Biography Essay

Paul Theroux's novels, short stories, essays, and travel books, in which he often explores the expatriate experience and the postcolonial world of developing countries, have established his reputation as a prodigious and cosmopolitan man of letters. Critics compare his writing to the work of Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad, and V. S. Naipaul. Theroux's long-time residence as an outsider in Africa, Asia, and England has allowed him to bring global insight and a cultural perspective to his work. His prose is characterized by an ironic and detached wit; a concern with those who are "displaced"; an examination of the clashes that occur between cultures; and a vision that often verges on the apocalyptic. His writing, often described as realistic —and, at times, surrealistic—reveals, as Samuel Coale notes, Theroux's "own roots in traditional storytelling and plot structure." As the author of more than...