), Scott ...
,
Claudio Magris Claudio Magris (born 10 April 1939) is an Italian scholar, translator and writer. He was a senator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia from 1994 to 1996. Life Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a ...
,
Philip Marsden Philip Marsden, also known as Philip Marsden-Smedley (born 11 May 1961), is an English travel writer and novelist. Born in Bristol, England, Marsden has a degree in anthropology and worked for some years for '' The Spectator'' magazine. He became ...
,
Luis Sepúlveda Luis Sepúlveda Calfucura (October 4, 1949 – April 16, 2020) was a Chilean writer and journalist. A communist militant and fervent opponent of Augusto Pinochet's regime, he was imprisoned and tortured by the military dictatorship during the ...
,
Rich Cohen Rich Cohen (born July 30, 1968) is an American non-fiction writer. He is a contributing editor at ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'' and ''Rolling Stone''. He is co-creator, with Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter, of the HBO ...
, and
Rory Stewart Roderick James Nugent Stewart (born 3 January 1973) is a British academic, diplomat, author, broadcaster, former soldier and former politician. He is the president of GiveDirectly, a visiting fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for ...
.


Life


Early years

Chatwin was born on 13 May 1940 at the Shearwood Road Nursing Home in Sheffield, England, to Charles Leslie Chatwin, a
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
solicitor and Royal Naval Reserve officer during World War II, and Margharita (née Turnell), daughter of a Sheffield knife manufacturer's clerk. She was born in Sheffield and worked for the local Conservative party prior to her marriage. The Chatwin family were well known in Birmingham, with Charles Chatwin's grandfather, Julius Alfred Chatwin, an eminent architect. Chatwin's early years were spent moving regularly with his mother while his father was at sea. Prior to his birth, Chatwin's parents had lived at
Barnt Green Barnt Green is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, situated south of Birmingham city centre, with a population at the 2011 census of 1,794. History Originating from the development of the railwa ...
, Worcestershire, but Margharita moved to her parents' house in
Dronfield Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire, England, which includes Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It lies in the valley of the River Drone between Chesterfield and Sheffield. The Peak District National Park is to the west. The name c ...
, near Sheffield, shortly before giving birth. Mother and son remained there for a few weeks. Worried about The Blitz, Margharita sought a safer place to stay. She took her son with her as they travelled to stay with various relatives during the war. They would remain in one place until Margharita decided to move, either because of concern for their safety, or because of friction among family members. Later in life Chatwin recalled of the war, "Home, if we had one, was a solid black suitcase called the Rev-Robe, in which there was a corner for my clothes and my Mickey Mouse gas mask." During the war Chatwin and his mother stayed at the home of his paternal grandparents, who had a curiosity cabinet that fascinated him. Among the items it contained was a "piece of
brontosaurus ''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related '' ...
" (actually a
mylodon ''Mylodon'' is a genus of extinct ground sloth belonging to the family Mylodontidae, known from the region of Patagonia in Chile and Argentina in southern South America. With a total length of 3 to 4 m, it is one of the best-known and largest rep ...
, a
giant sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbea ...
), which had been sent to Chatwin's grandmother by her cousin Charles Milward. Travelling in Patagonia, Milward had discovered the remains of a giant sloth, which he later sold to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
. He sent his cousin a piece of the animal's skin, and members of the family mistakenly referred to it as a "piece of brontosaurus". The skin was later lost, but it inspired Chatwin decades later to visit and write about Patagonia. After the war, Chatwin lived with his parents and younger brother Hugh (19442012) in West Heath in Birmingham, where his father had a
law practice In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...
. At the age of seven he was sent to
boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
at Old Hall School in Shropshire, and then Marlborough College, in Wiltshire. An unexceptional student, Chatwin garnered attention from his performances in school plays. While at Marlborough, Chatwin attained
A-levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...
in Latin, Greek, and Ancient History. Chatwin had hoped to read
Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classi ...
at
Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, c ...
, Oxford, but the end of
National Service in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, military conscription has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1920, and the second from 1939 to 1960. The last conscripted soldiers left the service in 1963. It was legally designated as "Mi ...
meant there was more competition for university places. He was forced to consider other options. His parents discouraged the ideas he offered: an acting career or work in the Colonial Service in Kenya. Instead, Chatwin's father asked one of his clients for a letter of introduction to the auction house Sotheby's. An interview was arranged, and Chatwin secured a job there.


Art and archaeology

In 1958, Chatwin moved to London to begin work as a porter in the Works of Art department at Sotheby's. Chatwin was ill-suited for this job, which included dusting objects that had been kept in storage. Sotheby's moved him to a junior cataloguer position, working in both the
Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Meso ...
and Impressionist Art departments. This position enabled him to develop his eye for art, and he quickly became known for his ability to discern
forgeries Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbi ...
. His work as a cataloguer also taught him to describe objects in a concise manner and required him to research these objects. Chatwin advanced to become Sotheby's expert on Antiquities and Impressionist art and would later run both departments. Many of Chatwin's colleagues thought he would eventually become chairman of the auction house. During this period Chatwin travelled extensively for his job and also for adventure. Travel offered him a relief from the
British class system The social structure of the United Kingdom has historically been highly influenced by the concept of social class, which continues to affect British society today. British society, like its European neighbours and most societies in world history, w ...
, which he found stifling. An admirer of
Robert Byron Robert Byron (26 February 1905 – 24 February 1941) was a British travel writer, best known for his travelogue ''The Road to Oxiana''. He was also a noted writer, art critic and historian. Biography He was the son of Eric Byron, a civil eng ...
and his book, ''
The Road to Oxiana ''The Road to Oxiana'' is a travelogue by the explorer Robert Byron, first published in 1937. It documents Byron's travels around Persia and Afghanistan, and is considered one of the most influential travel books of the 1930s. The word " Oxiana ...
'', he travelled twice to
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. He also used these trips to visit markets and shops, where he would buy antiques that he would resell at a profit in order to supplement his income from Sotheby's. He became friends with artists, art collectors and dealers. One friend,
Howard Hodgkin Sir Gordon Howard Eliott Hodgkin (6 August 1932 – 9 March 2017) was a British painter and printmaker. His work is most often associated with abstraction. Early life Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin was born on 6 August 1932 in Hammersmith, Lond ...
, painted Chatwin in
The Japanese Screen
' (1962). Chatwin said he was the "acid green smear on the left." Chatwin was ambivalent about his sexual orientation and had affairs with both men and women during this period of his life. One of his girlfriends, Elizabeth Chanler, an American and a descendant of John Jacob Astor, was a secretary at Sotheby's. Chanler had earned a degree in history from
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and h ...
and worked at Sotheby's
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...
offices for two years before transferring to their London office in 1961. Her love of travel and independent nature appealed to Chatwin. In the mid-1960s Chatwin grew unhappy at Sotheby's. There were various reasons for his disenchantment. Both women and men found Chatwin attractive, and Peter Wilson, then chairman of Sotheby's, used this appeal to the auction house's advantage when using Chatwin to try to persuade wealthy individuals to sell their art collections. Chatwin became increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. Later in life Chatwin also spoke of having become "burnt out" and said, "In the end I felt I might just as well be working for a rather superior funeral parlour. One's whole life seemed to be spent valuing for probate the apartment of somebody recently dead." In late 1964 he began to suffer from problems with his sight, which he attributed to the close analysis of art work entailed by his job. He consulted eye specialist
Patrick Trevor-Roper Patrick Dacre Trevor-Roper (7 June 1916 – 22 April 2004) was a British eye surgeon, author and pioneer gay rights activist, who played a leading role in the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in the UK. Life and career He was born in Nor ...
, who diagnosed a latent squint and recommended that Chatwin take a six-month break from his work at Sotheby's. Trevor-Roper had been involved in the design of an eye hospital in
Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
, and suggested Chatwin visit East Africa. In February 1965, Chatwin left for Sudan. It was on this trip that Chatwin first encountered a nomadic tribe; their way of life intrigued him. "My nomadic guide," he wrote, "carried a sword, a purse and a pot of scented goat's grease for anointing his hair. He made me feel overburdened and inadequate...." Chatwin would remain fascinated by nomads for the rest of his life. Chatwin returned to Sotheby's, and to the surprise of his friends, proposed marriage to Elizabeth Chanler. They married on 21 August 1965. Chatwin was bisexual throughout their married life, a circumstance Elizabeth knew and accepted. Chatwin had hoped he would "grow out of" his homosexual behaviour and have a successful marriage like his parents. During their marriage, Chatwin had many affairs, mostly with men. Some who were aware of Chatwin's affairs with men assumed the Chatwins had a chaste marriage, but according to
Nicholas Shakespeare Nicholas William Richmond Shakespeare FRSL (born 3 March 1957) is a British novelist and biographer, described by the '' Wall Street Journal'' as "one of the best English novelists of our time". Biography Born in Worcester, England to diplomat ...
, the author's biographer, this was not true. Both Chatwin and his wife had hoped to have children, but they remained childless. In April 1966, at the age of 26, Chatwin was promoted to a director of Sotheby's, a position to which he had aspired. To his disappointment, he was made a junior director and lacked voting rights on the board. This disappointment, along with boredom and increasing discomfort over potentially illegal side deals taking place at Sotheby's, including the sale of objects from the Pitt-Rivers museum collection, led Chatwin to resign from his Sotheby's post in June 1966. Chatwin enrolled in October 1966 at the University of Edinburgh to study
Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
. He had regretted not attending Oxford and had been contemplating going to university for a few years. A visit in December 1965 to the Hermitage in
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
sparked his interest in the field of archaeology. Despite winning the Wardrop Prize for the best first year's work, he found the rigour of academic archaeology tiresome, and he left after two years without taking a degree.


''The Nomadic Alternative''

Following his departure from Edinburgh, Chatwin decided to pursue a career as a writer, successfully pitching a book proposal on nomads to
Tom Maschler Thomas Michael Maschler (16 August 193315 October 2020) was a British publisher and writer. He was noted for instituting the Booker Prize for British, Irish and Commonwealth literature in 1969. He was involved in publishing the works of many not ...
, publisher at Jonathan Cape. Chatwin tentatively titled the book ''The Nomadic Alternative'' and sought to answer the question "Why do men wander rather than stand still?" Chatwin delivered the manuscript in 1972, and Maschler declined to publish it, calling it a "chore to read". Between 1969 and 1972, as he was working on ''The Nomadic Alternative'', Chatwin travelled extensively and pursued other endeavours in an attempt to establish a creative career. He co-curated an exhibit on ''Nomadic Art of the Asian Steppes,'' which opened at Asia House Gallery in New York City in 1970. He considered publishing an account of his 1969 trip to Afghanistan with
Peter Levi Peter Chad Tigar Levi, FSA, FRSL (16 May 1931, in Ruislip – 1 February 2000, in Frampton-on-Severn) was a British poet, archaeologist, Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and prolific reviewer and critic. He was Professor o ...
. Levi published his own book about it, ''The Light Garden of the Angel King: Journeys in Afghanistan'' (1972). Chatwin contributed two articles on nomads to ''Vogue'' and another article to ''
History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...
''. In the early 1970s Chatwin had an affair with
James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with scree ...
, a film director. He pitched stories to him for possible films, which Ivory did not take seriously. In 1972 Chatwin tried his hand at film-making and travelled to Niger to make a documentary about nomads. The film was lost while Chatwin was trying to sell it to European television companies. Chatwin also took photographs of his journeys and attempted to sell photographs from a trip to Mauritania to '' The Sunday Times Magazine.'' While ''The Times'' did not accept those photographs for publication, it did offer Chatwin a job.


''The Sunday Times Magazine'' and ''In Patagonia''

In 1972, ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' hired Chatwin as an adviser on art and
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
. Initially his role was to suggest story ideas and put together features such as "One Million Years of Art," which ran in several issues during the summer of 1973. His editor, Francis Wyndham, encouraged him to write, which allowed him to develop his narrative skills. Chatwin travelled on many international assignments, writing on such subjects as Algerian migrant workers and the
Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic group ...
, and interviewing such diverse people as
André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed by P ...
,
Maria Reiche Maria Reiche Grosse-Neumann (15 May 1903 – 8 June 1998) was a German-born Peruvian mathematician, archaeologist, and technical translator. She is known for her research into the Nazca Lines, which she first saw in 1941 together with American h ...
, and
Madeleine Vionnet Madeleine Vionnet (; June 22, 1876, Loiret, France – March 2, 1975) was a French fashion designer. Vionnet trained in London before returning to France to establish her first fashion house in Paris in 1912. Although it was forced to close in ...
. In 1972, Chatwin interviewed the 93-year-old architect and designer
Eileen Gray Eileen Gray (born Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith; 9 August 187831 October 1976) was an Irish architect and furniture designer who became a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture. Over her career, she was associated with many notable Euro ...
in her Paris salon, where he noticed a map she had painted of the area of South America called Patagonia. "I've always wanted to go there," Chatwin told her. "So have I," she replied, "Go there for me." Two years later, in November 1974, Chatwin flew out to Lima in Peru, and reached Patagonia, Argentina; a month later. He would later claim that he sent a
telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
to Wyndham merely stating: "Have gone to Patagonia." Actually he sent a letter: "I am doing a story there for myself, something I have always wanted to write up." This marked the end of Chatwin's role as a regular writer for ''The Sunday Times Magazine'', although in subsequent years he contributed occasional pieces, including a profile of Indira Gandhi. Chatwin spent six months in Patagonia, travelling around gathering stories of people who came from elsewhere and settled there. This trip resulted in the book ''In Patagonia'' (1977). He used his quest for his own "piece of brontosaurus" (the one from his grandparents' cabinet had been thrown away years earlier) to frame the story of his trip. Chatwin described ''In Patagonia'' as "the narrative of an actual journey and a symbolic one.... It is supposed to fall into the category or be a spoof of Wonder Voyage: the narrator goes to a far country in search of a strange animal: on his way he lands in strange situations, people or other books tell him strange stories which add up to form a message." ''In Patagonia'' contains fifteen black and white photographs by Chatwin. According to
Susannah Clapp Susannah Clapp (born 1949) is a British writer, who has been the theatre critic of ''The Observer'' since 1997 and is a contributor to the BBC Radio 3 '' Nightwaves'' programme. Clapp read English at the University of Bristol, where one of her tea ...
, who edited the book, "
Rebecca West Dame Cicily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...
amused Chatwin by telling him that these were so good they rendered superfluous the entire text of the book." This work established Chatwin's reputation as a travel writer. One of his biographers, Nicholas Murray, called ''In Patagonia'' "one of the most strikingly original post-war English travel books" and said that it revitalised the genre of travel writing. However, residents in the region contradicted the account of events depicted in Chatwin's book. It was the first time in his career, but not the last, that conversations and characters which Chatwin presented as fact were later alleged to be fiction. For ''In Patagonia'' Chatwin received the Hawthornden Prize and the
E. M. Forster Award The E. M. Forster Award is a $20,000 award given annually to an Irish or British writer to fund a period of travel in the United States. The award, named after the English novelist E. M. Forster, is administered by the American Academy of Arts and ...
from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
.
Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
,
Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's great ...
, and
Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...
praised the book. As a result of the success of ''In Patagonia'', Chatwin's circle of friends expanded to include people like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,
Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay " Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. He ...
, and Jasper Johns.


Ouidah and the Black Hills

Upon his return from Patagonia, Chatwin discovered a change in leadership at ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' and his retainer was discontinued. Chatwin intended his next project to be a
biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
of
Francisco Félix de Sousa Francisco Félix de Souza (4 October 1754 – 8 May 1849) was a Brazilian slave trader who was deeply influential in the regional politics of pre-colonial West Africa (namely, current-day Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Togo). He founded Afro-Braz ...
, a 19th-century
slave trader The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of e ...
born in Brazil, who became the
Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
of
Ouidah Ouidah () or Whydah (; ''Ouidah'', ''Juida'', and ''Juda'' by the French; ''Ajudá'' by the Portuguese; and ''Fida'' by the Dutch) and known locally as Glexwe, formerly the chief port of the Kingdom of Whydah, is a city on the coast of the Repub ...
in
Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a region ...
. Chatwin had first heard of de Sousa during a visit to Dahomey in 1972. He returned to the country, by then renamed the
People's Republic of Benin The People's Republic of Benin (french: République populaire du Bénin; sometimes translated as Benin Popular Republic or Popular Republic of Benin) was a socialist state located in the Gulf of Guinea on the African continent, which would becom ...
, in December 1976 to conduct research. In January 1977, during the
1977 Benin coup d'état attempt The 1977 Benin coup d'état attempt, ''Opération Crevette'' or Operation Shrimp was a failed attempt by a team of French-led mercenaries to overthrow the government of the People's Republic of Benin which was led by Mathieu Kérékou whose comm ...
, Chatwin was accused of being a mercenary and detained for three days. Chatwin later wrote about this experience in "A Coup – A Story," which was published in ''Granta'' and included in ''What Am I Doing Here?'' (1989). Following his arrest and release, Chatwin left Benin and went to Brazil to continue his research on de Sousa. Frustrated by the lack of documented information on de Sousa, Chatwin chose instead to write a fictionalised biography of him, ''The Viceroy of Ouidah''. This book was published in 1980, and Werner Herzog's film ''
Cobra Verde ''Cobra Verde'' (also known as ''Slave Coast'') is a 1987 German drama film directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski, in their fifth and final collaboration. Based upon Bruce Chatwin's 1980 novel ''The Viceroy of Ouidah'', the film de ...
'' (1987) is based on it. Although ''The Viceroy of Ouidah'' received good reviews, it did not sell well. Nicholas Shakespeare said that the dismal sales caused Chatwin to pursue a completely different subject for his next book. In response to his growing reputation as a travel writer, Chatwin said he "decided to write something about people who never went out." His next book, ''On the Black Hill'' (1982), is a novel of twin brothers who live all of their lives in a farmhouse on the Welsh borders. For this book Chatwin won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, even though he considered his previous book, ''The Viceroy of Ouidah'', a novel. It was made into a film in 1987. In the late 1970s Chatwin spent an increasing amount of time in New York City. He continued to have affairs with men, but most of these affairs were short-lived. In 1977 he began his first serious affair with Donald Richards, an Australian stockbroker. Richards introduced him to the
gay nightclub A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once served as ...
scene in New York. During this period Chatwin became acquainted with Robert Mapplethorpe, who photographed him. Chatwin is one of the few men Mapplethorpe photographed fully clothed. Chatwin later contributed the introduction to a book of Mapplethorpe's photographs, ''Lady, Lisa Lyon'' (1983). Although Elizabeth Chatwin had accepted her husband's affairs, their relationship deteriorated in the late 1970s, and in 1980 she asked for a separation. By 1982 Chatwin's affair with Richards had ended and he began another serious affair with
Jasper Conran Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran (born 12 December 1959) is an English designer. He has worked on collections of womenswear and for the home, as well as productions for the stage in ballet, opera and theatre. Early life He is the second son of ...
.


''The Songlines''

In 1983 Chatwin returned to the topic of nomads and decided to focus on
Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Island ...
. He was influenced by the work of
Ted Strehlow Theodor George Henry Strehlow (6 June 1908 – 3 October 1978) was an Australian anthropologist and linguist. He notably studied the Arrernte (Aranda, Arunta) Aboriginal Australians and their language in Central Australia. Life Early life St ...
, a controversial figure who was the author of ''Songs of Central Australia''. Strehlow had collected and recorded Aboriginal songs, and shortly before his death in 1978, he sold photographs of secret Aboriginal initiation ceremonies to a magazine. Chatwin went to Australia to learn more about
Aboriginal culture Australian Aboriginal culture includes a number of practices and ceremonies centered on a belief in the Dreamtime and other mythology. Reverence and respect for the land and oral traditions are emphasised. Over 300 languages and other groupings ...
, specifically the
songline A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia which mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dre ...
s or dreaming tracks. Each songline is a personal story and functions as a creation tale and a map, and each Aboriginal Australian has their own songline. Chatwin thought the songlines could be used as a metaphor to support his ideas about humans' need to wander, which he believed was genetic. However, he struggled fully to understand and describe the songlines and their place in Aboriginal culture. This was due to Chatwin's approach to learning about the songlines. He spent several weeks in 1983 and 1984 in Australia, during which he primarily relied on non-Aboriginal people for information, as he was limited by his inability to speak the Aboriginal languages. He interviewed people involved in the Land Rights movement, and he alienated many of them because he was oblivious to the politics and also because he was an admirer of Strehlow's work. While in Australia, Chatwin, who had been experiencing some health problems, first read about AIDS, then known as the gay plague. It frightened him and compelled him to reconcile with his wife. The fear of AIDS also drove him to finish the book that became ''The Songlines'' (1987). His friend the novelist Salman Rushdie said, "That book was an obsession too great for him.... His illness did him a favour, got him free of it. Otherwise, he would have gone on writing it for ten years." ''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 presentiment 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. Chatwin published ''The Songlines'' in 1987, and it became a bestseller in the United Kingdom and in the United States. The book was nominated for the Thomas Cook Travel Award, but Chatwin requested that it be withdrawn from consideration, saying the work was fictional. After its publication, Chatwin became friends with the composer
Kevin Volans Kevin Volans (born 26 July 1949) is a South African born Irish composer and pianist. He studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the ''Neue Einfacheit'' ( New Simplicity) mo ...
, who was inspired to base a theatre score on the book. The project evolved into an opera, ''The Man with Footsoles of Wind'' (1993).


Illness and final works

While at work on ''The Songlines'' between 1983 and 1986, Chatwin frequently came down with colds. He also developed skin lesions that may have been symptoms of Kaposi's sarcoma. After finishing ''The Songlines'' in August 1986, he went to Switzerland, where he collapsed in the street. At a clinic there, he was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Chatwin provided different reasons to his doctors as to how he might have contracted HIV, including from a gang rape in Dahomey or possibly from
Sam Wagstaff Samuel Jones Wagstaff Jr. (November 4, 1921 – January 14, 1987) was an American art curator and collector as well as the artistic mentor and benefactor of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (who was also his lifetime companion) and poet- punk ro ...
, the patron and lover of Robert Mapplethorpe. Chatwin's case was unusual as he had a fungal infection, ''
Talaromyces marneffei ''Talaromyces marneffei'', formerly called ''Penicillium marneffei'', was identified in 1956. The organism is endemic to southeast Asia where it is an important cause of opportunistic infections in those with HIV/AIDS-related immunodeficiency. ...
'', which at the time had rarely been seen and only in South Asia. It is now known as an AIDS-defining illness, but in 1986 little was known about HIV and AIDS. Doctors were not certain if all cases of HIV developed into AIDS. The rare fungus gave Chatwin hope that he might be different and served as the basis of what he told most people about his illness. He gave various reasons for how he became infected with the fungus – ranging from eating a thousand-year-old egg to exploring a bat cave in Indonesia. He never publicly disclosed that he was HIV-positive because of the stigma at the time. He wanted to protect his parents, who were unaware of his homosexual affairs. Although Chatwin never spoke or wrote publicly about his disease, in one instance he did write about the
AIDS epidemic The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2021, HIV/AI ...
in 1988 in a letter to the editor of the '' London Review of Books'':
"The word 'Aids' is one of the cruellest and silliest neologisms of our time. 'Aid' means help, succour, comfort—yet with a hissing sibilant tacked onto the end it becomes a nightmare.... HIV (Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus) is a perfectly easy name to live with. 'Aids' causes panic and despair and has probably done something to facilitate the spread of the disease."
During his illness, Chatwin continued to write. Elizabeth encouraged him to use a letter he had written to her from Prague in 1967 as an inspiration for a new story. During this trip, he had met Konrad Just, an art collector. This meeting and the letter to Elizabeth served as the basis for Chatwin's next work. '' Utz'' (1988) was a novel about the obsession that leads people to collect. Set in Prague, the novel details the life and death of Kaspar Utz, a man obsessed with his collection of Meissen porcelain. ''Utz'' was well-received and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Chatwin also edited a collection of his journalism, which was published as ''What Am I Doing Here'' (1989). At the time of his death in 1989, he was working on a number of new ideas for future novels, including a transcontinental epic provisionally titled ''Lydia Livingstone''. Chatwin died at a hospital in Nice on 18 January 1989. A memorial service was held at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Sophia in West London on 14 February 1989, Salman Rushdie, a close friend of Chatwin's, attended the service.
Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...
, who also attended the service, later commented on it and Chatwin in a piece for ''
Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...
''. The novelist Martin Amis described the memorial service in the essay "Salman Rushdie", included in his
anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...
'' Visiting Mrs Nabokov''. In 1985, suffering from a mysterious illness (which turned out to be HIV) Chatwin interrupted his writing to make a pilgrimage to Mount Athos. Until that point he had never struck friends as being religious, but the visit had a profound effect, and he eventually decided to become an Orthodox Christian. At the memorial service Bishop Kallistos Ware told the congregation: ‘Bruce was always a traveller and he died before all his journeys could be completed… his journey into Orthodoxy was one of his unfinished voyages.’ Chatwin's ashes were scattered near a
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
chapel above
Kardamyli Kardamili ( el, Καρδαμύλη, variously transliterated as ''Kardamyle'', ''Cardamyle'', ''Kardhamili'', and ''Kardamyli'', and sometimes called "Skardamoula", especially on old maps) is a town by the sea thirty-five kilometers southeast of ...
in the Peloponnese. This was close to the home of one of his mentors, the writer
Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's great ...
. Chatwin had spent several months in 1985 near there, working on ''The Songlines''. Chatwin's papers, including 85
moleskine Moleskine ( Italian pronunciation: ) is an Italian manufacturer, papermaker, and product designer founded in 1997 by Francesco Franceschi, based in Milan, Italy. It produces and designs luxury notebooks, as well as planners, sketchbooks, lea ...
notebooks, were given to the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second ...
, Oxford. Two collections of his photographs and excerpts from the moleskine notebooks were published as ''Photographs and Notebooks'' (US title: ''Far Journeys'') in 1993 and ''Winding Paths'' in 1999. News of Chatwin's AIDS diagnosis first surfaced in September 1988, although the obituaries at the time of his death had referred to Chatwin's statements about a rare fungal infection. After his death, some members of the gay community criticised Chatwin for lack of courage to reveal the true nature of his illness, thinking he would have raised public awareness of AIDS, as he was one of the first high-profile individuals in Britain known to have contracted HIV.


Writing style

John Updike described Chatwin's writing as "a clipped, lapidary prose that compresses worlds into pages", while one of Chatwin's editors, Susannah Clapp, wrote, "Although his syntax was pared down, his words were not – or at least not only – plain.... His prose is both spare and flamboyant." Chatwin's writing was shaped by his work as a cataloguer at Sotheby's, which provided him with years of practice in writing concise, yet vivid descriptions of objects with the intention of enticing buyers. In addition, his writing was influenced by his interest in nomads. One aspect that interested him was the few possessions they had. Their Spartan way of life appealed to his aesthetic sense, and he sought to emulate it in his life and his writing, striving to strip needless objects from his life and needless words from his prose. Chatwin experimented with format in his writing. With ''In Patagonia'', Clapp said Chatwin described the book's structure of 97 vignettes as "
Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
." " other words," she said, "lots of small pictures tilting away and toward each other to create this strange original portrait of Patagonia." ''The Songlines'' was another attempt by Chatwin to experiment with format. It begins as a novel narrated by a man named Bruce, but about two-thirds of the way through it becomes a commonplace book filled with quotations, anecdotes, and summaries of others' research, in an attempt to explore restlessness. Some of Chatwin's critics did not think he succeeded in ''The Songlines'' with this approach, but others applauded his effort at an unconventional structure. Several 19th and 20th-century writers influenced Chatwin's work. He admitted to imitating the work of Robert Byron when he first began making notes of his travels. While in Patagonia he read ''In Our Time'' by Ernest Hemingway, whom he admired for his spare prose. While writing ''In Patagonia'', Chatwin strove to approach his writing as a "literary Cartier-Bresson." Chatwin's biographer described the resulting prose as "quick snapshots of ordinary people". Along with Hemingway and Cartier-Bresson,
Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Ac ...
's work strongly influenced Chatwin during the writing of ''In Patagonia''. An admirer of Noël Coward, Chatwin found the breakfast scene in ''
Private Lives ''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetuall ...
'' helpful in learning to write dialogue. Once Chatwin began work on ''The Viceroy of Ouidah'', he began studying the work of 19th-century French authors such as
Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
and
Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
, who would continue to influence him for the rest of his life.


Themes

Chatwin explored several different themes in his work: human restlessness and wandering; borders and exile; and art and objects. He considered human restlessness to be the focus of his writing. He ultimately aspired to explore the subject in order to answer what he saw as a fundamental question of human existence. He thought humans were meant to be a migratory species, and once they settled in one place, their natural urges "found outlets in violence, greed, status-seeking or a mania for the new." In his first attempt at writing a book, ''The Nomadic Alternative'', Chatwin had tried to compose an academic exposition on nomadic culture, which he believed was unexamined and unappreciated. With this, Chatwin had hoped to discover: "Why do men wander rather than sit still?" In his book proposal he admitted that the interest in the subject was personal: "Why do I become restless after a month in a single place, unbearable after two?" Although Chatwin did not succeed with ''The Nomadic Alternative'', he returned to the topic of restlessness and wandering in subsequent books. Writer Jonathan Chatwin (no relation) stated that Chatwin's works can be grouped into two categories: "restlessness defined" and "restlessness explained." Most of his work focuses on describing restlessness, such as in the case of one twin in ''On the Black Hill'' who longs to leave home. Another example is the protagonist of ''Utz'', who feels restless to escape to Vichy each year, but always returns to Prague. Chatwin attempted to explain restlessness in ''The Songlines'', which focused on the Aboriginal Australians'
walkabout Walkabout is a rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal society, during which males undergo a journey during adolescence, typically ages 10 to 16, and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months to make the spiritual and traditiona ...
. For this, he returned to his research from ''The Nomadic Alternative''. Borders are another Chatwin theme. According to Elizabeth Chatwin, he "was interested in borders, where things were always changing, not one thing or another." Patagonia, the subject of his first published book, is an area that is in both Argentina and Chile. The Viceroy of Ouidah is a Brazilian who trades slaves in Dahomey. ''On the Black Hills'' takes place on the borders of Wales and England. In ''The Songlines'' the characters the protagonist mostly interacts with are people who provide a bridge between the Aboriginal and white Australian worlds. The main character in ''Utz'' travels back and forth across the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
. "The theme of exile, of people living at the margins.... is treated in a literal and metaphorical sense throughout Chatwin's work," stated Nicholas Murray. He identified several examples. There were people who were actual exiles, like some of those profiled in ''In Patagonia'', and the Viceroy of Ouidah, unable to return to Brazil. Murray also cited the main characters in ''On the Black Hill'': "Although not strictly exiles....
hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title ...
were exiles from the major events of their time and its dominant values." Similarly, Murray wrote, Utz is "trapped in a society whose values are not his own but which he cannot bring himself to leave." Chatwin returned to the subject of art and objects during his career. In his early writing for the ''Sunday Times Magazine'', he wrote about art and artists, and many of these articles were included in ''What Am I Doing Here''. The main focus of ''Utz'' is on the impact the possession of art (in this case porcelain figures) has on a collector. Utz's unwillingness to give up his porcelain collection kept him in Czechoslovakia even though he had the opportunity to live in the West. Chatwin constantly struggled with the conflicting desires to own beautiful items and to live in a space free of unnecessary objects. His distaste for the art world resulted from his days at Sotheby's; some of his final writing focused on this. The topic appears in the final section of ''What Am I Doing Here'', "Tales from the Art World," which consists of four short stories. At the end of ''What Am I Doing Here'', Chatwin shares an anecdote of advice he received from Noël Coward: "Never let anything artistic stand in your way." Chatwin stated, "I've always acted on that advice."


Influence

With the publication of ''In Patagonia'', Chatwin invigorated the genre of
travel writing Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...
; according to his biographer, Nicholas Murray, he "showed that an inventive writer could breathe new life into an old genre." The combination of his clear, yet vivid prose and an international perspective at a time when many English writers were more focused on home instead of abroad helped to set him apart. Aside from his writing, Chatwin was also good looking, and his image as a dashing traveller added to his appeal and helped make him a celebrity. In the eyes of younger writers such as
Rory Stewart Roderick James Nugent Stewart (born 3 January 1973) is a British academic, diplomat, author, broadcaster, former soldier and former politician. He is the president of GiveDirectly, a visiting fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for ...
, Chatwin "made ravel writingcool." In '' The New York Times'', Andrew Harvey wrote,
"Nearly every writer of my generation in England has wanted, at some point, to be Bruce Chatwin; wanted, like him, to talk of
Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
and
Firdausi , image = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus, Iran 3 (cropped).jpg , image_size = , caption = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus by Abolhassan Sadighi , birth_date = 940 , birth_place = Tus, Samanid Empire , death_date = 1019 or 1025 (87 years old) , d ...
, Nigeria and Nuristan, with equal authority; wanted to be talked about, as he is, with raucous envy; wanted above all to have written his books."
Chatwin's books also inspired some readers to visit Patagonia and Australia. As a result, Patagonia experienced an increase in tourism, and it became a common sight for tourists to appear in the region, carrying a copy of ''In Patagonia''. ''The Songlines'' also inspired readers to travel to Australia and seek out the people on whom Chatwin had based his characters, much to their consternation, as he had failed to disclose such intentions to them. Beyond travel, Chatwin influenced other writers, such as
Claudio Magris Claudio Magris (born 10 April 1939) is an Italian scholar, translator and writer. He was a senator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia from 1994 to 1996. Life Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a ...
,
Luis Sepúlveda Luis Sepúlveda Calfucura (October 4, 1949 – April 16, 2020) was a Chilean writer and journalist. A communist militant and fervent opponent of Augusto Pinochet's regime, he was imprisoned and tortured by the military dictatorship during the ...
,
Philip Marsden Philip Marsden, also known as Philip Marsden-Smedley (born 11 May 1961), is an English travel writer and novelist. Born in Bristol, England, Marsden has a degree in anthropology and worked for some years for '' The Spectator'' magazine. He became ...
, and
William Dalrymple William Dalrymple may refer to: * William Dalrymple (1678–1744), Scottish Member of Parliament * William Dalrymple (moderator) (1723–1814), Scottish minister and religious writer * William Dalrymple (British Army officer) (1736–1807), Scott ...
. Nicholas Shakespeare stated that some of Chatwin's impact came from the difficulty of categorising his work, which helped to "set free other writers...
rom Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * R ...
conventional boundaries." Although he was often called a travel writer, he did not identify himself as one, or as a novelist. ("I don't quite know the meaning of the word novel," he said). He preferred to call his writing stories or searches. He was interested in asking big questions about human existence, sharing unusual tales, and making connections between ideas from various sources. His friend and fellow writer
Robyn Davidson Robyn Davidson (born 6 September 1950) is an Australian writer best known for her 1980 book ''Tracks'', about her 2,700 km (1,700 miles) trek across the deserts of Western Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about ...
said, "He posed questions we all want answered and perhaps gave the illusion they were answerable."


Posthumous influence

According to his biographer
Nicholas Shakespeare Nicholas William Richmond Shakespeare FRSL (born 3 March 1957) is a British novelist and biographer, described by the '' Wall Street Journal'' as "one of the best English novelists of our time". Biography Born in Worcester, England to diplomat ...
, Chatwin's work developed a dedicated following in the years immediately after his death. By 1998 a million copies of his books had been sold. However, his reputation diminished following revelations about his personal life and questions about the accuracy of his work. The accuracy problem had arisen before his death, and Chatwin had admitted to "counting up the lies" in ''In Patagonia'', though he stated there were not many. While researching Chatwin's life, Nicholas Shakespeare stated he found "few cases of mere invention" in ''In Patagonia''. Mostly, these tended to be instances of embellishment, such as when Chatwin wrote of a nurse who loved the work of
Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Ac ...
– one of his favorite authors – when in fact she was a fan of
Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
. When Michael Ignatieff asked Chatwin his opinion of what divided fact from fiction, he replied, "I don't think there is division" Some individuals profiled in ''In Patagonia'' were unhappy with Chatwin's portrayals of them. They included a man whom Chatwin insinuated was homosexual and a woman who thought her father was unjustly accused of killing Indians. However, Chatwin's biographer found one farmer who was featured in the book who thought Chatwin's depictions of himself and other members of his community were truthful. He stated, "No one likes looking at their own passport photograph, but I found it accurate. It's not flattering, but it's the truth." Chatwin's bestseller, ''The Songlines'', has been the focus of much criticism. Some describe his viewpoint as "
colonialist Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
", citing his lack of interviews with Aboriginals and reliance instead on white Australians for information about Aboriginal culture. Other criticism comes from anthropologists and other researchers who spent years studying Aboriginal culture and dismiss Chatwin's work because he visited Australia briefly. Yet others, such as writer
Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel '' Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, ...
, believe ''The Songlines'' should be widely read in Australia, where many people had not previously heard of the songlines. The questions about the veracity of Chatwin's writing are compounded by the revelation of his sexual orientation and the true cause of his death. Once it became known that Chatwin had been bisexual and had died of an AIDS-related illness, some critics viewed him as a liar and dismissed his work. Nicholas Shakespeare said, "His denial f his AIDS diagnosisbred a sense that if he lied about his life, he must have lied about his work. Some readers have taken this as a cue to pass judgement on his books – or else not to bother with them." In 2010 '' The Guardian's'' review of ''Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin'' opened with the question, "Does anyone read Bruce Chatwin these days?" However,
Rory Stewart Roderick James Nugent Stewart (born 3 January 1973) is a British academic, diplomat, author, broadcaster, former soldier and former politician. He is the president of GiveDirectly, a visiting fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for ...
has stated, "His personality, his learning, his myths, and even his prose are less hypnotizing han they once were And yet he remains a great writer, of deep and enduring importance". In 2008 '' The Times'' rated Chatwin No. 46 on their list of "50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945".


Legacy

Chatwin's name is used to sell
Moleskine Moleskine ( Italian pronunciation: ) is an Italian manufacturer, papermaker, and product designer founded in 1997 by Francesco Franceschi, based in Milan, Italy. It produces and designs luxury notebooks, as well as planners, sketchbooks, lea ...
notebooks. Chatwin wrote in ''The Songlines'' of little black
oilskin Oilskin is a waterproof cloth used for making garments typically worn by sailors and by others in wet areas. The modern oilskin garment was developed by a New Zealander, Edward Le Roy, in 1898. Le Roy used worn-out sailcloth painted with a mixt ...
-covered notebooks that he bought in Paris and called "moleskines". The quotes and anecdotes he had compiled in them serve as a major section of ''The Songlines'', where Chatwin mourned the closure of the last producer of such books. In 1995, Marta Sebregondi read ''The Songlines'' and proposed to her employer, the Italian design and publishing firm Modo & Modo, that they produce moleskine notebooks. In 1997, the company began to sell them and use Chatwin's name to promote them. Modo & Modo was sold in 2006, and the company became known as Moleskine SpA. In 2014 the clothing label
Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessories ...
produced a collection inspired by Chatwin's books. The following year Burberry released a limited edition of Chatwin's books with specially designed covers. In September 2019 the documentary film '' Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin'', by Werner Herzog, was broadcast by the BBC.


Works

*''
In Patagonia ''In Patagonia'' is an English travel book by Bruce Chatwin, published in 1977, about Patagonia, the southern part of South America. Preparations During the Second World War, Chatwin and his mother stayed at the home of his paternal grandpare ...
'' (1977) *'' The Viceroy of Ouidah'' (1980) *'' On the Black Hill'' (1982) *''Patagonia Revisited'', with
Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...
(1985) *''
The Songlines ''The Songlines'' is a 1987 book written by Bruce Chatwin, combining fiction and non-fiction. Chatwin describes a trip to Australia which he has taken for the express purpose of researching Aboriginal song and its connections to nomadic travel ...
'' (1987) *'' Utz'' (1988) *'' What Am I Doing Here'' (1989)


Posthumously published

*'' Photographs and Notebooks'' (1993) *'' Anatomy of Restlessness'' (1997) *''
Winding Paths ''Winding Paths'' is a book containing a collection of photographs taken by British author Bruce Chatwin during his various travels. These include photographs from the period when he was writing his other works: '' In Patagonia'', ''The Viceroy of ...
'' (1998) *'' Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin'' (2012)


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * *
Antonella Riem, ''La gabbia innaturale – l'opera di Bruce Chatwin''
(pp. 175). Udine: Campanotto (Italy). 1993.


Documentaries

* Paul Yule, ''In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin'' (2x60 mins), BBC, 1999 – Berwick Universal Pictures * Werner Herzog, '' Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin'', BBC Scotland, BBC Studios, BBC2, 2019 – Sideways Films


External links


"Bruce Chatwin"
a resource for news related to Bruce Chatwin and his work
"''On the Black Hill''." Entry
in ''
Literary Encyclopedia ''Literary Encyclopedia'' (Russian: Литературная энциклопедия) is a 12-volume encyclopedia published in the USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinenta ...
''
"''The Songlines''." Entry
in ''
Literary Encyclopedia ''Literary Encyclopedia'' (Russian: Литературная энциклопедия) is a 12-volume encyclopedia published in the USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinenta ...
''
"Bruce Chatwin." Entry
in ''
Literary Encyclopedia ''Literary Encyclopedia'' (Russian: Литературная энциклопедия) is a 12-volume encyclopedia published in the USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinenta ...
''
Moleskine official website
*
Archive of (Charles) Bruce Chatwin
Bodleian Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatwin, Bruce 1940 births 1989 deaths 20th-century English novelists AIDS-related deaths in France Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Bisexual men Bisexual writers Burials in Greece Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy English male novelists English people imprisoned abroad English travel writers James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients English LGBT novelists People educated at Marlborough College People from Dronfield Writers from Sheffield Sotheby's people The Sunday Times people British Vogue 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers 20th-century LGBT people