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What Am I Doing Here
Here is a journey into the interior of a celebrated novelist and traveler, charged with all of the narrative power and intellectual challenge of his fiction.
Paperback, 384 pages
Published
August 1st 1990
by Penguin Books
(first published September 15th 1989)
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i have always liked Bruce Chatwin, there is a particular hard cover coffee table style book of his photographs, which appeals to me as i too am an avid traveller and photographer. However i had intended to make a note of all the famous names mentioned in this series of wonderful adventures, name-dropping par excellence! The other point is that i feel rather chuffed by the fact that i knew all those so-called celebs he mentioned...not personally of course, but in reference to each, i didn't feel ...more
The author of one of my favorite short novels, Bruce Chatwin here demonstrates his story-telling ability amidst the realities of travel and the vast world of his extended friendships and acquaintances. As an example the following is from “Mrs. Mandelstam,” Chatwin’s account of his visit with the widow of the Russian poet, Osip Mandelstam, collected in What Am I Doing Here?, the last book he published before he died:
"White metal fastenings glittered among the brown stumps of her tee...more
"White metal fastenings glittered among the brown stumps of her tee...more
I really liked this book. Ironically I don't read too many travel books because I don't really find other people's adventures that fascinating unless they're actual guidebooks. I liked Bruce Chatwin's writing style and I thought I could relate to a lot of what his mind was going through when he traveled, although I haven't done nearly as many crazy things as him. Everyone should have a memoire, there's a market for anything these days.
Chatwin is impossibly cultured, and it shows. His writing is fantastic and the encounters he describes always entertaining and informative. This is hardly an autobiography in any formal sense; one comes away with little detail of his life, and far too little of his thoughts. I almost wish that he would have elaborated more: on himself, his attitudes, opinions, and world views. Occasionally it's hard to be taken in by his more historical essays, which is why I don't give this book a higher rating...more
Collection of essays/vignettes/true stories from a prolific traveler and elegant writer. You wonder how this author, who died at 49, managed to get to so many places, many of which either required special access and/or were places most sensible people wouldn’t want to be, while writing so well. A bunch of clear snapshots that don’t try to hard to edify. Good book to take on vacation.
The thesis in this book it is a bit forced but still something in the reader is pushing to believe: the evil in the world is the sedentary life. The human been naturally reveals a spiritualistic approach to the life and a better connection with the beauty of the nature as soon as start a nomad life. It is a child dream? But we love Bruce Chatwin even for this.
From memory, and it was a long time ago that I read this, it is a very mixed bag with no central theme. There are some travel/journalism pieces but also an essay on Ernst Juenger's diaries. That alone is the only piece that really sticks in my memory, reading that led me on to read "On Marble Cliffs".
Typically entertaining pseudo-fiction collection of travelogues, anecdotes and fables.
The highlight has to be the chapter about Indira Gandhi's post-emergency comeback election campaign. While some of it may be cute invention - the despotic nature of Indira Gandhi in many amusing para-phrases.
The highlight has to be the chapter about Indira Gandhi's post-emergency comeback election campaign. While some of it may be cute invention - the despotic nature of Indira Gandhi in many amusing para-phrases.
This was an excellent traveloque book, full of insights, tales, adventures and memories. All the more poignant since the author passed away not too long after its publication, a tragedy as he probably had many more novels left to pen.
I loved Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines (about aborigine Australia) and In Patagonia - so I thought I would read this book of short stories about his trips to far off places - so far I like it.
A splendid collection of stories/essays/thoughts, collected over years of extensive travel that Chatwin has done. In this small book, there are so many different people to meet, so many different cultures to get a whiff of, and so many circumstances to puzzle over. Chatwin is caught in the middle of coup in an African nation, haunted by Yetis in high Himalyan peaks, and has a love-hate relationship with Indira Gandhi during her campaign to return to power after the emergency. And all of it is ne...more
This is an incredible mixture of stories from all over the world, from wolf children in India to couture in Paris, every story is invigorating to all the senses.
ISBN-10: 0140115773
Great travel writing, but I’m not sure he’s always completely honest in his descriptions.
Great travel writing, but I’m not sure he’s always completely honest in his descriptions.
Unheimlich angenehm zu lesen, finde ich dieses Buch auch besser als die anderen Romanen von Chatwin.
This collection, like most, ebbed and flowed for me, but overall, worth my time and the 86 cents I forked over for it.
The best piece by far was about Werner Herzog and his crazy friend (Kininski?) making a movie in Africa. Kininski at one point was encouraging the women extras to riot, which they took up with alarming zeal.
The China stuff was good too.
He had a motif examing "nomadism" and the benefits of just walking, which I, in particular, nodded ...more
The best piece by far was about Werner Herzog and his crazy friend (Kininski?) making a movie in Africa. Kininski at one point was encouraging the women extras to riot, which they took up with alarming zeal.
The China stuff was good too.
He had a motif examing "nomadism" and the benefits of just walking, which I, in particular, nodded ...more
Not my favorite Chatwin book and hard to give a truly fair review as many years have passed but finishing this one left me flat and as I had read almost all his books I didn't seem to want to complete my Chatwin literary journey. Collection of stories and only a handful were interesting, not on the level of Songlines or In Patagonia but completely different as a collection book as well. Someone else may find it better than myself.
this man knows travel.
"The art of journeying contributes towards a sense of physical and mental well-being, while the monotony of prolonged settlement or regular work weaves patterns in the brain that engender fatigue and a sense of personal inadequacy. Much of what ethologists have designated "aggression" is simply an angered response to the frustrations of confinement."
"The art of journeying contributes towards a sense of physical and mental well-being, while the monotony of prolonged settlement or regular work weaves patterns in the brain that engender fatigue and a sense of personal inadequacy. Much of what ethologists have designated "aggression" is simply an angered response to the frustrations of confinement."
This was the book that made me fall in love with Chatwin, and, at least for the first time consciously, fall in love with short-stories and essays. It's also the genre that Chatwin was, in my opion, best at - the short, precise look at things or the small thought spun into a whole tale - these stories are brilliant (and I need to reread this).
Bruce Chatwin is a fascinating person and his life was truly interesting - that is what comes through in these essays. Reading this book when I was in my late teens/early twenties opened my eyes to a whole world of thinking... and more than ten years later I still think of some of the stories!
Referenced by the Italian film of same name. A collection of essays about traveling, social issues, and the interesting people you meet when you're a journalist traveling around the world. (Sociology; 300 pages)
This is a great collection of stories about Chatwin getting himself into awkward situations, sometimes in areas of serious political and social unrest, along with the characters he finds there.
Some of the stories are stronger than others but an excellent intro to a wonderful writer.
Bruce Chatwin chose some of episodes from his life and described in this book. Great read.
Sometimes I wonder why Chatwin is considered one of history's most notable travel writers.
Not enough travel writing for my liking, but it was an interesting read in some places.
Karen
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James
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If you're traveling for an extended period of time, this book is a must!
Jan
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“Walking is a virtue, tourism is a deadly sin.”
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5 people liked it
“Man's real home is not a house, but the Road, and that life itself is a journey to be walked on foot.”
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