The South American Diaries by John Hopkins
A unique and colourful memoir documenting John Hopkins' literary journey through South America. While writing a novel set in South America, John Hopkins travelled back there to 'reacquaint himself with the scene'. In 1972-3, he travelled by train, bus and boat from Mexico City to the centre of the continent, through Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua and on to Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. Hopkins travelled slowly, deliberately, savouring every experience along the way. But the journey was fraught with his angst-ridden strivings to write his novel and with the troubled love he had for Madeleine, his travelling companion. In these heat-scorched, tequila-infused pages, Hopkins paints a sultry, exquisite portrait of South America and in so doing masters an art that he believed would forever elude him.
Mexico City, Paramaribo, Manaus, then over the Andes of Peru and Bolivia to Paraguay, Argentina, BrazilAll by bus, train, dugout, canoe and cutting his way through the jungle with a machete. A year in which writer's block turns a novelist into an incomparable diarist. * Elle *
Hopkins notices everything. Here is boredom, solitude and cheap drinks. A deep melancholy hovers over these pages. There is time for everything, and nothing is lost. * Madame Figaro *
An intimate journal ... and one of his best books. Everything is there - the subtlety of his vision, the bitter lucidity, his deep interest in other people and his own yearnings. Only a great writer could distil his encounters with these countries with such emotion. * L'Argus de la Presse *
Hopkins notices everything. Here is boredom, solitude and cheap drinks. A deep melancholy hovers over these pages. There is time for everything, and nothing is lost. * Madame Figaro *
An intimate journal ... and one of his best books. Everything is there - the subtlety of his vision, the bitter lucidity, his deep interest in other people and his own yearnings. Only a great writer could distil his encounters with these countries with such emotion. * L'Argus de la Presse *
John Hopkins was a writer who, after graduating from Princeton, lived for many years in Tangier and was a central figure in the bohemian literary crowd of the '60s and '70s, becoming friends with William Burroughs, Paul Bowles and Jane Bowles. He wrote several novels, among them Tangier Buzzless Flies and The Flight of the Pelican, and travel memoirs including The Tangier Diaries and The White Nile Diaries.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781780768250 |
| ISBN 10 | 1780768257 |
| Title | The South American Diaries |
| Author | John Hopkins |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2016-08-31 |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |