Theroux, Paul (Vol. 15) - Introduction

Theroux, Paul 1941–

Theroux is an American novelist, short story writer, travel writer, poet, and critic. His work often deals with the conflict between romantic idealism and reality, frequently in such exotic settings as Africa, Malaysia, and the Near East. His fiction has been compared to that of Graham Greene for its portrayal of seediness and decay in foreign settings and for its concern with the eternal war in everyone between the saint and the sinner, the savage and the civilized. (See also CLC, Vols. 5, 8, 11, and Contemporary Authors, Vols. 33-36, rev. ed.)