Guides: Alumni Travel Reading: Patagonian Frontiers

Photography

Patagonia: Wild Land at the End of the Earth by Tim Hauf (Photographer); Conger Beasley (Text by); Gregory Crouch (Foreword by)
Call Number: F2936 .H38 2004
ISBN: 0972074325
Publication Date: 2004
Patagonia: Panorama by Marcus Renner
Call Number: F2936 .R46 2009
ISBN: 3898234223
Publication Date: 2009
Both the Renner and the Hauf bring together beautiful photographic images accompanied by essays on Patagonia’s geography, culture, and natural history.

Fiction

The Seamstress and the Wind by César Aira; Rosalie Knecht (Translator)
Call Number: PQ7798.1.I7 C6713 2011
ISBN: 9780811219129
Publication Date: 2011
Argentine author Aira, writes about childhood and memory in this comic novel, which features a wild chase to Patagonia at the end of the World. Widely available from libraries and online book sites.
Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World by Francisco Coloane; David A. Petreman (Translator)
Call Number: PQ8097.C55 A26 1991
ISBN: 0935480501
Publication Date: 1991
These stories, translated from the Spanish, describe the harsh beauty of southern Chile. Adventurous narratives provide a strong sense of place and people.
A Different Sea by Claudio Magris
Call Number: PQ4873.A3645 A7713 1993
ISBN: 000271339X
Publication Date: 1994
Enrico has always lived in the shadow of his gifted friend Carlo, a bond made all the stronger by Carlo's suicide at the age of 23. In portraying Enrico's life, Magris depicts a world in chaos, that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire shaken by the Great War. By the author of Danube.
To the Edge of the World by Harry Thompson
Call Number: PR6120.H664 T48 2005
ISBN: 9781596921900
Publication Date: 2006
This novel in three parts interprets the voyages of The Beagle, the life of its Captain, Robert Fitzroy, and that of Charles Darwin.

Vargas Ponce on the Life and Customs of Patagonia

Map of the Straits of Magellan on Wikimedia Commons.

Vargas Ponce, Jose. A Voyage of Discovery to the Strait of Magellan: With an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants; and of the Natural Productions of Patagonia (London, [Boston: Printed for R. Phillips; Milford House). This is a translation of the account of the voyage which settled the question of whether ships should attempt passage to the Pacific through the Straits of Magellan. Translated in 1820 from a 1788 edition. Freely Available for downloading in a variety of formats and to a variety of devices from the Open Library.

Patagonian Mountains

Patagonia. Photographed by Stefanos Nikologianis. Obtained with Creative Commons on flickr.

Patagonian Frontiers

South American Sea Lion Pups by Killy Ridols on Wikimedia Commons.

Bibliographers

Selected By:

Joe Holub

Librarian for Spain, Portugal, and Latin America

holub @ pobox.upenn.edu

Annotated By:

Rebecca Stuhr

Coordinator for Humanities Collections

Classical Studies

History

stuhrreb @ pobox.upenn.edu

Revised By:

Kelsey LeClair

Specialist in Classical Studies

Administrative Assistant, Penn Libraries

kleclair @ pobox.upenn.edu

For more information about this and other excursions, visit Penn Alumni Travel.

Natural History

William Henry Hudson. Idle Days in Patagonia (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1917). Step back in time to find out what travel to Patagonia entailed 100 years ago. Hudson fulfills a lifelong dream to travel to Patagonia. In his travels he pays close attention to bird life. This book is freely available and downloadable to multiple devices via the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/idledaysinpatag01hudsgoog

Flickr: Bandurrias (Theristicus caudatus)
Photo by lluis Cabarrocas Ribas Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

History, People and Culture

Last Cowboys at the End of the World by Nick Reding
Call Number: F3134 .R43 2001
ISBN: 0609605968
Publication Date: 2001
This is the account of Reding’s account of ten months spent in Middle Cisnes, Patagonia in 1995 where, in Chilean Patagonia, he found an outpost of gauchos, living in isolation, “completely alone with their herds, hours on horseback from the nearest neighbors.” When he returned in 1998, much had changed. His book chronicles his travels and reports on his findings and experiences.
Dusk on the Campo by Sara M. Taber
Call Number: F2936 .T3 1991
ISBN: 080501473X
Publication Date: 1991
Another look at Patagonia from an outsider who has spent several years living with a surviving immigrant community of sheepherders.

History, People and Culture

Patagonia, a Forgotten Land by Carlos A. Brebbia
Call Number: F2936 .B74 2007
ISBN: 9781845640613
Publication Date: 2007
This coffee table book will keep you company before and after your travels as it is much too heavy to take along! But for a history of exploration from Magellan forward, this is the book to dip into.
Contemporary Perspectives on the Native Peoples of Pampa, Patagonia, and Tierra Del Fuego by Claudia Luis Briones & José Luis Lanata, editors
Call Number: F2821 .C593 2002
ISBN: 0897898303
Publication Date: 2002
The Loss of the Wager by John Bulkeley and John Byron
Call Number: F3146 .B95 2004
ISBN: 1843830965
Publication Date: 2004
Part of the “First Person Singular” series, this book provides a firsthand account of the fateful journey of The Wager, a transport ship, carrying stores and a force of marines, which found itself wrecked in a storm and driven ashore on the Patagonian coast. Buckley and Byron were two survivors. Bryon is Lord George Byron’s grandfather, and this tale of mutiny and survival inspired both Lord Byron in his poems, specifically "Don Juan," and the contemporary author Patrick O’Brian in his ocean going novels.
Return to Patagonia by Rosemary Goring
Call Number: F2936 .G67 2006
ISBN: 0720612608
Publication Date: 2006
Goring writes about Patagonia from the perspective of one who grew up there. She is particularly interested in Puerto San Julian and the ranch where she lived as a young child. Goring also presents an account of the English and Scottish sheep farmers who moved from the Falkland Islands to Patagonia, and considers the connections between the mainland and the nearby islands.
Beyond the Pampas - in Search of Patagonia by Imogen Rhia Herrad
Call Number: F2936 .H67 2012
ISBN: 185411591X
Publication Date: 2013
Herrad focuses on Welsh immigration to Argentina, specifically communities within Patagonia, and assimilation into Argentinean society.

Guanaco

Patagonia. Photographed by Paolo Macorig. Obtained with a Creative Commons license on flickr.

Patagonia: Refuge of the Monsters

This documentary records the rich variety of wildlife in Patagonia, and in particular the arrival of the whales in July on the coast of Peninsula Valdes where they give birth to their calves and remain until November. Find the Video at Youtube. Video includes advertisements.

Magellanic penguin (Peninsula Valdés, Patagonia, Argentina)
photo taken by by Michaël CATANZARITI
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Right Whales of Patagonia

The Tail of a Right Whale off the Coast of Patagonia

Right Whale off the Coast of Península Valdés, Patagonia (Argentina)
Photo by Edith Schreurs
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic