What do you think?
Rate this book
Winding Paths : Photographs by Bruce Chatwin
Throughout his travels, Bruce Chatwin took thousands of photographs. They demonstrate his legendary "eye" at its best, showing a sense of colour and surface, an ability to find beauty in the most mundane of objects or prosaic of places.
- GenresPhotographyTravel
Paperback
First published July 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Chatwin
66 books674 followersCharles Bruce Chatwin was an English novelist and travel writer. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill (1982).
In 1972, Chatwin interviewed the 93-year-old architect and designer Eileen Gray in her Paris salon, where he noticed a map of the area of South America called Patagonia, which she had painted. "I've always wanted to go there," Bruce told her. "So have I," she replied, "go there for me." Two years later in November 1974, Chatwin flew out to Lima in Peru, and reached Patagonia a month later. When he arrived, he left the newspaper with a telegram: "Have gone to Patagonia." He spent six months in the area, a trip which resulted in the book In Patagonia (1977). This work established his reputation as a travel writer. Later, however, residents in the region contradicted the account of events depicted in Chatwin's book. It was the first time in his career, but not the last, that conversations and characters which Chatwin presented as fact were alleged to have been fictionalised.
Later works included a novel based on the slave trade, The Viceroy of Ouidah, which he researched with extended stays in Benin, West Africa. For The Songlines (1987), a work combining fiction and non-fiction, Chatwin went to Australia. He studied the culture to express how the songs of the Aborigines are a cross between a creation myth, an atlas and an Aboriginal man's personal story. He also related the travelling expressed in The Songlines to his own travels and the long nomadic past of humans. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, his novel On the Black Hill (1982) was set closer to home, in the hill farms of the Welsh Borders. It focuses on the relationship between twin brothers, Lewis and Benjamin, who grow up isolated from the course of twentieth century history. Utz (1988), was a novel about the obsession that leads people to collect. Set in Prague, the novel details the life and death of Kaspar Utz, a man obsessed with his collection of Meissen porcelain.
Chatwin was working on a number of new ideas for future novels at the time of his death from AIDS in 1989, including a transcontinental epic, provisionally titled Lydia Livingstone.
In 1972, Chatwin interviewed the 93-year-old architect and designer Eileen Gray in her Paris salon, where he noticed a map of the area of South America called Patagonia, which she had painted. "I've always wanted to go there," Bruce told her. "So have I," she replied, "go there for me." Two years later in November 1974, Chatwin flew out to Lima in Peru, and reached Patagonia a month later. When he arrived, he left the newspaper with a telegram: "Have gone to Patagonia." He spent six months in the area, a trip which resulted in the book In Patagonia (1977). This work established his reputation as a travel writer. Later, however, residents in the region contradicted the account of events depicted in Chatwin's book. It was the first time in his career, but not the last, that conversations and characters which Chatwin presented as fact were alleged to have been fictionalised.
Later works included a novel based on the slave trade, The Viceroy of Ouidah, which he researched with extended stays in Benin, West Africa. For The Songlines (1987), a work combining fiction and non-fiction, Chatwin went to Australia. He studied the culture to express how the songs of the Aborigines are a cross between a creation myth, an atlas and an Aboriginal man's personal story. He also related the travelling expressed in The Songlines to his own travels and the long nomadic past of humans. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, his novel On the Black Hill (1982) was set closer to home, in the hill farms of the Welsh Borders. It focuses on the relationship between twin brothers, Lewis and Benjamin, who grow up isolated from the course of twentieth century history. Utz (1988), was a novel about the obsession that leads people to collect. Set in Prague, the novel details the life and death of Kaspar Utz, a man obsessed with his collection of Meissen porcelain.
Chatwin was working on a number of new ideas for future novels at the time of his death from AIDS in 1989, including a transcontinental epic, provisionally titled Lydia Livingstone.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 19, 2024
Der große Bruce Chatwin war ein durchaus talentierter Amateurfotograf (mit gelegentlichen Schwächen im Bereich der Überbelichtung). Das ist die Quintessenz dieses Prachtbandes, der ein erratisch sortiertes Sammelsurium seiner Fotos untermalt mit anscheinend wahllos ausgewählten Zitaten aus seinen Werken bietet. Der Versuch, aus dem bekannten namen Geld zu schlagen.
July 30, 2017
I was able to find a 1998 paperback edition of this book, published by Jonathan Cape, London at Thrift Books by way of AmazonSmile. It is an exceptional look at the world through the wandering eyes of Bruce Chatwin, and is a most welcome addition to my family books. I look forward to re-reading Chatwin's books - In Patagonia, On the Black Hill, and the Songlines with this book as reference to his travels and tales. Even without the stories in front of me, the pictures tell a complete and exciting tale. I am now looking for his Photographs and Notebooks....
May 20, 2018
Interesting set of photographs from the various excursions of the author.
July 26, 2007
A collection of seductive images, the perfect accompaniment to the fabulist Chatwin's books (or his biography, which I just finished). I found myself getting lost in the photographs several evenings in a row. The introduction by Roberto Calasso (Chatwin's Italian publisher, and the author of books I consider superior even to Chatwin's) is expectedly good.
By the way – "winding paths" was Chatwin's preferred etymology for his own name. It certainly describes his way of writing.
By the way – "winding paths" was Chatwin's preferred etymology for his own name. It certainly describes his way of writing.
November 30, 2018
Terre e tesori che oggi non sono praticamente più visibili, spazzati da integralismo e guerre.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews