In December 1974, Bruce Chatwin headed south from Buenos Aires to write an account of his journey through Patagonia. On the surface it was based on a series of encounters with the dispossessed - exiles, refugees and outlaws and those who had made their home on the southernmost tip of South America - but Chatwin’s real interest lay in the internal journey behind their stories and the nature of human restlessness.
John Yorke looks at why his vivid prose and highly original style both startled and excited readers when it was published in 1977. It was to catapult Bruce Chatwin from a journalist to a much-feted writer and he went on to author a series of critically acclaimed books, including The Songlines and On the Black Hill.
John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized on BBC Radio 4's Sunday Drama series. From EastEnders to the Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods.
As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone.
Contributors: Susannah Clapp – Theatre critic and Chatwin’s editor and author of With Chatwin. Dr Jonathan Chatwin – travel writer and academic (no relation).
Credits: In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin by Faber ,3rd revised edition 1993 Archive clips of Bruce Chatwin interview and reading from the text taken from BBC TV In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin: Episode One.
Reader: Tom Glenister Researcher: Nina Semple Production Manager: Sarah Wright Producer: Julian Wilkinson Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael Sound by Iain Hunter
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4