Anatomy of Restlessness : Selected Writings 1969-1989

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Chatwin, but not his best.
Review: Fans of the great journeyman and travel writer Bruce Chatwin will not be disappointed by this collection of essays and short stories. Some of the fiction is quite nice, if esoteric (but very Chatwin); the essays on art are a little more digestable, if a little vague since they are removed from their original context.

Not the greatest of books, but certainly not a failure or something a big fan should miss.

Rating:
Summary: stick with songlines & what am I doing here
Review: I was happy come across a book by Chatwin and another title that seemed to make sense to me. But - disapointment followed. This book is full of name dropping and references so obscure to a time and age that is really only talking to the gilded ex-pats of yore that were sitting in their chestnut studies in the colonised counties and it doesn;t go much beyond that. I think the basis for better is there in, say, the chapter "the Morality of Things" but published as it is, it is still unformed. The same goes for the Nomad chapters. Basically, these works were left unpublished for a reason. They should have stayed that way. Bruce has died and we should just appreciate his words from his own hand. I suggest you stick with the real Bruce.

Rating:
Summary: A charming collection of half forgotten Chatwin texts
Review: If you accept the disadvantageous consequences of a collection of disjointed texts, and take this book for what it is, you'll definitely enjoy reading it.

And maybe this collection isn't so incoherent after all. The texts gain coherence from Chatwin's ever returning themes, a.o. restlessness and rootlessness (united in his preoccupation with Nomadism), and above all Chatwin's writing style, which is abundantly present in all texts. All texts benefit from a Chatwin flavour.

I really enjoyed this book. I can't imagine haven't read the autobiographical sketches 'I always wanted to go to Patagonia' or 'A place to hang your hat', the review 'Abel the nomad' or the three texts gathered in part III "The Nomadic Alternative". These texts are classic Chatwin texts, if you would ask me.

The 'Songlines' might be more epic, 'In Patagonia' more odd, but 'Anatomy of Restlessness' is incontestable Chatwin's most charming book. Very charming, indeed.