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Summary
Author Notes
Paul Edward Theroux was born on April 10, 1941 in Medford, Massachusetts and is an acclaimed travel writer. After attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst he joined the Peace Corps and taught in Malawi from 1963 to 1965. He also taught in Uganda at Makerere University and in Singapore at the University of Singapore.
Although Theroux has also written travel books in general and about various modes of transport, his name is synonymous with the literature of train travel. Theroux's 1975 best-seller, The Great Railway Bazaar, takes the reader through Asia, while his second book about train travel, The Old Patagonian Express (1979), describes his trip from Boston to the tip of South America. His third contribution to the railway travel genre, Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China, won the Thomas Cook Prize for best literary travel book in 1989. His literary output also includes novels, books for children, short stories, articles, and poetry. His novels include Picture Palace (1978), which won the Whitbread Award and The Mosquito Coast (1981), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Theroux is a fellow of both the British Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Geographic Society. His title Lower River made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. Currently his 2015 book, Deep South , is a bestseller.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (1)
Kirkus Review
This collection of 50 pieces written by Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar, The Mosquito Coast, et al.) serves as a solid introduction to his work and far-flung travels. Though they span 20 years and a wide range of subjects, the pieces are unified by Theroux's consistent point of view and wry detachment. Some of the strongest contributions were written during the '60s in East Africa where he was a teacher: they include tales of being thrown out of Malawi, witnessing revolt in the streets of Uganda. Among the other highlights: Theroux's musing on the intangible line separating Europe and Asia; a discussion of the nature of travel (""travel has less to do with distance than with insight; it is, very often, a way of seeing""); profiles of, among others, Kipling, Nixon, V.S. Pritchett, John McEnroe; a journey into the dangerous jungles of the New York City subway; descriptions of Theroux's large, extended family and their summers on Cape Cod; his friendship with V.S. Naipaul (""he woke me and made me think""); his 20-year high-school reunion; glimpses of countries he's visited (Malaysia, Afghanistan, Burma, Ireland, Corsica); and unforgettable train rides that reinforce his belief that ""all great trains arrive too soon."" These pieces prove anew Theroux's unflagging, infectious enthusiams for exploring a ""large and strange world"" where ""one can still make discoveries in a glorious solitary way. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
