Bruce Chatwin

Charles Bruce Chatwin (born May 13, 1940 in Sheffield , † January 18, 1989 in Nice ) was a British writer .

life and work

Chatwin was born in 1940 in Sheffield, in what is now South Yorkshire in the north of England . During the war years , his mother traveled with him through England to find shelter from friends and relatives from the German air raids. Instead of starting the planned architecture studies , he worked as a delivery boy for the auction house Sotheby’s when he was 18 . Four years later he was already director of the Impressionist Art Department. Allegedly because of an eye problem, he gave up this position and traveled to Sudan . He then studied archeology in Edinburgh for a year , but dropped out. In 1973 he joined the Sunday Times , initially as an art advisor. Soon after, he devoted himself to a wide range of topics, traveling the world for interviews and reports. In December 1974 he announced there, allegedly by telegram to the editors: "Off to Patagonia for four months".

An encounter with the architect and designer Eileen Gray gave the decisive impetus for a six-month trip to Patagonia to look for the remains of the Brontosaurus . Here it became clear to him that storytelling and writing were the most appropriate occupations for him. He traveled along with numerous other countries in Australia and dealt with the culture of the Aborigines . Travel books like In Patagonia and Traumpfade became bestsellers. The novels On the Black Mountain and The Viceroy of Ouidah were filmed, the latter under the title Cobra Verde by the director Werner Herzog with Klaus Kinski in the leading role. Also filmed the novel was Utz with Armin Mueller-Stahl in the leading role.

Chatwin had been married to the American Elizabeth Chanler since 1964, whom he knew from Sotheby's. He was bisexual and had changing affairs with some celebrity lovers. In 1986 Bruce Chatwin fell ill with AIDS , of which he died in the south of France in 1989 . A planned entry into the Greek Orthodox Church , which Chatwin considered due to a visit to Mount Athos , did not materialize due to his health. His ashes were buried in the presence of his friend Patrick Leigh Fermor next to a small church in Kardamili on the Greek Peloponnese peninsula .

Reception and effect

Chatwin was accused of a lack of understanding of the cultures described, especially in Australia, and recklessness. He was also assumed to have inaccuracies and a tendency towards free inventions. Chatwin's laconic style, however, was praised by critics. Chatwin became popular with the readership through his vivid descriptions of strange surroundings. His great enthusiasm for nomadism , articulated with a culture-critical tendency - he considered himself a nomad - fascinated many readers.

Others

Bruce Chatwin always used notebooks on his numerous travels, which he called "carnets moleskines ". Even today this fact is marketed effectively. Chatwin is quoted as saying that losing his passport is a triviality compared to the catastrophic loss of his notebooks : "To lose a passport was the least of one's worries: to lose a notebook was a catastrophe."

Prizes and awards

• 1977: Hawthornden Prize
• 1979: EM Forster Award
• 1982: Whitbread Book of the Year Award, category first work (for On the Black Mountain )
• 1982: James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction

Works

• In Patagonia. Travel report. Jonathan Cape, London 1977, ISBN 0-224-01419-6 .
  • In Patagonia . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1981, ISBN 978-3-498-00854-3 .
• The Viceroy of Ouidah. Novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1980, ISBN 0-224-01820-5 .
  • The Viceroy of Ouidah . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1982, ISBN 3-498-00859-5 .
• On the Black Hill. Novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1982, ISBN 0-224-01980-5 .
  • On the Black Mountain. Claassen, Düsseldorf 1983, ISBN 3-546-41796-8 .
• Patagonia Revisited. Conversation with Paul Theroux . Michael Russell, Salisbury 1985, ISBN 0-85955-099-0 .
  • Goodbye to Patagonia. Hanser, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-446-16480-4 .
• The Songlines. Novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1987, ISBN 0-224-02452-3 .
  • Dream paths . Hanser, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-446-15526-0 .
• Utz. Novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1988, ISBN 0-224-02608-9 .
  • Utz. Hanser, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-446-15394-2 .
• What Am I Doing Here. Essays. Jonathan Cape, London 1989, ISBN 0-224-02634-8 .
  • What am I doing here. Hanser, Munich 1991, ISBN 978-3-446-16014-9 .
• Photographs and Notebooks. Photographs. Jonathan Cape, London 2010, ISBN 0-224-03654-8 .
  • To travel. Hanser, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-446-17549-0 .
• Anatomy of Restlessness. Writings from the estate. Jonathan Cape, London 1996, ISBN 0-224-04292-0 .
  • The dream of the restless. Hanser, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-446-18739-1 .
• Winding Paths. Photographs. Jonathan Cape, London 1998, ISBN 0-224-06050-3 .
  • Winding paths. Hanser, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-446-19804-0 .
• Under the sun. The Letters of Bruce Chatwin. Selected and edited by Elizabeth Chatwin and Nicholas Shakespeare . Jonathan Cape, London 2010, ISBN 978-0-224-08989-0 .
  • translated by Anna and Dietrich Leube: The nomad. Letters 1948–1988. Hanser, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-446-24469-6 .

Anna Kamp wrote most of the German translations.

Film adaptations

• 1987: Cobra Verde
• 1988: Black Hill (On the Black Hill)
• 1991: To Patagonia
• 1992: Utz

literature

• Susannah Clapp: With Chatwin. Portrait of a Writer. Hanser, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-446-19480-0 .
• Nicholas Shakespeare: Bruce Chatwin - A Biography. Kindler, Reinbek 2000, ISBN 3-463-40389-7 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Bruce Chatwin in the catalog of the German National Library
• Bruce Chatwin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• About Bruce Chatwin
• WG Sebald to Bruce Chatwin

Individual evidence

1. ^ Biography, accessed October 22, 2009
2. ↑ Nicholas Shakespeare: Bruce Chatwin - A Biography. P. 716 ff (A Cosmic Book)
3. ^ B. Chatwin: The Songlines , Penguin Books, new edition 1988, ISBN 0-14-009429-6 , p. 160