Nowhere Is a Place Travels in Patagonia a Sierra Club Book (Hardback) [Hardcover]

Bruce Chatwin (Author), Paul Theroux (Author), Jeff Gnass (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 1992

Two best-selling travel writers recount their impressions of the windswept wilderness of Patagonia--the desolate southern region of South America that has had a powerful hold on the literary imagination since its "discovery" by Magellan.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Some 100 exquisite landscape photographs of this mythic region at the end of the earth provide a foil for the authors' lecture before the Royal Geographic Society, first published (without illustrations) in 1986. Both the late Chatwin ( In Patagonia ) and Theroux ( The Old Patagonian Express ) have already recounted their individual experiences in this still-wild, sparsely inhabited and little-visited spot in Chile's Tierra del Duego. Here they delve together into the region's history and legends, tracing its remarkable impact on the imaginations of a multitude of literary figures enraptured by stray travelers' tales of a race of giants, daunting coastlines, vast empty expanses and unimagined creatures of the wild. Patagonia gave lifelong inspiration to W. H. Hudson, who spent his childhood there and was never happy elsewhere; Darwin remarked on it; Poe, Shakespeare, Donne, Coleridge and Melville (among others) wove it into their works. To this feast of erudition, adventure, charming presentation and lovely color photographs, Theroux's introduction adds a vivid memorial of Chatwin. 15,000 first printing.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Published in Britain in 1985 and a year later in the United States as Patagonia Revisited, this combines the travel writing skills of Chatwin and Theroux with the 1991 photography of Gnass. The two writers here offer their impressions of the South American wilderness accompanied by simply stunning photographs.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 109 pages
• Publisher: Yolla Bolly Press / Sierra Club Books; 1st edition (October 13, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871565005
• ISBN-13: 978-0871565006
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Chatwin reinvented British travel writing with his first book, In Patagonia, and followed it with many travel books and novels, each unique and extraordinary. He died in 1989.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating book about a fantastic place., August 12, 2002

By 

Jerald R Lovell (Clinton Township, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nowhere Is a Place: Travels in Patagonia (Paperback)

This book is about Patagonia, the southern part of South America. Windswept, cool, rainy or dry, depending on one's location, Patagonia is the uttermost realm of the Earth. This book, out of many, is the best I have ever seen on the area.

The writers, Paul Theroux, and the late Bruce Chatwin, are both very well acquainted with the region, Each writer has a differing style, and each writer's commentary therefore varies. Yet, both harmoniously intertwine into a fascinating mesh. In addition to each capturing the essence of the land and the harsh climate in his own way, both writers present fascinating vignettes on Patagonian history, culture, and people.

You will learn about the origin of Patagonia's name, its role in Shakespeare's plays, its history of sheltering Welsh nationalism, its ground sloth fossils, Butch Cassidy staying in hiding there, its glaciers and fiords, etc., etc., etc.

All of this is superbly complimented by Fred Hirschmann's stunning color photography. In four-color format, these photographs form the most excellent composite for a book since Eliot Porter's masterpiece on the lost Glen Canyon. Again and again, I return to these photos for their inspiration and beauty.

Most of us will never visit Patagonia and taste the local calafate berry. But if we can't, this book is the next best thing. I prize this book very much and recommend it to the hilt.