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Paul Edward Theroux was born on April 10, 1941
in Medford, Massachusetts. The son of a
French-Canadian father and an Italian mother,
Theroux was one of seven children. Never much of an
athlete, Theroux spent most of the 1950's reading.
He never admitted, even to himself, his desire to be
a writer and studied premed in college. Writing, he
believed to be "incompatible with being a man--money
is masculinity".
 Theroux, who grew up a Boy Scout and a Catholic,
graduated high school in 1959 and left Medford "the
first chance I had". He attended the University of
Maine where he wrote many anti-Vietnam war
editorials and refused to join the required Reserved
Officers Training Corps. He transferred to the
University of Massachusetts and took a creative
writing course from the poet Joseph Langland. That
desision changed the way Theroux would perceive
writing as a career. Theroux graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963.
 At Syracuse University, Theroux trained for the
Peace Corps and then lectured for a short while at
the University of Urbino in Italy. Next he was sent
to Malawi, Africa (then called the Nyasaland
Protectorate, under British rule) where he taught at
Soche Hill College and wrote sentimental articles
for Christian Science Monitor. He also wrote
articles for Playboy, Esquire, and Atlantic Monthly.
He won the Playboy Editorial Award for Best Story
four times. (In '72, '76, '77, and '79.) In 1964,
 Theroux
was involved in a failed coup d'etat of the Malawi
president-dictator and was thrown out of the Peace
Corps. Yet, Theroux had obviously fallen in love
with Africa. He returned to teach English at
Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Here he met
not only his future wife, Anne Castle, a
schoolteacher from London, but also V. S. Naipaul,
(2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature). This
writer was to become his mentor. His first son,
Marcel, was born in Uganda in 1968.
 Waldo, Theroux's first novel, sold about 4000
copies. Theroux went on to write Fong and The
Indians, published in 1968, Murder in Mount Holly
and then Girls at Play, a novel about "the futility
of African politics and the disintegration of tribal
life." When an angry mob at a demonstration
threatened to overturn the car in which his pregnant
wife was riding, Theroux made the decision to leave
Africa.
 Theroux
was next hired on at the University of Singapore,
where he wrote his fifth novel, Jungle Lovers. His
second son Louis was born in Singapore in 1969. It
was in Singapore that Theroux realized that he had
enough of the monotony of teaching and decided to
become a professional writer. His wife got a job in
London and he taught one last course at the
University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1972.
Both Sinning With Annie and a criticism of V. S.
Naipaul's early works were published in 1972.
Theroux wrote Saint Jack, a novel about his time in
Singapore, while living in the English countryside
of Dorset. Saint Jack was made into a film by Peter
Bogdanovich, starring Ben Gazzara as the main
character, Jack. Theroux's seventh novel, The Black
House is a macabre tale set in the English
countryside.
The
Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia was
Theroux's first travel novel and also the first
novel to distinguish him as a well-known writer. The
book was a best seller (selling 35,000 copies). It
was also a main selection for the Book-of-the Month
Club. Theroux continued writing. |
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 He
wrote The Family Arsenal (1976), Picture Palace
(1978) which won the prestigious Whitbread Award,
and The Mosquito Coast (1982) which won the James
Tait Black Award and the Yorkshire Post Best Novel
of the Year Award. Mosquito Coast was later (1986)
made into a movie directed by Peter Weir, starring
Harrison Ford as the main character, Allie Fox.
Theroux also published three collections of short
stories, that mirrored some if his adventures while
abroad: The Consul's File (1977), World's End
(1980), and The London Embassy (1983). (Later these
three short story collections were combined into one
book and published as The Collected Stories.
 At
the request of his two sons, Theroux also wrote two
children's stories : A Christmas Card (1978) and
London Snow: A Christmas Story (1979). He also
published Half Moon Street (1984) which contained
two short novels: Doctor DeMarr (this book was also
made into a movie starring Sigourney Weaver and
Michael Caine, but received generally negative
reviews.) He also continued to write travel novels,
publishing The Old Patagonian Express in 1979 (also
a Book-of-the Month choice), The Kingdom By The Sea
(1983), Sailing Through China (1983) and The
Imperial Way: By Rail from Peshwar to Chittagong
(1985), a "coffee table book" which includes the
stunning photography of Steve McCurry. Patagonia
Revisited (1985) is based on a discussion between
Bruce Chatwin and Theroux of Patagonia's influence
on literature. Sunrise with Seamonsters: Travels and
Discoveries (1985) is a collection of Theroux's
articles and essays between 1964 and 1984.
 Riding The Iron Rooster (1988) which chronicles
Theroux's travels by train through China was
followed by My Secret History (1989). Theroux wrote
Chicago Loop (1990), To The Ends of the Earth
(1990), Millroy the Magician (1994), The Pillars of
Hercules (1995), and My Other Life (1996). (My Other
Life, with My Secret History were long believed to
be Theroux's "closet" autobiographies, until the
publication of Sir Vidia's Shadow.) Kowloon Tong
(1997) is a novel that approaches the subject of
Britain's rule over Hong Kong. In 1998, Theroux
wrote Sir Vidia's Shadow which was meant to be a
biography of his mentor, V. S. Naipaul but is
believed to be more or less Theroux's own life
story. Fresh Air Fiend was the title of his 2000
collection, a reflection on his life and travel
writings; a collection of articles written over the
last fifteen years, it is almost a sequel to Sunrise
With Seamonsters. Hotel Honolulu (2001) is Theroux's
most recent novel. Additionally, he was the editor
of Best American Travel Writing, also published in
2001, which even contains a short story by his son,
Marcel.
 In
1977, Theroux won an award in Literature from the
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Theroux is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature and the Royal Geographic Society in
Britain. Furthermore, he holds honorary doctorates
in literature from Trinity College in Washington and
Tufts University in Medford, Theroux's hometown.
 Theroux currently divides his time between Cape
Cod and Hawaii, where he lives with his second wife.
Theroux also claims to have taken up his second
profession: beekeeping. Theroux sells his honey
under the brand name Oceania Ranch Pure Hawaiian
Honey.
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