The South American diaries - John Hopkins

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, Brazil. All 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 distill his encounters with these countries with such emotion Supreme elegance... A great talent."
L'Argus de la Presse