Bruce Chatwin (2 page)
Authors: Nicholas Shakespeare
Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Literary, #Literary Collections, #Letters, #Literary Criticism, #General, #Diaries & Journals, #Personal Memoirs
Contents
Acknowledgements
This biography could not have been written without the encouragement of Elizabeth Chatwin, who gave me unrestricted access to her family papers as well as to Bruce Chatwin’s notebooks, letters and medical records. It is impossible to acknowledge adequately her help. I am also indebted to Hugh Chatwin for sharing with me detailed memories of his family’s past and for his patience in correcting drafts of early chapters.
Bruce Chatwin burned many of his papers in the summer of 1986 (“I turned arsonist and destroyed heaps of old notebooks, card indexes, correspondence”). What remains of his archive is deposited in the Modern Western Manuscripts room of the Bodleian Library. The 41 boxes are not to be opened to the public until 2010. Boxes 31 to 35 contain the 85 notebooks, dating from 1962 to 1988.
For access to collections of Bruce Chatwin’s papers and related material, I would like to thank Colin Harris and Judith Priestman at the Bodleian; Mike Bott and the Jonathan Cape archive at Reading University; the Churchill Hospital in Oxford; the department of Archaeology at Edinburgh University; Marlborough College; Deborah Rogers Ltd; the Burns Library in Boston; and the Patagonian Institute in Punta Arenas.
I would like to express my immense gratitude to the following for letters, diaries and unpublished manuscripts: Murray Bail, John Barnett, Sybille Bedford, Shirley Conran, Kate Foster, Ben Gannon, Shirley Hazzard, James Ivory, Judith Jesser, John Kasmin, Lala Leach, the late James Lees-Milne, Tom Maschler, Desmond Morris, David Nash, Keith Nicholson Price, David Plante, Jean Raspail, Kenneth Rose, Miranda Rothschild, Stewart Sanderson, George Steiner, Petronella Vaarzon-Morel, Gillian Walker, Cary Welch, and Francis Wyndham.
For permission to use unedited tapes of their interviews, I would like to thank Colin Thubron, Suzanne Hayes of the Adelaide College of Technical and Further Education, Uki Goni of the
Buenos Aires Herald
and Robyn Ravlich of the ABC.
Buenos Aires Herald
and Robyn Ravlich of the ABC.
I am also grateful to the following for their comments on work in progress: Peter Adam, Clare Alexander, Jan Dalley, Robert Erskine, Dan Franklin, John Hatt, Adam Low, Ted Lucie-Smith, Guy Norton, Ian Pindar, Peter Ryde, Peter Washington, Hermione Waterhouse, Paul Yule.
In the writing of this book I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to a large number of people around the world who gave me their recollections. In Britain, I would like to thank the following for accounts of Chatwin’s early life: the late Charles and Margharita Chatwin, the late Anthony Chatwin, Barbara Chatwin, Bobbie Chatwin, John and Joyce Turnell, Gavin Anderson, Corbyn Barrow, John Crowder, Juliet Hubbard, John James, Susan Kinnersley, Patrick Lawrence, David Lea, and Irene Neal.
Chatwin’s schooldays
: Andrew Bache, Pat Barber, Michael Cannon, Michael Fea, Ivry Freyberg, Robin Garran, Trevor Gartside, Peter Hadfield, Tony Haines, Ewan Harper, John Hartland, Caroline Hayman, Philip Howard, Tim Jackson, Dick Longfield, Alan MacKichan, Christopher Massey, Tim O’Hanlon, David Parry, John Peregrine, Thomas Pye, Nigel Roberts, David Rogers, David Smith, Robert Smith, Nick Spicer, Richard Sturt, John Thorneycroft, Ronald Ward, and David West.
Chatwin in London
: Jane Abdy, Nigel Acheson, Peter Adler, Gloria Birkett, Ann Cadogan, Susannah Clapp, James Crathorne, Richard Day, Kenelm Digby-Jones, Adrian Eales, David Ellis-Jones, Peter Eyre, Richard Falkiner, Jocelyn Fielding, Magouche Fielding, Rowena Fielding, Sven Gahlin, the late Martha Gellhorn, Christopher Gibbs, Sue Goodhew, Janet Green, Nigel Greenwood, Carmen Gronau, Guy Hannon, David Heathcoat-Amory, Mary Henderson, Frank Herrmann, the late John Hewett, Derek Hill, Howard Hodgkin, Julia Hodgkin, Jonathan Hope, Rebecca Hossack, Sarah Hunt, Sara Inglis-Jones, John Kerr, Samira Kirollos, Marcus Linell, Dorothy Lygon, Katherine Maclean, John Mallet, Sandy Martin, Anne Miller, the late Teddy Millington-Drake, Felicity Nicholson, John Pawson, Anthony Pitt-Rivers, Julian Pitt-Rivers, Michael Pitt-Rivers, Peregrine Pollen, Howard Ricketts, Salman Rushdie, Simon Sainsbury, Brian Sewell, William Sieghart, Judith Small, Anthony Spink, John Stefanidis, Michel Strauss, Emma Tennant, James Thackera, Patrick Trevor-Roper, Guler Tunca, Tilo von Watzdorf, Michael Webb, Jason Wilson, and Patrick Woodcock.
Chatwin in Edinburgh
: Chris Houlder, Richard Langhorne, Fiona Marsden, Roger Mercer, the late Stuart Piggott, Marjorie Robertson, Rosanna Ross, Anthony Snodgrass, the late Tamara Talbot Rice, Charles Thomas, Ruth Tringham, Alex Tuckwell, Trevor Watkins, and Rowan Watson.
The writing of
The Nomadic Alternative: Gillon Aitken, Emma Bunker, the late Quentin Crewe, Bess Cuthbert, Ann Farkas, Oliver Hoare, Peter Levi, Harry Marshall, John Michell, John Nankivell, Bob Parsons, Deborah Rogers, Chris Rundle, Natasha Spender, the late Stephen Spender, Peter Straker, Jeremy Swift, Wilfred Thesiger, Charles and Brenda Tomlinson.
Chatwin at the
Sunday Times: Eve Arnold, Celestine Dars, Hunter Davies, James Fox, Colin Jones, David King, Roger Law, Magnus Linklater, Meriel McCooey, Philip Norman, Michael Rand, David Sylvester, Valerie Wade, and Barny Wan.
Chatwin in Wales
: the late Penelope Betjeman, Lucy Chenevix-Trench, George Clive, Mary Clive, Jasper Conran, Ali and John Cotterell, Michael Cottrill, Olive and Clive Greenway, Vivian and Jacqueline Howells, Jean the Barn, Paul Kasmin, Matthew and Sybella Kirkbride, Paul and Penny Levy, Diana and George Melly, Mary Morgan, Tom Oliver, Alan Silver, Martin Wilkinson, Stella Wilkinson.
Chatwin’s illness
: David Curtin, Michael Elmore-Meegan, Bent Juel-Jensen, Richard Staughton, Kevin Volans, Kallistos Ware, and David Warrell.
Chatwin’s schooldays
: Andrew Bache, Pat Barber, Michael Cannon, Michael Fea, Ivry Freyberg, Robin Garran, Trevor Gartside, Peter Hadfield, Tony Haines, Ewan Harper, John Hartland, Caroline Hayman, Philip Howard, Tim Jackson, Dick Longfield, Alan MacKichan, Christopher Massey, Tim O’Hanlon, David Parry, John Peregrine, Thomas Pye, Nigel Roberts, David Rogers, David Smith, Robert Smith, Nick Spicer, Richard Sturt, John Thorneycroft, Ronald Ward, and David West.
Chatwin in London
: Jane Abdy, Nigel Acheson, Peter Adler, Gloria Birkett, Ann Cadogan, Susannah Clapp, James Crathorne, Richard Day, Kenelm Digby-Jones, Adrian Eales, David Ellis-Jones, Peter Eyre, Richard Falkiner, Jocelyn Fielding, Magouche Fielding, Rowena Fielding, Sven Gahlin, the late Martha Gellhorn, Christopher Gibbs, Sue Goodhew, Janet Green, Nigel Greenwood, Carmen Gronau, Guy Hannon, David Heathcoat-Amory, Mary Henderson, Frank Herrmann, the late John Hewett, Derek Hill, Howard Hodgkin, Julia Hodgkin, Jonathan Hope, Rebecca Hossack, Sarah Hunt, Sara Inglis-Jones, John Kerr, Samira Kirollos, Marcus Linell, Dorothy Lygon, Katherine Maclean, John Mallet, Sandy Martin, Anne Miller, the late Teddy Millington-Drake, Felicity Nicholson, John Pawson, Anthony Pitt-Rivers, Julian Pitt-Rivers, Michael Pitt-Rivers, Peregrine Pollen, Howard Ricketts, Salman Rushdie, Simon Sainsbury, Brian Sewell, William Sieghart, Judith Small, Anthony Spink, John Stefanidis, Michel Strauss, Emma Tennant, James Thackera, Patrick Trevor-Roper, Guler Tunca, Tilo von Watzdorf, Michael Webb, Jason Wilson, and Patrick Woodcock.
Chatwin in Edinburgh
: Chris Houlder, Richard Langhorne, Fiona Marsden, Roger Mercer, the late Stuart Piggott, Marjorie Robertson, Rosanna Ross, Anthony Snodgrass, the late Tamara Talbot Rice, Charles Thomas, Ruth Tringham, Alex Tuckwell, Trevor Watkins, and Rowan Watson.
The writing of
The Nomadic Alternative: Gillon Aitken, Emma Bunker, the late Quentin Crewe, Bess Cuthbert, Ann Farkas, Oliver Hoare, Peter Levi, Harry Marshall, John Michell, John Nankivell, Bob Parsons, Deborah Rogers, Chris Rundle, Natasha Spender, the late Stephen Spender, Peter Straker, Jeremy Swift, Wilfred Thesiger, Charles and Brenda Tomlinson.
Chatwin at the
Sunday Times: Eve Arnold, Celestine Dars, Hunter Davies, James Fox, Colin Jones, David King, Roger Law, Magnus Linklater, Meriel McCooey, Philip Norman, Michael Rand, David Sylvester, Valerie Wade, and Barny Wan.
Chatwin in Wales
: the late Penelope Betjeman, Lucy Chenevix-Trench, George Clive, Mary Clive, Jasper Conran, Ali and John Cotterell, Michael Cottrill, Olive and Clive Greenway, Vivian and Jacqueline Howells, Jean the Barn, Paul Kasmin, Matthew and Sybella Kirkbride, Paul and Penny Levy, Diana and George Melly, Mary Morgan, Tom Oliver, Alan Silver, Martin Wilkinson, Stella Wilkinson.
Chatwin’s illness
: David Curtin, Michael Elmore-Meegan, Bent Juel-Jensen, Richard Staughton, Kevin Volans, Kallistos Ware, and David Warrell.
I would like to thank the following for their time, and invariably their hospitality.
Ireland
: Alison and Brendan Rosse, and Desmond Fitz-Gerald.
Stockholm
: Peter, Lennart and Elsa Bratt.
Paris
: James Douglas, André le Fesvre, Jean-François Fogel, Loulou and Thadee Klossowski, James Lord, David Sulzberger, Ian Watson, and Edmund White.
Geneva
: George Ortiz.
Germany
: Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Niko Hansen, Werner Herzog, Michael Krüger, Michael Oppitz, and Manfred Pfister.
Prague
: Martin Hilsky, Clovis and Lizzie Meath-Baker, and Diana Phipps.
Budapest
: Rudi Fischer.
Spain
: Lynda Pranger.
Italy
: Roberto Calasso, John Fleming, Hugh Honour, Beatrice Monti, the late Gregor Rezzori, Matthew and Maro Spender, and Maurizio Tosi.
Greece
: Paddy and Joan Leigh Fermor, and Nikos Theanu.
India
: Sunil Sethi, and Paddy Singh.
Nepal
: Lisa and Tensing Choeygal.
Tangier
: Richard Timewell.
Benin
: Colin and Clothilde Barnes, Gilberto Gil, François Paraiso, Milton Monteiro Ribeiro, Henriette de Roux, Dana Rush, Karim da Silva, Martine da Silva, Doig Simmonds, Honoré Feliciano de Souza, Simone de Souza, and Norberto Prosper de Souza.
South Africa
: Bob Brain, Barbara and Jim Bailey, Sean and Fiona Baumann, Christine Hodges, Clive and Irene Menell.
Argentina
: Jesse Aldridge, Guillermo Alvarez, Robert Begg, Ignacio and Teresita Braun-Menendez, David and Ann Bridges, Jacqueline Caminos de la Carreras, Raul Cea, Tommy Davies, David and Peggy Fenton, Harold Fish, Ingebord Frazer, Paula Goldstein, Adrian and Stephanie Goodall, Jimmy Gough, Daphne Hobbs, Owen Ap Iwan, Yolanda Jamieson, Judith Jesser, Ruth Lamm, Kenneth and Diana Mcallum, Archie Norman, Rogelio Pfirter, Alma Arbusova de Riasniansky, Fabio Roberts de Gonzalez, Luned Roberts de Gonzalez, Tegai Roberts, Pascual Rosendo, Carlos Saenz, Alejandro Tirschini, Nicholas Tozer, Ofelia Veltri, Albina Zampini, and Jorge Torre Zavaleta.
Chile
: John Rees, John Barnett, Rose Eberhardt, and Mateo Martinic.
Brazil
: Noah Richler, Amanda Shakespeare, Rasbutta da Silva, and Pierre Verger.
The United States
: Bruce and Loretta Anawalt, Lynn Block, Clarence Brown, Nell Campbell, Carole Chanler, Gertrude Chanler, John and Sheila Chanler, Ollie Chanler, Freddy Eberstadt, Barbara Epstein, Grey Foy, Sarah Giles, Robert Hughes, Harmer Johnson, Bill Katz, Ward and Judith Landrigan, Michele Laporte, Lisa Lyon, Kynaston McShine, Gita Mehta, Keith Milow, Werner Muensterberger, John Richardson, John Russell, Helene Sieferheld, Elisabeth Sifton, Jim Silberman, Judith Small, Susan Sontag, Pattie Sullivan, Donna Tartt, Paul Walter, Cary and Edith Welch, Gillian Walker, and Jessie Wood.
Toronto
: Greg Gatenby.
Australia
: Carl Andrew, Geoff Bagshaw, Margaret Bail, the late Pam Bell, Richard Buckham, Paul Cox, Robyn Davison, Jenny Day, Nin Dutton, Ben Gannon, Jenny Green, Thomas Keneally, Dick Kimber, Lydia Livingstone, Les Murray, Anne-Marie Mykyta, Pam Nathan, Rob Novak, Christopher Pearson, Toly and Alexis Sawenko, Leo Schofield, Gary Stoll, Kath Strehlow, Phillip Toyne, Penelope Tree, Clinton Tweedie, Val Vallis, and Daphne Williams.
New Zealand
: Philippa Davies.
: Alison and Brendan Rosse, and Desmond Fitz-Gerald.
Stockholm
: Peter, Lennart and Elsa Bratt.
Paris
: James Douglas, André le Fesvre, Jean-François Fogel, Loulou and Thadee Klossowski, James Lord, David Sulzberger, Ian Watson, and Edmund White.
Geneva
: George Ortiz.
Germany
: Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Niko Hansen, Werner Herzog, Michael Krüger, Michael Oppitz, and Manfred Pfister.
Prague
: Martin Hilsky, Clovis and Lizzie Meath-Baker, and Diana Phipps.
Budapest
: Rudi Fischer.
Spain
: Lynda Pranger.
Italy
: Roberto Calasso, John Fleming, Hugh Honour, Beatrice Monti, the late Gregor Rezzori, Matthew and Maro Spender, and Maurizio Tosi.
Greece
: Paddy and Joan Leigh Fermor, and Nikos Theanu.
India
: Sunil Sethi, and Paddy Singh.
Nepal
: Lisa and Tensing Choeygal.
Tangier
: Richard Timewell.
Benin
: Colin and Clothilde Barnes, Gilberto Gil, François Paraiso, Milton Monteiro Ribeiro, Henriette de Roux, Dana Rush, Karim da Silva, Martine da Silva, Doig Simmonds, Honoré Feliciano de Souza, Simone de Souza, and Norberto Prosper de Souza.
South Africa
: Bob Brain, Barbara and Jim Bailey, Sean and Fiona Baumann, Christine Hodges, Clive and Irene Menell.
Argentina
: Jesse Aldridge, Guillermo Alvarez, Robert Begg, Ignacio and Teresita Braun-Menendez, David and Ann Bridges, Jacqueline Caminos de la Carreras, Raul Cea, Tommy Davies, David and Peggy Fenton, Harold Fish, Ingebord Frazer, Paula Goldstein, Adrian and Stephanie Goodall, Jimmy Gough, Daphne Hobbs, Owen Ap Iwan, Yolanda Jamieson, Judith Jesser, Ruth Lamm, Kenneth and Diana Mcallum, Archie Norman, Rogelio Pfirter, Alma Arbusova de Riasniansky, Fabio Roberts de Gonzalez, Luned Roberts de Gonzalez, Tegai Roberts, Pascual Rosendo, Carlos Saenz, Alejandro Tirschini, Nicholas Tozer, Ofelia Veltri, Albina Zampini, and Jorge Torre Zavaleta.
Chile
: John Rees, John Barnett, Rose Eberhardt, and Mateo Martinic.
Brazil
: Noah Richler, Amanda Shakespeare, Rasbutta da Silva, and Pierre Verger.
The United States
: Bruce and Loretta Anawalt, Lynn Block, Clarence Brown, Nell Campbell, Carole Chanler, Gertrude Chanler, John and Sheila Chanler, Ollie Chanler, Freddy Eberstadt, Barbara Epstein, Grey Foy, Sarah Giles, Robert Hughes, Harmer Johnson, Bill Katz, Ward and Judith Landrigan, Michele Laporte, Lisa Lyon, Kynaston McShine, Gita Mehta, Keith Milow, Werner Muensterberger, John Richardson, John Russell, Helene Sieferheld, Elisabeth Sifton, Jim Silberman, Judith Small, Susan Sontag, Pattie Sullivan, Donna Tartt, Paul Walter, Cary and Edith Welch, Gillian Walker, and Jessie Wood.
Toronto
: Greg Gatenby.
Australia
: Carl Andrew, Geoff Bagshaw, Margaret Bail, the late Pam Bell, Richard Buckham, Paul Cox, Robyn Davison, Jenny Day, Nin Dutton, Ben Gannon, Jenny Green, Thomas Keneally, Dick Kimber, Lydia Livingstone, Les Murray, Anne-Marie Mykyta, Pam Nathan, Rob Novak, Christopher Pearson, Toly and Alexis Sawenko, Leo Schofield, Gary Stoll, Kath Strehlow, Phillip Toyne, Penelope Tree, Clinton Tweedie, Val Vallis, and Daphne Williams.
New Zealand
: Philippa Davies.
I have made every effort to trace copyright holders. I greatly regret any omissions, but these will be rectified in future editions.
Lastly, my deepest thanks go to Gillian Johnson and to Christopher MacLehose.
Nicholas Shakespeare, Old Wardour, 1999
The author would like to thank Hugh Chatwin, Elizabeth Chatwin, Bob Brain, Diana di Carcaci, Lady Ivry Freyberg, Werner Herzog, James Ivory, Harmer Johnson, John Kasmin, Diana Melly, Chris Rundle, Kath Strehlow and Paul Yule for the loan of photographs from their private archives. Thanks are also due to Linda Amory, Jerry Bauer, Corbis Images, the
Daily Mail
, Stewart Meese, Thames & Hudson Ltd, Times Newspapers, The Powerhouse Sydney and Topham Picturepoint for permission to use photographs from their collections.
Daily Mail
, Stewart Meese, Thames & Hudson Ltd, Times Newspapers, The Powerhouse Sydney and Topham Picturepoint for permission to use photographs from their collections.
Individual credits are listed in the illustrated sections to be found between pages 114 and 115 (1942–1963), 274 and 275 (1965–1976) and 434 and 435 (1977–1985).
As you are not unaware, I am much travelled. This fact allows me to corroborate the assertion that a voyage is always more or less illusory, that there is nothing new under the sun, that everything is one and the same, etcetera, but also, paradoxically enough, to assert that there is no foundation for despairing of finding surprises and something new: in truth, the world is inexhaustible.
JORGE LUIS BORGES,
Extraordinary Tales
Extraordinary Tales
I
Fire
“Was he a cold fish?” I asked.
“A fish?”
“A cold person.”
“He was hot and cold. He was all things.”
—BC, from “Among the Ruins”
ON I FEBRUARY 1984, AN ENGLISHMAN WITH A RUCKSACK AND
walking-boots strides into a bungalow in the Irene district of Pretoria. He is six feet tall, with fair hair swept over a huge forehead and staring blue eyes. He is only a step ahead of the illness that will kill him. He is 43, but he has the animation of a schoolboy.
walking-boots strides into a bungalow in the Irene district of Pretoria. He is six feet tall, with fair hair swept over a huge forehead and staring blue eyes. He is only a step ahead of the illness that will kill him. He is 43, but he has the animation of a schoolboy.
Bruce Chatwin had come to South Africa to see the palaeontologist Bob Brain after reading his book
The Hunters or the Hunted?
It was, Bruce wrote, the book he had “needed” since his schooldays, and it had reawoken themes that had been with him a long time.
The Hunters or the Hunted?
It was, Bruce wrote, the book he had “needed” since his schooldays, and it had reawoken themes that had been with him a long time.
“This is a detective story, but rather an odd one,” begins Brain’s classic text on early human behaviour, based on 15 years’ excavation at the Swartkrans cave near Johannesburg. Brain’s analysis of fossilised bones raised the possibility that Early Man was not a savage cannibal, as had been generally held, but the preferred prey of one of the large cats with whom he shared the open grasslands of Africa. Around 1,200,000
BC
the roles were reversed when
homo erectus
began to outwit his predator, the
dinofelis
or false sabre-tooth tiger.
BC
the roles were reversed when
homo erectus
began to outwit his predator, the
dinofelis
or false sabre-tooth tiger.
What had given man the upper hand? “Everything,” says Brain, “is linked to the management of fire.” But 30 years of exploring and digging in caves over southern and Saharan Africa had failed to produce evidence of fire prior to 70,000
BC
, by which time
dinofelis
had been extinct a million years.
BC
, by which time
dinofelis
had been extinct a million years.
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