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Bruce Chatwin

ブルース・チャトウィン

Burūsu Chattowin

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1940-05-13 （Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England）
Died
1989-01-18 （Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France） age 48
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Religion
Eastern Orthodox (Christian) Baptized in 1985
Residence History
Sheffield (birth/early years) → Birmingham (childhood) → London (worked at Sotheby's; base for early career) → New York (periodic residence in the 1970s) → Kardamyli, Greece (later residence/visits)

Career

Occupations
novelist, travel writer, journalist, art and antiquities adviser, Sotheby's director
Active Years
1958-1989
Affiliations
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL)
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL)
Influenced By
Robert Byron, Ernest Hemingway, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Osip Mandelstam, Noël Coward, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Ted Strehlow
Influenced
William Dalrymple, Claudio Magris, Philip Marsden, Luis Sepúlveda, Rich Cohen, Rory Stewart

Education

Marlborough College
Period: 〜1958
Year of Graduation: 1958
Country: United Kingdom
Secondary education (boarding school).
University of Edinburgh
Archaeology
Period: 1966–1968（中途退学）
Country: United Kingdom
Studied archaeology but left after two years without taking a degree.

Awards

Hawthornden Prize
Work: In Patagonia
Result: winner
E. M. Forster Award
Work: In Patagonia
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: winner
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Work: On the Black Hill
Result: winner
Whitbread Prize (Best First Novel)
Work: On the Black Hill
Category: Best First Novel
Result: winner
Booker Prize
1988
Work: Utz
Result: shortlisted

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

In Patagonia

1977 Travel writing / non-fiction

A travel book based on Chatwin's trip to Patagonia in 1974. Framed around a family anecdote about a 'piece of brontosaurus', it combines travelogue, portraits and local histories.

wanderingbordersmemory and storytelling

The Viceroy of Ouidah

1980 Historical fiction / novel

A fictionalised biography of Francisco Félix de Sousa, a 19th-century slave trader who became Viceroy of Ouidah; blends research and invention.

slave tradecommerce and powerexile and belonging
Adaptations
  • [Film] Cobra Verde / Werner Herzog (1987)

On the Black Hill

1982 Novel

A novel about twin brothers who spend their lives on a farmhouse near the Welsh borders, exploring quiet lives and the passage of time.

home and absencetime and memory
Adaptations
  • [Film] On the Black Hill (film) (1987)

The Songlines

1987 Travel / essay (hybrid)

An exploration of Aboriginal songlines in Australia used as a metaphor for human restlessness; the book mixes narrative and a commonplace-book of notes and quotations.

restlessnessculture and identitymemory and discourse

Utz

1988 Novel

Set in Prague, Utz tells of a man obsessed with his Meissen porcelain collection; a meditation on possession and compulsion.

possessionobsessionidentity

What Am I Doing Here

1989 Essays / journalism

A collection of Chatwin's journalism and essays covering travel, art and profiles.

travel reportageartprofiles

Bibliography

  • In Patagonia (1977)
  • The Viceroy of Ouidah (1980)
  • On the Black Hill (1982)
  • Patagonia Revisited, with Paul Theroux (1985)
  • The Songlines (1987)
  • Utz (1988)
  • What Am I Doing Here (1989)
  • Photographs and Notebooks / Far Journeys (1993, posthumous)
  • Anatomy of Restlessness (1995, posthumous)
  • Winding Paths (1998, posthumous)
  • Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin (2012)

Adaptations

  • Cobra Verde (dir. Werner Herzog, 1987) — film based on The Viceroy of Ouidah
  • On the Black Hill (film, 1987)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
clipped, lapidary prosefragmentary / cubist structureexperimental blending of fiction and non-fiction
Recurring Motifs
wandering / nomadismborders and marginsobjects and collectingmemory and storytelling

Health

  • HIV infection (AIDS-related)
    1986–1989
    Led to declining health and early death; Chatwin largely concealed the diagnosis and gave other explanations publicly.
  • Kaposi's sarcoma (suspected)
    1983–1988
    Skin lesions and related symptoms that were associated with his deteriorating health.
  • Talaromyces marneffei (fungal infection)
    1986–1988
    A rare fungal infection used by Chatwin to explain symptoms and to avoid disclosing his HIV status publicly.

Legacy

Chatwin revitalised travel writing and influenced a generation of writers, but controversies over factual accuracy and the concealment of his HIV diagnosis have complicated his reputation. He retains a devoted readership and cultural footprint.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)

Archives

  • Archive of (Charles) Bruce Chatwin — Bodleian Libraries, Oxford

In Popular Culture

  • The modern Moleskine notebook brand markets the product in association with Chatwin's notebooks and persona.
  • Burberry produced a collection and limited-edition book covers inspired by Chatwin (2014–2015).
  • Werner Herzog's documentary 'Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin' (2019)

Quotes

  • 'The word "Aids" is one of the cruellest and silliest neologisms of our time. ... HIV (Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus) is a perfectly easy name to live with.'
    Source: Letter to the London Review of Books (1988) (1988)

Trivia

  • A family anecdote about a 'piece of brontosaurus' inspired his trip to Patagonia and In Patagonia.
  • Chatwin's reference to small black notebooks helped inspire the modern Moleskine brand.
  • His ashes were scattered near a Byzantine chapel above Kardamyli in the Peloponnese, Greece.
  • He was bisexual; married to Elizabeth Chanler but they had no children.