Paul Theroux on the “romantic voyeurism” of the traveler
“The traveler is the greediest kind of romantic voyeur, and in some well-hidden part of the traveler’s personality is an unpickable knot of vanity, presumption and mythomania bordering on the pathological. This is why a traveler’s worst nightmare is not the secret police or the witch doctors or malaria, but rather the prospect of meeting another traveler.”
–Paul Theroux, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (2008)
June 23rd, 2014 at 8:30 am
I have read all of Theroux’s train travel books and have learned a lot, but I don’t think he would be an enjoyable traveling partner.
June 24th, 2014 at 11:39 am
He prefers traveling alone, actually.