WHILE in Mallorca I have had the chance to finish Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia, recently bought from a stall of remaindered books in Spitalfields market, East London.
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| "Vintage Chatwin," with the stall's £5 price tag still attached |
The book, first published in 1977, won literary prizes, being hailed as a "little masterpiece of travel, history and adventure" and "one of the most strikingly original post-War English travel books."
Chatwin tells of the people he met and recounts incidents, many of them violent, from the history of Patagonia, which comprises the southern parts of Argentina and Chile, including the subpolar Tierra del Fuego.
Some of the tales are obviously fantasy, although Chatwin often repeats them as if he believes in the truth of what he is writing, or at least hopes readers will.
I cannot claim it is a book I could hardly put down, but the book is widely regarded as a landmark publication and I am glad I have read it.
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