| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is centrally concerned with the theme of restlessness within
the work of the British author Bruce Chatwin. Critical interpretation of
Chatwin’s work has tended to focus on the generic and political status of the five
full-length works he produced during his lifetime, exploring the theoretical
implications of the author’s formal approach. This concentration on the
structural and ideological elements of Chatwin’s creative output has resulted in
the substantive thematic material of the works being somewhat overlooked. The
following analysis intends to redress this balance, focussing specifically on the
creative representation of the key theme of restlessness within Chatwin’s body
of work.
This thesis will explore the topic of restlessness through an analysis of
both the author’s published work and the embargoed archive of Chatwin’s
notebooks, diaries and manuscripts that resides in the Bodleian Library, the
majority of which has never before been made available to critical scrutiny.
Drawing on this important and previously unstudied archive, which includes the
manuscript of Chatwin’s first unpublished work, known as “The Nomadic
Alternative”, the following thesis will examine the origins and development of
the theme of restlessness, which can be seen as Chatwin’s chief literary
preoccupation; a condition that he perceived as endemic to the human species,
and which he argued crucially influenced both the individual possibility of
discovering satisfaction in one’s life and the wider likelihood of attaining social
harmony. Tracing Chatwin’s interest in the subject from its earliest literary
manifestation in “The Nomadic Alternative”, this thesis intends to document the
development of the author’s consistent engagement with the notion of
restlessness, examining both his literary representation of the affliction as well
as presenting an analysis of his theory of human movement. | en_GB |
