It investigates new clues about Butch Cassidy, “who rode into a new life of wide horizons and the scent of horse leather”, and gives a lyrical account of the Welsh in Patagonia: hollyhocks, whitewashed rooms, ripe plums, pottery dogs and a harmonium. It examines the lives of the giant sloth and His Royal Highness Prince Philippe of Araucanía and Patagonia – a short chap in a brown tweed suit. In Patagonia begins with the infant Chatwin in Birmingham looking at a piece of “brontosaurus skin” and ends with the grown-up adventurer embarking on a ship at Punta Arenas. It holds back from intimate revelation – “I don’t believe in becoming clean,” Chatwin announced – but is fuelled by autobiography, lit up by personal obsessions. The syntax is snappy but the vocabulary is orchidaceous.

It is paradoxical, in content and in style. Chatwin said he was trying to make a cubist portrait. A collage of histories, sketches, myths and memories, with short scenes glinting towards each other, without judgment, conclusion or, often, links. It was clearly not a novel, but it flirted with fiction. In Patagonia was in a category of its own.

Angela Carter and Ryszard Kapuściński, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie were already publishing Julian Barnes was preparing to take off. I remember the time well – I edited In Patagonia and in doing so became friends with the author. It appeared at a rich literary moment, when both reportage and the novel were beginning to fly high in new directions. Chatwin’s first book, it helped to change the idea of what travel writing could be. Urn:isbn:1101503149 Scandate 20110919150118 Scanner ’s 40th anniversary edition of In Patagonia is an invitation to look again at one of the most vivid but elusive writers of the late 20th century. OL612498W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 88.60 Pages 230 Ppi 500 Related-external-id urn:isbn:0142437190 Urn:lcp:inpatagonia00chat:epub:a961c75a-ab1e-4ad6-9027-adabd17d1f6b Extramarc University of Toronto Foldoutcount 0 Identifier inpatagonia00chat Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t0wq0z04m Isbn 9780140112917Ġ14011291X Lccn 87038485 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary OL2406769M Openlibrary_edition Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 19:29:56 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA141719 Boxid_2 CH116601 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donorīostonpubliclibrary Edition 21.

In patagonia by bruce chatwin