:Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts, the third of seven children,{{cite web|url=https://people.com/archive/paul-theroux-vol-20-no-24/|title=Paul Theroux|website=People|access-date=20 October 2018}} and son of Catholic parents; his mother, Anne (née Dittami), was Italian American, and his father, Albert Eugene Theroux, was of French-Canadian descent.{{cite book|title=The International Who's Who 2004|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/internationalwho2004ond/page/1668 1668]|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalwho2004ond/page/1668|isbn=1-85743-217-7|url-access=registration}}{{cite news|url=https://dehradunescortstars.com/a-worldly-education-paul-theroux-imagines-a-much-traveled-writers-active-erotic-life/ |work=Chicago Tribune|first1=Alan|last1=Cheuse|title=A worldly education Paul Theroux imagines a much-traveled writer's active erotic life|date=June 4, 1989}} His mother was a former grammar school teacher and painter,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/30/archives/the-theroux-family-arsenal-therouxs.html|title=The Theroux Family Arsenal |first=James|last=Atlas |date=April 30, 1978 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=20 October 2018}} and his father was a shoe factory leather salesman for the American Leather Oak company.[https://books.google.com/books?id=h5IYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Albert-Eugene+THEROUX%22&dq=%22Albert-Eugene+THEROUX%22&hl=en Current Biography Yearbook], H. W. Wilson Co., 1979, page 415 Theroux was a Boy Scout and ultimately achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.

His brothers are Eugene, Alexander, Joseph and Peter. His sisters are Ann Marie and Mary.

Theroux was educated at Medford High School, followed by the University of Maine, in Orono (1959–60), and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he obtained a B.A. in English in 1963.

According to his older brother Alexander, Paul affects a "fake British accent", despite growing up in a working-class Boston suburb.{{Cite web |date=1997-05-17 |title=WHO IS PAUL THEROUX? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/who-is-paul-theroux-1262143.html |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

{{Summarize section|date=November 2022}}

After finishing his university education, Theroux joined the Peace Corps in 1963 as a teacher in Malawi.{{cite web|url=http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/about-paul-theroux/|title=More About Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963–65) – Peace Corps Worldwide|website=peacecorpsworldwide.org|access-date=21 October 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.departures.com/travel/travel/paul-theroux-malawi-i-loved|title=Paul Theroux: The Malawi I Loved|website=Departures|access-date=21 October 2018}} In a later life interview, he described himself as an "angry and agitated young man" who felt he had to escape the confines of Massachusetts and a hostile U.S. foreign policy. At the time, the Peace Corps was relatively new, having sent its first volunteers overseas in 1961. Theroux helped a political opponent of Prime Minister Hastings Banda escape to Uganda. For this, Theroux was expelled from Malawi and thrown out of the Peace Corps in 1965.{{Cite web |date=2002-10-05 |title=Epiphany under the sun |first=Paul |last=Theroux |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview4 |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} He was declared persona non grata by Banda in Malawi for sympathizing with Yatuta Chisiza.{{Cite web |title=Living on the Edge: Paul Theroux - print version |url=http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2000/0003/prntvers003/pv003pchist.html |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=www.peacecorpswriters.org}} As a consequence, his later novel Jungle Lovers, which concerns an attempted coup in the country, was banned in Malawi for many years.

He moved to Uganda, in 1965, to teach English{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/paul-theroux-on-kenyas-fadhili-william-1494345309|title=Paul Theroux on Kenya's Fadhili William|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=9 May 2017|access-date=21 October 2018|via=www.wsj.com}} at Makerere University, where he also wrote for the magazine Transition. While at Makerere, Theroux began his friendship with Rajat Neogy, founder of Transition Magazine, and novelist V.S. Naipaul, then a visiting scholar at the university.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3672064/Patrick-Frenchs-biography-of-VS-Naipaul-Naipauls-friendship-with-Paul-Theroux.html Patrick French's biography of VS Naipaul: Naipaul's friendship with Paul Theroux], Daily Telegraph, 23 Mar 2008{{cite web|url=http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Tribute-to-VS-Naipaul/434746-4722336-2ugcwf/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831234132/http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Tribute-to-VS-Naipaul/434746-4722336-2ugcwf/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 August 2018|title=Tribute to a man of short simple sentences – The East African|date=31 August 2018|access-date=21 October 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/2c774824-b6e9-11df-b3dd-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/2c774824-b6e9-11df-b3dd-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-status=live|title=The Masque of Africa|work=Financial Times|access-date=21 October 2018|url-access=subscription}} During his time in Uganda, an angry mob at a demonstration threatened to overturn the car in which his pregnant wife was riding, and Theroux decided to leave Africa.McKean, Dave, Barron Storey, Marshall Arisman, Bill Sienkiewicz, Paul Theroux. Edge. Vanguard Productions (NJ), 2003, p. 60 {{ISBN|9781887591461}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2003/0303/303talkthero.html|title=Talking With Paul Theroux|first=John |last=Coyne|website=Peace Corps Writers|date=1962–64}}

In November 1968, the couple moved with their son Marcel to Singapore, where a second son, Louis, was born.{{Cite web |last=Migration |date=2014-11-09 |title=Paul Theroux's turning point in Singapore {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/paul-therouxs-turning-point-in-singapore |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}} After two years of teaching at the National University of Singapore, Theroux and his family settled in England, in November 1971. They lived first in Dorset, and then in south London. When his marriage ended, early in 1990, Theroux returned to the United States, where he has since settled.{{Cite web |last=Standard |first=Kate Church, Evening |date=2012-04-11 |title=My London: Paul Theroux |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/my-london-paul-theroux-7228974.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}

Theroux's sometimes caustic portrait of Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul in his memoir Sir Vidia's Shadow (1998) contrasts sharply with his earlier, admiring portrait of the same author in V. S. Naipaul: An Introduction to his Work (1972). They had a long friendship, but Theroux said that events during the 26 years between the two books colored his perspective in the later book.{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2018/09/23/v-s-naipaul-paul-theroux-and-me-what-i-learned-from-reading-about-their-tumultuous-relationship/|title=V.S. Naipaul, Paul Theroux, and me: What I learned from reading about their tumultuous relationship|date=23 September 2018|website=salon.com|first=Jane|last=Tompkins|access-date=21 October 2018}} The two authors attempted a reconciliation in 2011{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/11361208/V.S-Naipaul-and-Paul-Theroux-in-emotional-Jaipur-Literature-Festival-reunion.html|title=V.S Naipaul and Paul Theroux in emotional Jaipur Literature Festival reunion|first=Dean|last=Nelson|date=12 August 2018|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}} after a chance meeting at the Hay Literary Festival, an episode described in postscript to the subsequent paperback edition of Sir Vidia’s Shadow, and remained close friends until the death of Naipaul in 2018.{{Cite web |date=2011-05-30 |title=V S Naipaul, Paul Theroux end 15-year feud |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/165109/vs-naipaul-paul-theroux-end.html |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}

His novel, Saint Jack (1973), was banned by the government of Singapore for 30 years,Theroux, Paul, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, p. 320. for casting the country in an unfavorable light.{{cite magazine|url=https://brightlightsfilm.com/counter-imperialist-essay-bogdanovichs-saint-jack-singapore/|title=The Counter-Imperialist: Reflections on Bogdanovich's Saint Jack (1979) by a Singaporean|first=Ron|last=Yap|magazine=Bright Lights Film Journal|date=December 3, 2017|access-date=December 6, 2024}} All Theroux's books were banned by the apartheid government in South Africa, but in 1995 after South Africa's transition to democracy, under the presidency of Nelson Mandela, the South African Department of Education made Theroux's The Mosquito Coast required reading as a set book for 12th-grade students sitting their final ("Matric") exam.

In 2001, prior to his 60th birthday, Theroux returned to Africa to retrace his footsteps and "[take] the pulse of the continent". Despite undergoing various hardships during the trip, he came away with a positive impression of Africa and African people and optimistic views of its future.Paul Theroux, "[https://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2013/05/23/paul-theroux-interview-travel-africa/2354251/.html Author Paul Theroux on his final African journey]", USA Today, 23 May 2013. However, his experiences soured his attitudes towards foreign tourists and activists. He wrote about this journey in the book Dark Star Safari.{{Cite news|date=2009-01-28|title=Dark Star Safari: Overland From Cairo to Cape Town|journal=Foreign Affairs|language=en-US|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2003-11-01/dark-star-safari-overland-cairo-cape-town|access-date=2021-02-19|issn=0015-7120}}

Theroux has criticized celebrity activists like Bono, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth."{{cite news |author=Paul Theroux |title=The Rock Star's Burden |date=December 15, 2005 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/opinion/15theroux.html |access-date=2008-08-05}} He has said that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit".

In a 2009 interview, he stated that he now has "the disposition of a hobbit" and has become more optimistic than in his youth. He further commented that he "need[s] happiness to write well."Interview with Eleanor Wachtel, CBC Radio, 30th International Festival of Authors, Toronto, October 25, 2009.

In an op-ed in The New York Times on October 22, 2016, Theroux recommended that President Obama pardon John Walker Lindh. In the article, he compared his association with rebel ministers and own unwitting involvement, while a Peace Corps volunteer, in a plot to assassinate President Hastings Banda of Malawi (noted above) to the complexities in the case of the convicted American citizen{{Cite news |last=Theroux |first=Paul |date=2016-10-22 |title=Opinion {{!}} Pardon the American Taliban |language=en-US |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/opinion/sunday/pardon-the-american-taliban.html |access-date=2022-07-20 |issn=0362-4331}} who fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan.{{cite news|last1=Theroux|first1=Paul|title=Pardon the American Taliban|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/opinion/sunday/pardon-the-american-taliban.html?|agency=The New York Times|date=October 22, 2016}}

{{see also|Paul Theroux bibliography}}

Theroux published his first novel, Waldo (1967), during his time in Uganda; it was moderately successful. He published several more novels over the next few years, including Fong and the Indians, Jungle Lovers, and The Mosquito Coast. On his return to Malawi many years later, he found that Jungle Lovers, which was set in that country, was still banned. He recounted that in his book Dark Star Safari (2002).Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux, page 329, Penguin edition publ. 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-14-028111-8}}

After moving to London in 1972, Theroux set off on an epic journey by train from Great Britain to Japan and back. His account of this journey was published as The Great Railway Bazaar, his first major success as a travel writer and now a classic in the genre.{{Cite web|url=http://www.travelliterature.org/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928131822/http://www.travelliterature.org/reviews/bazaar.shtml|url-status=dead|title=Travelliterature.org|archive-date=September 28, 2007|website=TRAVEL LITERATURE.ORG}}{{cite web|url=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=2-9780618658947-0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929115745/http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=2-9780618658947-0|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-09-29|title= The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux|website=Powell’s Books}} The Nigerian reviewer Noo Saro-Wiwa wrote: "Theroux's book The Great Railway Bazaar (1975) sold 1.5 million copies and is often credited with launching the travel-writing boom of the late twentieth century."{{Cite web |title=Under Western eyes? The status of travel writing in the age of mass tourism |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-travel-writing-tribe-tim-hannigan-book-review-noo-saro-wiwa/|first=Noo|last=Saro-Wiwa |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=TLS |language=en-GB}}

He has since written a number of travel books, including about traveling by train from Boston to Argentina (The Old Patagonian Express), walking around the United Kingdom (The Kingdom by the Sea), kayaking in the South Pacific (The Happy Isles of Oceania), visiting China (Riding the Iron Rooster), and traveling from Cairo to Cape Town across Africa (Dark Star Safari). In 2015, he published Deep South detailing four road trips through the southern states of the United States. In 2019, he published On the Plain of Snakes, his account of his extensive travels in his own car throughout Mexico.{{Cite web |date=2019-10-25 |title=Review: What happened when Paul Theroux bought an old Buick and set out across Mexico |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2019-10-25/paul-theroux-on-the-plain-of-snakes |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=Los Angeles Times|first=Rigoberto |last=González |language=en-US}} He is noted for his rich descriptions of people and places, laced with a heavy streak of irony. Nonfiction by Theroux includes Sir Vidia's Shadow, an account of his personal and professional friendship with Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul, which ended abruptly after 30 years.

Theroux has worked extensively with the celebrated photographer Steve McCurry. Their book The Imperial Way appeared in 1987, and McCurry's photographs are included in Theroux's Deep South{{Cite web |last=Teicher |first=Jordan G. |date=2015-11-24 |title=What Steve McCurry and Paul Theroux Saw When They Traveled Through the American South |url=https://slate.com/culture/2015/11/steve-mccurry-photographs-of-the-american-south-featured-in-paul-therouxs-book-deep-south-four-seasons-on-back-roads.html |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en}} and On the Plain of Snakes. Magazines such as Smithsonian and The National Geographic have paired Theroux and McCurry on assignments.{{Cite web |last=Shavin |first=Naomi |title=The Deep South, As Seen Through the Eyes of Renowned Photographer Steve McCurry |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/deep-south-seen-through-eyes-renowned-photographer-steve-mccurry-180956774/ |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}

A number of Theroux's books have been made into movies. His 1972 novel Saint Jack was filmed by Peter Bogdanovich in 1979, and starred Ben Gazzara.{{CN|date=January 2023}} His novella Doctor Slaughter was filmed as Half Moon Street, in 1986, with Michael Caine and Sigourney Weaver.{{CN|date=January 2023}} Peter Weir's film The Mosquito Coast (1986) had Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix in the cast.{{CN|date=January 2023}} Theroux's set of short stories The London Embassy became a six-part TV series on British television in 1987.{{Cite web |title=London Embassy |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/london-embassy/cast/1030031624/ |access-date=2022-07-20 |magazine=TV Guide |language=en}} Christmas Snow, a 1986 TV movie starring Sid Caesar, was adapted from Theroux's novel London Snow.{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |date=1986-12-19 |title=TV WEEKEND; NBC's 'Christmas Snow,' Starring Sid Caesar |language=en-US |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/19/arts/tv-weekend-nbc-s-christmas-snow-starring-sid-caesar.html |access-date=2022-07-20 |issn=0362-4331}} Theroux wrote the Hong Kong story on which the Wayne Wang film Chinese Box (1997) was based.{{CN|date=January 2023}} In 2019, Apple Films announced that The Mosquito Coast was in production as a 10-part series that was broadcast in 2021.{{CN|date=January 2023}}

Theroux's 2017 semi-autobiographical novel Mother Land (and earlier related short story in The New Yorker, set in Puerto Rico) refer to an older son born in Puerto Rico in 1961 with his college girlfriend and he had travelled for the birth, giving the baby up for adoption; later, Theroux's son returned into his life.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/travel/paul-theroux-cape-cod.html|title=Why Paul Theroux Loves Cape Cod|first=Dave|last=Seminara|date=April 16, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times}}

When Theroux was in Uganda, his friends found him a teaching position at Makerere University in Kampala. There he met Anne Castle, an English graduate student teaching at an upcountry girls' secondary school in Kenya, via Voluntary Service Overseas.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/30/marcel-theroux-keep-life-normal-keep-work-weird|title=Marcel Theroux: 'Keep the life normal, and keep the work weird'|first=Justine|last=Jordan|date=30 September 2017|website=The Guardian|access-date=20 October 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2202764.html|title=Peace Corps Online: 2007.08.15: August 15, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS – Malawi: Writing – Malawi: John Coyne Babbles: Paul Theroux: Peace Corps Writer|website=peacecorpsonline.org|access-date=20 October 2018}} They married in 1967. After leaving Asia and Dorset, they moved to South London in 1971, because it was cheaper than the United States. They had two sons: Marcel and Louis,{{cite web |date=8 July 2021 |title=The Year of the End by Anne Theroux, shows hell hath no fury like a writer's ex-wife |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/books/the-year-of-the-end-by-anne-theroux-review-hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-writers-ex-wife-1093566|first=Fiona|last=Sturges|website=inews.co.uk}} both of whom are writers and documentarians. Theroux and Castle divorced in 1993.

Theroux married a second time to Sheila Donnelly, on November 18, 1995. His wife runs a luxury travel/hotel PR agency.{{cite web|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/May/14/il/il01a.html|title=The Honolulu Advertiser – Island Life|website=the.honoluluadvertiser.com|access-date=20 October 2018|archive-date=28 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328013122/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/May/14/il/il01a.html|url-status=dead}} They reside in Hawaii and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120215000031/http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2008/09/03/famous-author-summers-in-sandwich?blog=99 "Famous Author Summers in Sandwich"], Cape Cod Today, 3 September 2008{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/10/nyregion/boldface-names-198064.html|title=BOLDFACE NAMES|first=Joyce|last=Wadler|website=The New York Times|date=10 April 2003|access-date=20 October 2018}} Theroux also has a stepson, Brendan Donnelly.

Theroux has received numerous awards and honors.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lyceumagency.com/paul+theroux.aspx|title=Book Paul Theroux events, speaking, lectures|access-date=2008-10-06|archive-date=2009-01-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090101082502/http://www.lyceumagency.com/paul+theroux.aspx|url-status=dead}}

• Fellow, Royal Society of Literature and Royal Geographical Society in UK
• Honorary doctorate in literature from Trinity College in Washington, D.C.
• Honorary doctorate in literature from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts
• 2015: Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in UK
• 1990: Maria Thomas Fiction Award, lifetime achievement award{{cite web|url=http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/depts/archives/awards/fiction.html|title=Fiction Awards|website=www.peacecorpswriters.org}}
• 1983: American Book Award nominee – The Mosquito Coast
• 1981: James Tait Black Memorial Prize – The Mosquito Coast
• 1981: American Book Award nominee – The Old Patagonian Express
• 1989: Thomas Cook Travel Book Award – Riding the Iron Rooster
• 1978: Whitbread Prize for Best Novel – Picture Palace
• 1977: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters award for literature
• 1972, 1976, 1977, and 1979: the Playboy Editorial Award for Best Story
• 1984: elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters{{cite web|url=https://artsandletters.org/academy-members/|title=American Academy of Arts and Letters Members|website=www.artsandletters.org}}

• Saint Jack was filmed by director Peter Bogdanovich (1979).
• Doctor Slaughter was adapted as the film Half Moon Street (1986).
• The Mosquito Coast was made into a film of the same name (1986) and a TV series in 2021.
• Chinese Box (1997), a film about the British handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China, credits Theroux as a source for the story, based on themes he explored in his 1997 novel Kowloon Tong.
• A Christmas Card was a radio play dramatized by Nick Warburton and directed by Marilyn Imrie for BBC Radio 4, 29 December 1997.
• The Stranger at the Palazzo D'Oro was a radio play directed by Lu Kemp for BBC Radio 4, 17 December 2004.

{{Main|Paul Theroux bibliography}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{wikiquote}}

{{external media

|video1=[http://92yondemand.org/92ythe-paris-review-interview-series-paul-theroux 92Y / The Paris Review Interview Series: Paul Theroux], December 18, 1989

|video2=[http://www.c-span.org/video/?281368-5/book-discussion-ghost-train-eastern-star Book Discussion on Ghost Train to the Eastern Star], September 27, 2008

|video3=[http://www.c-span.org/video/?176128-1/book-discussion-dark-star-safari Book Discussion on Dark Star Safari], APRIL 10, 2003

}}

• Official
• [https://www.hmhbooks.com/author/Paul-Theroux/2221107 Paul Theroux] – Houghton Mifflin
• Interviews
• {{C-SPAN|57861}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111115113756/http://booknotes.org/Watch/176128-1/Paul+Theroux.aspx Booknotes interview with Theroux on Dark Star Safari, May 18, 2003.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080929023533/http://www.worldmind.com/Cannon/Culture/Interviews/theroux.html Stephen Capen Interview on Worldguide, Futurist Radio Hour – November 27, 1995]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080703175936/http://www.worldmind.com/Cannon/Culture/Interviews/theroux2.html Stephen Capen Interview Number Two, Worldguide – September 25, 1996]
• {{LCAuth|n79064834|Paul Theroux|109|}}

{{Paul Theroux}}

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Paul