Chatwin, Bruce. Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin.(Brief article)(Book review)

Chatwin, Bruce. Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin. Viking. Feb. 2011. c.400p, ed. by Elizabeth Chatwin & Nicholas Shakespeare. ISBN 9780670022465. $35. LIT

Bruce Chatwin (1940-89), famous primarily for his travel writing, was a romantic, an art expert, and a storyteller. As this book's coeditor, novelist and Chatwin biographer Shakespeare writes, "He tells not only the half truth, but a truth and a half." This book reveals Chatwin's widely varied pursuits, the ever-expanding interests of a man who worked his way up at Sotheby's from teenage porter to resident expert on impressionist art, and company director. Disillusioned with the world of commercial fine art, …