THEROUX, PAUL

born April 10, 1941, Medford, Mass., U.S. in full Paul Edward Theroux American novelist and travel writer known for his highly personal observations on many locales. Theroux graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1963. Until 1971 he taught English in Malawi, Uganda, and Singapore; thereafter, he lived in England and devoted all his time to writing. Several of his early novelsincluding Girls at Play (1969), Jungle Lovers (1971), and Saint Jack (1973; filmed 1979)centre on the social and cultural dislocation of Westerners in postcolonial Africa and Southeast Asia. His later novels include The Family Arsenal (1976), about a group of terrorists in the London slums, The Mosquito Coast (1982; filmed 1986), about an American inventor who attempts to create an ideal community in the Honduran jungle, My Secret History (1989), Millroy the Magician (1993), and My Other Life (1996). Theroux first achieved commercial success with a best-selling travel book, The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), describing his four-month train journey through Asia. He wrote several more travel books, including The Old Patagonian Express (1979), The Happy Isles of Oceania (1992), and The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean (1995).