I really appreciate your taking the time on the road to write a response, Cally. Indeed, I suspected there was something not quite right when I re-read The Songlines, though the bits from his notebooks and the almost mystical notion of some human connection at the source of things are very attractive. But yes, I could guess it wasn't right about Australia and I'm eager to learn more of what you're working on in this regard--or any regard.
In person Bruce was simply quite charming and generous, at least with me--I was a young kid eager to be a writer, and in our brief meeting he took me seriously as a writer, and I think I owe him some small debt for that. But the letters demonstrate that in the years before I met him he could be a terribly selfish fellow--a narcissist, as I say in the review, but perhaps something worse. I do believe he matured, and I would strongly recommend the best of his books--for me On the Black Hill and Utz are the most satisfying, but others continue to praise [i]In [/I]Patagonia. Some of the journalism in What Am I Doing Here is very good.
Anyway, safe home to your island--you can't imagine how exotic that sounds to a guy in the mountains.
Dave
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