Theroux is my favorite travel writer. Easy to recommend all the books mentioned in this article, though The Great Railway Bazaar was my introduction to his way of writing about travel, and I think it's a good place to start.
All his train travel books are pretty similar in format (that's a good thing). He skips any discussion of famous landmarks and tourist destinations: he may or may not visit them, but he certainly won't be telling you about them. He spends a lot more time discussing the people on the train, the color of the city, the landscape going by, things like that. You would not read his books to plan a vacation, in other words. He gives (what I feel is) a very good representation of the character of the places he travels to, at least as he sees it. He's also very grumpy, or comes off that way, and his quick sketches of people (and hotels) are pretty funny sometimes.
He was extremely unkind to coastal Britain in "the Kingdom by the Sea" -A book which I love and I will re-read, and frankly a lot of what he says about the un-endurable "greyness" of british sea-side towns in the post-industrial depression era is true.
I think he was in a giant "grump" when he wrote it. No passing cloud gave him joy, no chipshop met his exacting standards. Everything was a bit less than he hoped for, crumbling concrete and wet jeans and all.
There's a small cohort of writers in current time, Theroux, Naipul, Amis (Lessing?) than everyone in the very very catty world of literary criticism says are just unbelievably petty-nasty ALL THE TIME. Snide, cutting, rude, about anyone.
They write really well. I love reading them. But the lit-crit gossip column (next to the worlds most terrible, fey, arrogant love-wanted columns) write-ups all say you wouldn't want to be within 2 metres of them if you can avoid it.
I like to imagine Theroux to his partner: "I'm off to Ulan Bator to stay in 5 star hotels and eat lobster. You're not invited. Good bye"
I agree! Theroux and Naipaul have an undercurrent of nastiness in their writing. E.g. the # of times Theroux describes someone's shirt as dirty in The Happy Isles of Oceania. Doesn't he realize that the people he's talking about live in huts and don't have money? I like reading them both, but won't like to meet them while traveling. Seems like they would be judging me constantly.
It's said Dickens based the character "Harold Skimpole" in Bleak House on his friend Leigh Hunt. It must have hurt. Skimpole is naieve, feckless, uncaring of others, sponges money endlessly from everyone and anyone. I wonder how they patched that one up afterward. (Hunt was not Skimpole: Dickens took his ideas and magnified them into the character but it can't have felt good)
Non-sequitur for this thread, but I can’t reply to old posts on HN and I don’t see any DM functionality.
I saw your post on an affirmative action thread about class vs race on an economist article from a few months ago, and I was wondering how your son’s college applications ended up going.
Fun Fact - Naipaul and Theroux were great friends, in fact Theroux credits Naipaul for encouraging him to become a writer. But when Theroux criticized Naipaul's writing they fell apart and there was a long lasting feud between them.
I just went on a Theroux binge reading his recent books, Dark Star Safari, Deep South, On the Plain of Snakes. I wish I discovered him earlier in my life. Its given me a totally different perspective on what travel can and should be. I think his view doesn't go along with the internets view of travel. Which maybe is snobbish, or elitist or w/e but definitely richer then most guides or what people do. I think in one of his books he has a quote calling sight seeing just superficial lol. Hes also pretty judgemental at times of other people, I think the world needs a little of that sometimes. Its inspired me to do a big overland trip like this, even if stuff is modernized now. Still think it would be cool to just take trains around china even if they are fast now.
It isn't just the nature of rail travel that has changed. The internet has changed travel forever; as mentioned in the article, Paul Theroux set out with only a few books to guide him, today he would have pictures of sites all along the planned route.
No doubt travel is still an enriching experience, but perhaps it affords fewer chances for adventure and discovery than it used to.
I think it's less that there are fewer chances, but more that with a constrained number of travel opportunities in life, people typically take trips where adventure and discovery are limited. If you pick things based on what looks good on social media or what was sold via the brochure, you'll usually have a limited experience of course.
I do wonder though if there's an increase in things like vanlife roadtrips in the US, people doing laps of Australia, etc. Though the travellers are often hitting the same list of destinations, doing it under your own steam means that adventure and discovery are inevitable. You often don't know where you'll be sleeping on any given night.
(I've been on adventurous train trips in various countries, and also on luxury hosted rail trips. They both have their place for different types of people, though the adventurous trips, whether rail or otherwise, are my thing.)
Yes, absolutely. My first long trip was to what we called the Near East in the mid ‘90s (I am still amazed my parents allowed me to go as I was barely out of school). I had an outdated guidebook and word of mouth from the other occasional traveller and that was it. Most villages had at most one phone and often none at all, and of course there was no cell network. You just sort of headed off with only a foggy notion of what to expect.
Traveling to Thailand a few years ago was quite different. The internet allowed us to preview every leg of our journey and there’s really not much mystery. On the other hand, it’s easier to get deals and figure out efficient ways to get around. But something has been lost, for sure.
I have nothing particularly relevant to add. But Paul Theroux bought a canoe from me maybe four years ago. And paddles with some of the local uncles on the North Shore of Oahu. I believe he got quite some joy out of it and that makes me happy. I've enjoyed some of his work since.
Reminded me of a little gem of a film, Cairo Station (1958). Often older, foreign (non-U.S.) films can be found on YouTube, and so too with this one: https://youtu.be/JYAG_Gi2iDA
Interesting little article and not what I expected. Seems to be a bit of a plug for book "The Great Railway Bazaar', which to me would be an interesting read of a bygone era.
Will need to see if I can find it in one of the local libraries.
I think it is actually a plug for The Old Patagonian Express, which the folio society just reissued, if you'd like to buy a nicely bound book for $100. I suppose he talked about The Great Railway Bazaar because it is more seminal in his mind than the Old Patagonian Express.
I also never realized Paul is the father of Louis. I often wondered if Justin was related to Louis, but never Paul for some reason.
I can also recommend "The Old Patagonian Express", the first of Theroux's books that I read. It's about a rail journey from Boston to southern Argentina.
In a similar vein I can recommend Alexander Frater's "Beyond the Blue Horizon" [1] as he retraces the original flight path of Imperial Airways from London to Brisbane.
Because it was written in the 80s, it's actually now two histories in one, first the story of Imperial airways he recounts, the second his experience travelling in the mid-80s, well before 9/11 and Covid.
On Goodreads a lot of reviewers complained that the writer is so grumpy and negative towards the other passengers, but I finished it recently, and I agree it is a tale of a bygone era.
> On Goodreads a lot of reviewers complained that the writer is so grumpy and negative towards the other passengers
I didn't read that specific book, but in his other he definitely is. Idk there seems to be a subset of people who are against showing any kind of judgement towards other people at all ever.
Some of his judgement towards others might make people uncomfortable. He can be direct with his thoughts and actions that are critical and on the negative side.
I find those thoughts interesting to read though. its just a different perspective on things from one guy.
The Happy Isles of Oceania is also worth reading. He paddles around in a portable kayak, and sees the parts of the South Seas that most tourists would never see.
I haven't read his rail travel books, but The Happy Isles of Oceania is one of my favorite books, travel or otherwise. Fantastic account of his travels in the South Pacific.
I've always thought railway journeys would be a nice subject for a podcast, in the vein of an audio equivalent of the slow TV genre. Some ponderous commentary about the carriage and passing scenery, with the soothing train track sounds in the background. Would be great to fall to sleep to.
The other month I was on a 3-4 day train trip from Brisbane to Adelaide. I wouldn't describe the track sounds as soothing - struggled to sleep the first night, and wasn't much better the next. It's not overly quiet and you get jolted around a fair bit when travelling at speed. Maybe if the extreme parts of the soundscape were moderated a bit though.
The other night my wife was using a soundscape to get to sleep - ocean noises and a creaking hull of a timber ship. The ocean noises were fine, but the periodic cracking timber had me wide-eyed and annoyed until I figured she was asleep and turned it off. Sounded like someone's bones being broken.
i mean the amount of money needed to just board a train at catford bridge and go all the way to india...reeks of a privilege when a lot of the world cant even travel more than a 100kms out their homes.
> is louis theroux the son of paul theroux, the travel writer?
> No, Louis Theroux is not the son of Paul Theroux. Although they share the same last name and both work in the field of media, they are not related. Louis Theroux is the son of American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux.
All his train travel books are pretty similar in format (that's a good thing). He skips any discussion of famous landmarks and tourist destinations: he may or may not visit them, but he certainly won't be telling you about them. He spends a lot more time discussing the people on the train, the color of the city, the landscape going by, things like that. You would not read his books to plan a vacation, in other words. He gives (what I feel is) a very good representation of the character of the places he travels to, at least as he sees it. He's also very grumpy, or comes off that way, and his quick sketches of people (and hotels) are pretty funny sometimes.