What he was doing here

A decade has passed since the death of Bruce Chatwin at the early age of forty-nine. One of the most gifted and certainly one of the most interesting of modern British writers, this capricious visionary was widely praised, even over-praised, possibly indulged, but his dazzling career produced five exciting and diverse books. With In Patagonia (1977) he revitalised travel writing and reclaimed a classically English form from Paul Theroux, who had begun to make it his own. The Viceroy of Ouidah (1980), Chatwin's fantastical and opulent foray into the world of magic realist historical fiction, proved that he was far more than an observer with a flair for descriptive writing. On the Black Hill (1982) followed. This gentle, elegiac account of the life of two elderly brothers who live out their lives on a remote North Wales farm is a beautiful and subtly profound exploration of the smallness of human life when balanced against the weightier significance of time and history. By far the quietest of his books, it is his finest work and is a classic example of pastoral writing. The Songlines (1987), a lively study of the Aboriginal creation myths, impressed reviewers on publication, yet also caused some confusion as to whether it was travel, autobiography, fiction, anthropology - or all four. Many critics expected it to win that year's Booker Prize. His final novel, Utz (1988) a tight, not entirely convincing account of a complusive collector living in Prague, was Booker shortlisted in 1988. It didn't win. Three months later, Chatwin was dead. His final book, What Am I Doing Here?, a collection of essays and journalism, was published in May 1989. Chatwin would have enjoyed the irony of the title.