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In Patagonia (Penguin Classics)
List price: $15.00
Sale price: $9.75
You save: $5.25 (35%)
Author(s): Bruce Chatwin
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 918.270464
EAN: 9780142437193
ISBN: 0142437190
Label: Penguin Classics
Language(s): English Original LanguageEnglish UnknownEnglish Published
List Price: $15.00
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Package Dimensions:
Height: 0.7"
Width: 5"
Length: 0.7"
Weight: 0.3 lbs.
Product Group: Book
Address: 2003-03
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Release Date: 2003-03-25
Studio: Penguin Classics
Editorial Reviews
Product Description:
In Patagonia is Bruce Chatwin's exquisite account of his journey through "the uttermost part of the earth," that stretch of land at the southern tip of South America, where bandits were once made welcome and Charles Darwin formed part of his "survival of the fittest" theory. Chatwin's evocative descriptions, notes on the odd history of the region, and enchanting anecdotes make In Patagonia an exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land. An instant classic upon publication in 1977, In Patagonia remains a masterwork of literature.
Customer Reviews Average rating - 4.5
Rating - 5 Date: 2009-01-05
Content: My passion for travel and discovery made this man and his writings a great addition to my library. In Patagonia is a great introduction to Chatwin's style and stories of exploration, and the delivery is pleasant. He goes beyond the tourist venues to become immersed in local culture, and then shares his experiences in such a way as to make me grateful he did.
What makes his writings more than simply a travelogue is the ability to make culture and perspective not only accessible, but fun!
For those that want to go everywhere and do everything, Bruce Chatwin is a great example: he did. He did, and his writings are a beautiful tribute to that passion to go off the beaten track.
Summary: For Those With Wanderlust
Rating - 5 Date: 2008-11-19
Content: Of all the travel books I've read over the years, this is the one I always come back to. It's an extraordinary work: a brilliant mix of journey, revelation, history, people of another land, another time. I marvel at Chatwin's gift of language, his insights into the ways and means of how the people in this ancient land of South America live, and have lived for centuries. There's a kind of authenticity to the storytelling techniques that Chatwin employs: it makes everything personal, almost private. And as a reader, you're drawn into his world, his engagement with the locals, with their roots and the richness of their history. The book is, quite simply, a masterpiece.
-Tom Maremaa, Author of the Forthcoming Metal Heads: A Novel from Kunati Books in Spring 2009
Summary: The Best Travel Book Ever Written
Rating - 3 Date: 2008-11-02
Content: Befitting of a genius with an active and wide-ranging mind, Bruce Chatwin has a charm and intensity that might lead you to believe he has attention deficit disorder. Drifting from one narrative thread to the next between chapters (each just a few pages long), he delves deep into the story of each person he meets, and substantiates these stories with literary and/or historical references. Though a few themes recur (e.g., the search for the lost mylodon and the story of Butch Cassidy's escape to Argentina), this is a book that is easy to put down between fragmented sections. And yet, it is still overall an enjoyable work.
Travelers are far more likely to go to Patagonia to avoid people than to learn about them, but Chatwin gracefully pulls of this challenge. Selflessly, he leaves himself out of the story- though Nicholas Shakespeare's introduction notes that Chatwin had a noteable love affair and was arrested in Chile. Unfortunately, Chatwin's narrative is short on dialogue and his description of people is typically terse and short on details, which prevents characters from coming to life. However, Chatwin shows traces of poetic brilliance ("music ghosted from the piano as leaves over a headstone"), an eye for metaphor (noting that in the obscure Yaghan language the word for depression is the same as the word for a crab's vulnerable phase after sloughing off a shell), persistence (evidenced by his uncovering of the origin of the name Patagonia), and bits of dry humor ("The Indian settlements were strung out along the railway line on the principle that a drunk could always get home.").
Summary: genius or attention deficit disorder?
Rating - 3 Date: 2008-10-21
Content: For a long time, I wanted to get familiar with Bruce Chatwin's work. I managed to get "In Patagonia" as the first of his books I could read.
The beginning was very promising. The narrator (writing in author's voice, in the first person), as a child, finds in his grandmother's dining-room cabinet a strange piece of leather covered with thick, reddish hair. His mother tells him it is a piece of brontosaurus brought by his grandmother's cousin, Charley Milward, from Patagonia. This piece of information fed his young imagination and led him to go and explore the South American wild land on his own.
In many short chapters, written in eloquent prose, Chatwin describes his encounters with Patagonian people, interchanging his quasi-travelogue with historical notes and anecdotes, and the tracing of Charley's footsteps. The impressions and anecdotes are freely mixed and he comes back to subject he abandoned before. This results in a strange read. I could not connect with this book at all and it took some effort to persevere with reading. I liked the historical oddities he found, the story of the self-proclaimed king, Orelie-Antoine, the notes on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and their adventures in South America, or Thomas Bridges and his dictionary of Yaghan. Chatwin's impressions from his journey and his observations did not move me at all.
I have still two more of Chatwin's books, "What I am doing here" and "Songlines" and I intend to read them, but I hope I will like them more than "In Patagonia".
Summary: not what I expected
Rating - 5 Date: 2008-09-30
Content:
This is a re-read for me. I actually gave my copy to my partner years and years ago when we were in that relationship stage where you try to prove your meant-to-be-ness to each other by sharing books and music. I figured that since we both loved travel writing and we both had a dream of visiting Argentina, then Bruce Chatwin was a safe bet. (He's been a favorite writer of mine since falling in love with his work through the film version of Utz.)
I couldn't have been more off-base. He read it all right, but he really didn't like it. I think that I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that it actively irritated him. Since then he's tried a couple more times to read Chatwin, each one a failure. That remains the Dividing Line of Travel Writers for us-- I like eccentric people who talk about characters and odd history. B. wants to read about the beauty of the landscape and the things that a person can do while visiting. We have an awful lot of Meant-To-Be-Ness in other ways, but not travel writing, apparently.
Anyhow. I loved it. As I loved it the first time. I like the character of Chatwin as he meanders across the scene. I enjoy the way that he meditates on the people and on the history that affects their and his lives. I find that the loose way that he ties everything together works very well for me. I love and share his love of walking, and what that teaches you about where you are.
We have not yet made it to Argentina as a couple, but when we go, I'll be clutching this book under my arm. Recommended.
Summary: An old favorite.
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