Paul Theroux facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Paul Theroux
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Theroux in 2008
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| Born | Paul Edward Theroux April 10, 1941 Medford, Massachusetts, U.S. |
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| Education | University of Maine University of Massachusetts, Amherst (BA) |
| Period | 1967–present |
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Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is a famous American writer. He is known for writing novels and books about his travels around the world.
One of his most famous travel books is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). He has also written many fiction books, and some have been turned into movies. For his novel The Mosquito Coast, he won an important award in 1981. This book was later made into a movie in 1986 and a TV series in 2021.
Paul Theroux comes from a family of writers and actors. His sons, Marcel and Louis Theroux, are both writers and documentary filmmakers. His brothers, Alexander Theroux and Peter Theroux, are also authors. His nephew is the well-known actor and screenwriter Justin Theroux.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts. He was the third of seven children. His mother, Anne, was Italian American, and his father, Albert, was of French-Canadian heritage. His mother was a teacher and painter, and his father sold leather for a shoe company. As a boy, Theroux was a Boy Scout and earned the highest rank, Eagle Scout.
After graduating from Medford High School, he went to the University of Maine for a year. He then moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he earned a degree in English in 1963.
Career as a Writer and Traveler
Starting in Africa
After college, Theroux joined the Peace Corps in 1963. The Peace Corps is a program where Americans volunteer to help people in other countries. He went to Malawi, a country in Africa, to work as a teacher.
While in Malawi, Theroux helped a man who was an opponent of the country's leader, Hastings Banda. Because of this, Theroux was asked to leave both Malawi and the Peace Corps in 1965. The government of Malawi declared him persona non grata, which is a Latin term meaning he was not welcome in the country.
He then moved to Uganda in 1965 and taught English at Makerere University. There, he became friends with the famous writer V.S. Naipaul. After a scary event where a mob threatened his pregnant wife, Theroux decided it was time to leave Africa.
Life in Singapore and England
In 1968, Theroux and his family moved to Singapore. He taught at the National University of Singapore for two years. In 1971, the family moved to England, living first in Dorset and later in south London. He lived in England for almost 20 years before moving back to the United States in the early 1990s.
Famous Books and Later Career
Theroux's first novel, Waldo, was published in 1967. He wrote other novels like Jungle Lovers and The Mosquito Coast.
His big success came after he took a long trip by train from Great Britain to Japan and back. He wrote about this adventure in the book The Great Railway Bazaar. It became a bestseller and is now considered a classic travel book.
He has written many other travel books about his journeys, including:
- The Old Patagonian Express - Traveling by train from Boston to Argentina.
- The Kingdom by the Sea - Walking around the coast of the United Kingdom.
- The Happy Isles of Oceania - Kayaking in the South Pacific.
- Riding the Iron Rooster - Traveling through China.
- Dark Star Safari - A journey across Africa from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa.
Some of his books were not liked by governments. His novel Saint Jack (1973) was banned in Singapore for 30 years. In South Africa, his books were banned by the old government system known as apartheid (a system of racial segregation). However, after Nelson Mandela became president and apartheid ended, The Mosquito Coast became required reading for high school students.
Friendship with V.S. Naipaul
Theroux had a long and complicated friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul. In 1972, Theroux wrote a book admiring Naipaul's work. But in 1998, after their friendship had ended, he wrote another book called Sir Vidia's Shadow that was much more critical.
Years later, in 2011, the two writers met by chance and became friends again. They remained close until Naipaul's death in 2018.
Personal Life
While in Uganda, Theroux met Anne Castle, a teacher from England. They married in 1967 and had two sons, Marcel and Louis Theroux, who both became successful writers and filmmakers. Paul and Anne separated in 1993.
In 1995, Theroux married his second wife, Sheila Donnelly. They live in Hawaii and on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Books on the Big Screen
Many of Paul Theroux's books have been adapted into movies and TV shows.
- The Mosquito Coast was made into a popular film in 1986 starring Harrison Ford. It was also adapted into a TV series in 2021.
- His novella Doctor Slaughter was filmed as Half Moon Street in 1986.
- The movie Saint Jack (1979) was based on his novel of the same name.
- The film Chinese Box (1997) was based on ideas from his novel Kowloon Tong.
Awards and Honors
Paul Theroux has received many awards for his writing.
- 1981: James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Mosquito Coast.
- 1989: Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for Riding the Iron Rooster.
- 1978: Whitbread Prize for his novel Picture Palace.
- 2015: Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in the UK for his travel writing.
- He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Geographical Society.
See also
In Spanish: Paul Theroux para niños
