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Bruce Chatwin
(May 13, 1940 - January 18, 1989) U.K.

Bruce Chatwin

Novelist and travel writer

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Journalist, novelist and travel writer, born in Sheffield into a middle-class family. Educated at boarding school and at Marlborough, Chatwin went on to work as a porter for Sotheby's but rapidly rose there, apparently developing a reputation for spotting fakes.

In 1966 he left Sotheby's and started a university course in Archaeology at Edinburgh but left after two years before completing the course. He was a writer for five years on The Sunday Times Magazine.

Bruce ChatwinOne of his lovers, Miranda Rothschild, is quoted as saying that "He's out to seduce everybody, it doesn't matter if you are male, female, an ocelot or a tea cosy." Chatwin was certainly uneasy about his sexuality and although he had male lovers throughout his life, he did not identify as gay.

At the age of 25 he married Elisabeth Charrer whom he had met at Sotheby's. His bisexuality posed problems for him and his partners. According to friends, he had numerous one-night stands, with both men and women, and several long affairs, including one with the Jamaican actor Peter Straker.

He separated from his wife after fifteen years of marriage but they resumed their relationship towards the end of his life. Chatwin died in Nice, France, of Aids related complications. He was buried in Greece.

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Bruce ChatwinBooks:

  • Rotten Fruits (1965)
  • In Patagonia (1977)
  • The Viceroy of Ouidah (1980)
  • Up the Black Hill (1982)
  • The Songlines (1987)
  • Utz (1988)
  • What Am I Doing Here (1989)

Source: excerpts from: Gabriele Griffin, Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay and Writing, Routledge, London, 2002 - et alii

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