Central Review

Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780099769514
ISBN: 0099769514
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: January 08, 1999
Publisher: Vintage
Sales Rank: 26620
Studio: Vintage

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Related Items:

• The Songlines (Vintage classics)
• On the Black Hill (Vintage classics)
• What am I Doing Here? (Vintage Classics)
• The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas
• A Chile: Travels in a Thin Country
• see more

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk ReviewFascinated by Patagonia ever since an early childhood lust for his Grandma's scrap of hairy Giant Sloth skin, Bruce Chatwin is intrigued by odd miners, Darwin, the Welsh and the log cabin built by Butch Cassidy. From Rio Negro to the southernmost town of Ushuaia, Chatwin depicts all in writing as spare as the Patagonian desert and as vibrant as the purple clouds off Last Hope Sound.



Rating: - Perhaps it's age...
Many years after reading most of the Chatwin canon, I have finally read In Patagonia. Yes, it's meant to be that mixture of fact and fiction but it doesn't come across as innovative. Perhaps, it is because of what's been published since - and because this reviewer was just so 'wowed' by the likes of 'On The Black Hill', which surely was somewhat influenced by In Patagonia. For the purist, I guess it's wise to read his output in the order of publication. Pleased I've finally read it, anyway.

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Rating: - "In" Patagonia?
Well I'm sorry but I just don't get this book - it starts out all of a sudden with a bloke walking around Patagonia with no explanation of why he's doing it, where he's going, what he's feeling, how he got there - nothin'. And he wanders about into people's houses - no explanation of how he meets them or gets himself so over-and-over invited - and then it's these little snippets of postcards of pictures of people, which generally lead one to feel that the author thinks he's better than everyone he meets. He makes them out to be simpletons and weirdos. He never says he thinks they're stupid, that he's better than them - but it's obvious that's what he thinks. And on he goes, from house to house, in this sort of you-never-really-know-how kind of way - in fact, that's the crux of this book for me: the author himself is strangely absent, as though he was never there at all, just a disembodied ghoul floating around Patagonia and looking in on people and judging them. How does he feel? We never find out. What does he say? Not much, according to the dialogue (other people, of course, talk lots). And how on Earth does he persuade so many people to feed him and put him up? He just doesn't let us in on anything of the personal - even when he finally reveals something of himself (and this is but for a brief paragraph or two) he generally does it in the second person; the guy just doesn't want to let himself into this book.

Which brings me onto my main bugbear - because, with him not being "in" the book at all, you really don't get a sense of him being "in" Patagonia - and the book, therefore, is absolutely mis-labeled and mistitled. Call it Patagonia. Let it be a history of the myriad interesting people that have graced its lands and waters (and there sure are a lot of those). But not "in Patagonia" - for this is no travelogue, no traveller's tales - it's an outsider's view, an observer's; hell, he could have written most of this book at home, without ever venturing there. And to be honest, that stuff - the history and the biography and the odd souls and the eccentricities - is actually really rather good; I enjoyed that. But that is just history. And that is not a book called "In Patagonia" but "Patagonia" full stop.

And so there you have it. My twopennethworth.

Also, though, if you do still have a hunger for a real, actual travel book, check out mine: Discovering Beautiful by Rory Miller. I think it's much better. But then I would, wouldn't I? :-)

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Rating: - Seeking some skin
How many children become adults fulfilling a childhood dream by visiting remote places? Bruce Chatwin, driven by memories of his grandfather's strange artifact, takes us with him to the farthest reaches of South America. His travels in that mysterious realm result in this masterfully done account of journeys in Patagonia - southern Argentina and Chile. It's not an exaggeration to praise this work as the first to supplement Darwin's. Both sought fossils, although Chatwin's pursuit is rather more specific. Both described the land, the people and events in the most captivating and readable manner. A rare treasure in travel literature, this book is a timeless treasure.

Patagonia has been a haven for many European nationalities besides the Spanish. British, Welsh, Scots and the Germans have found refuge and opportunities here. Chatwin encounters a wide spectrum of the inhabitants. By touring on foot, bus and horse, as well as obtaining the occasional lift, he is able to garner intense impressions. Lacing the account of what he observes with numerous piquant historical side notes, he imparts the place along with the spirit of the residents. The history varies as the land itself. Rising from the Atlantic across a vast plain until reaching the rising slopes of the "back" of the Andes, Patagonia offers incredible vistas and diversity. Decades of building immense rancheros and farms have been punctuated by social and political upheavals. Chatwin recounts the lives of many of the rebels and how they impacted the pampas scene. His literary capacity seems as vast as the territory. We even encounter The Ancient Mariner. There are no dull moments in this book.

Chatwin presents a more knowledgeable view in discussing aboriginal people than that of most travel writers. There's nothing patronizing in his tone as he tries to address their plight. "Tries to" because European intrusion has left so little for researchers of indigenous cultures to address. He cites the expressive terms in the Yamana language to point out how culturally inept the colonizing powers have been. We learn to use the term "primitive" with caution. Millennia of residence gained the original peoples skills the Europeans disparaged, often to
their regret. It's becoming a familiar story, made sadder at the realization the loss of cultures swept away by colonization.

At the end, his original quest brings him to a cave visited by Charley Milward, wrecked ship's captain. He cannot replace the artifact Milward left in Chatwin's grandmother's house, but there is other compensation. That the quest isn't a failure adds further lustre to an incredible journey. But what Chatwin has gained is as nothing compared to what he's given us. This book will remain a classic for years to come. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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Rating: - Innovative writing for the imaginative traveller
I was browsing the shelves of the travel section of a large bookshop recently looking for inspiration. 'In Patagonia' appealed to me for three reasons. Firstly, I am planning a long trip to South America and was interested to read any writing covering that area. Secondly, I was captivated by Paul Theroux's comment on the back cover of the Vintage edition that Bruce Chatwin had found a remote place 'like the land where the Jumblies live'. I love eccentric people and places. Thirdly, I was intrigued by the pictures in the centre of the book - a corrugated iron hut on wheels, a run down station in the middle of knowhere, a set of hand prints on a cave wall and other peculiar and whimsical images relating to the places Chatwin visited on his travels and the stories he collected on the way. I had to read it.

What emerges is an extraordinary chronicle of the nomadic wanderings of Chatwin during his 6 month trip to Patagonia (he quit his job at the Sunday Times in order to embark on this visit). He begins by describing how he was curious to find out more about a curious ancient beast, of which his grandmother had a fragment of skin, but soon becomes waylaid by a bizarre succession of people and stories that build upon each other as the book progresses like a ramshackle house of cards.

It is the stories that form the essence of the book. There is description of the geography and physical characteristics of the region but only in brief passages as a setting to another inspired piece of Patagonian folklore. Chatwin clearly has an ear for a good yarn and an almost dilletante, enquiring mind. Also, in the manner of a skilled raconteur, he is frequently economical with the truth in order to include his own even better facts. Thus the book is a curious conglomerate of part travel writing, part sociology, part history, part anthropology and part fiction.

Don't read if if you want a standard travel chronicle that will tell you where to go or what do do in this part of the world, but then there are plenty of Rough Guide and Lonley Planet books for that. If you are a budding voyager with a taste for scholarship and a penchant for bizzare tales, this book is an essential part of the travellers canon.

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Rating: - Inspiring
Gave me the travel bug and has resulted in many thousands of pounds spent on treks to great parts of the world, all worth every penny.
Definitely the most expensive book I've ever bought, but the most rewarding.

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