Explore the Stylistic Conventions of Both - Notes from a Small Island - :: English Literature

Explore the Stylistic Conventions of Both - Notes from a Small Island - and - In Patagonia - and account for their different audiences. Bill Bryson and Bruce Chatwin both participate in the ability to Travel write. Travel writing is were one would travel and then list in chronological order what they have experienced. Bill Bryson is able to do this in an entirely different fashion, to Bruce Chatwin. Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. Bryson settled in England in 1977, and lived for numerous years with his British wife and children in Yorkshire. Bryson then went back to America, but has now returned to England. As well as writing ‘Notes from a small Island’ Bryson has also written ‘down Under’ ‘Notes from a big Country’ ‘A walk in the Woods’ ‘Made in America’ ‘Neither here nor there’ and ‘The lost Continent’.[1] Bruce Chatwin was born in Sheffield in 1940. After attending Marborough School he began work as a Porter at Sotheby’s, which is an auctioneer. Chatwin became one of the youngest directors at Sotheby’s and then Chatwin abandoned his job to explore the world, as his dedication was travel writing. During 1972 and 1975 Chatwin worked for the Sunday Times and quickly announced his departure for in a telegram; ‘Gone to Patagonia for six months’. This journey motivated to write the first of his books which was simply named, In Patagonia. In Patagonia won The Hawthornden Prize and the E.M. Forster award and launched his writing profession. Two of Chatwins films have been made into feature films, The Viceroy Oiudah (retitled Cobra Verde) directed by Werner Herzog and the British film. Bruce Chatwin has also written ‘On the Black Hill’, ‘The Song Lines’ ‘The Viceroy of Ouidah’.[2] Before Bryson’s begins his story, he writes a prologue of his first encounter with Britain and how inviting it was for him. Bryson elaborates on why he returned to England in 1995. Bill Bryson gives an interpretation of his first time in England which was more exclusively Dover in 1973. In the front of Bill Bryson’s book is an image of Britain surrounded by small sketches. Once I had read I became conscious that this map mirrored the style of writing used in the book, light-hearted. Chatwin developed an interest for Patagonia at a young age. Chatwin tells us about his earliest memories of his grandmother, and being at her house; ‘In my grandmother’s dining room was a glass-fronted cabinet†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢[3] Chatwin is talking about his personal experience directly, although he doesn’t begin with his journey in Patagonia. Chatwin is unfolding this tale to his audience in great detail; this story helps the reader