WHAT AM I DOING HERE? <i> by Bruce Chatwin (Viking: $19.95; 369 pp.) </i>

“The magic in Chatwin’s best work goes beyond his perfection of incident, of phrase and of portrait. It comes, also, from the zigzag, unpredictable circuits and detours he takes through his material. It is as if he himself were a Chinese geomancer, listening for dragon-lines; the hidden routes that bring virtue and prosperity.”