In Patagonia (Penguin Classics)

His interest in Patagonia first awakened by a piece of sloth skin from that region that hung in his grandmother's house, Chatwin sets out on a mazy route from Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego. As he makes for where the ancient sloth was discovered a century before, he glimpses into the lives of the settlers, gauchos and Indians who have spread themselves thinly across the pampas. The deep loneliness, isolation and fatalism implicit in the lives of those living at the end of the earth is conveyed starkly in Chatwin's laconic prose. Roaming between these outposts of humanity, he amuses himself in the pursuit of a series of riddles aside from the sloth mission - and as we are drawn into Chatwin's world of esoterica, where Butch Cassidy lived to a ripe old age, and revolutionaries become barbers, the lines between fact, supposition and invention become almost impossible to discern. Which is what makes this intellectual odyssey - or 'ridiculous journey', as Chatwin self-deprecatingly puts it - such fun; the recondite histories woven into the narrative only enrich Patagonia as a land of dreams and possibility. Be warned, though, that this book is thin on descriptive passages, and gives a largely impressionistic vision of Patagonia: it is more concerned with the region's idiosyncrasies and curious history than rendering a sense of what it's like to be there. Utterly unique: I recommend it highly.

Travels in the human psyche (18/19 people found this helpful)

This is a fascinating book, but if you are expecting a description of the geography of the Southernmost part of South America, you are likely to be disappointed. Chatwin offers very few details of the landscape, but instead focuses on the people and their dwellings, a strange mix of natives and pioneers from, it seems, every other country in the world, living almost exclusively in miserable run-down relics of an age long gone.

The majority of the book, however, is taken up with exploring the stories these people tell. From Chatwin's search for the past of his Grandmother's cousin, Charley Milward, through his exploration of the various myths surrounding Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Charles Darwin, various revolutionaries, 16th century explorers, and others, to delving into possible inspirations for Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Shakespear's Tempest; this book is about human legends and how they diverge and take on a life of their own over time.

Because of the way the book is structured and the very nature of its subject matter, it feels rather fragmented and piecemeal. But nontheless it is an astounding, enlightening achievement, and a fascinating read. Just don't expect to learn much about the Patagonian landscape from it.

In Patagonia (8/9 people found this helpful)

An ancient giant sloth. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Darwin, Dante and Donne. Bruce Chatwin's own travels in Patagonia are but one strand in this thick-braided account, where seemingly disparate fragments unite into a kaleidoscopic narrative. In lean, original prose, Chatwin wends his way through Patagonia, in search of the place where his ancestor acquired a scrap of the ancient sloth's skin. Hearing that Butch Cassidy was seen round those parts, and scenting a good story, Chatwin tracks down those still alive with memory of the outlaw and his gang. Then he is on the path of revolutionaries, explorers, and adventurers. Eventually he completes his own personal journey, but not before he has uncovered a world that dazzles the imagination. It has been suggested that Chatwin embellished this account; be that as it may, it makes for great reading.

In Patagonia (Penguin Classics)

Bruce Chatwin

Reader Reviews:

Anything but slothful (21/22 people found this helpful)

Travels in the human psyche (18/19 people found this helpful)

In Patagonia (8/9 people found this helpful)

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