The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia is a travelogue by American novelist Paul Theroux, first published in 1975. It recounts Theroux's four-month journey by train in 1973 from London through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and his return via the Trans-Siberian Railway. The first part of the route, to India, followed what was then known as the hippie trail. It is widely regarded as a classic in the genre of travel writing. It sold 1.5 million copies upon release.In the book, Theroux explored themes such as colonialism, American imperialism, poverty, and ignorance. These were embedded in his accounts of sights and sounds he experienced as well as his conversation with other people such as his fellow travelers. It included elements of fiction such as descriptions of places, situations, and people, reflecting the author's own thoughts and outlook. Contemporaneous reviews noted how his background …
The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia is a travelogue by American novelist Paul Theroux, first published in 1975. It recounts Theroux's four-month journey by train in 1973 from London through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and his return via the Trans-Siberian Railway. The first part of the route, to India, followed what was then known as the hippie trail. It is widely regarded as a classic in the genre of travel writing. It sold 1.5 million copies upon release.In the book, Theroux explored themes such as colonialism, American imperialism, poverty, and ignorance. These were embedded in his accounts of sights and sounds he experienced as well as his conversation with other people such as his fellow travelers. It included elements of fiction such as descriptions of places, situations, and people, reflecting the author's own thoughts and outlook. Contemporaneous reviews noted how his background allowed him the breadth of insights to authoritatively describe people even when there are instances when he committed ethnic generalizations. Prior to the publication of The Great Railway Bazaar, Theroux lived in Africa, Singapore, and England.
In a 2013 article, Theroux outlined several inspirations that led him to embark on his journey and publish his experiences. These include his fascination for trains, which offered what he described as an opportunity to break monotony as well as a respite from work. He wrote:I could think clearly on the London trains and when, on the rare occasions, I travelled out of London – on the Exeter line via Sherborne, Yeovil, and Crewkerne, to visit my in‑laws, or on the Flying Scotsman on a journalistic assignment, my spirits revived and I saw with clarity that it might be possible to conceive a book based on a long railway journey.
it was an audiobook I have found online, something rather old.
I enjoyed it a lot but in the end, I had a feeling (or better said 'I had an aftertaste') of reading a diary of some lost man with no particular goal in life, surrounded by strangers and prostitutes. I mean I get it, the times were different but after a while, the story gets pretty boring and faceless
I love Theroux's rambling architecture. It's a frantic bit of Dylan Thomas-like prose, touching here and moving to the next before any significant revelation has sunk in. He's definitely someone I want to read but he's not someone I want sharing my train compartment for 6,000 miles across the Soviet Union.
On one hand, this barely seems like travel lit to me. It is about travelers more than locales - his description of the many stops along the path are brief interludes to break up the conversations with the other tourists or to shake him out of daydream rhapsodies. Travel is about travelers in this book, even though Theroux hints at intimacy with each stop that might make you think that place is first in his heart. On the other hand, why couldn't that be exactly what travel is about? The destination is the train. Its passengers are the colorful …
I love Theroux's rambling architecture. It's a frantic bit of Dylan Thomas-like prose, touching here and moving to the next before any significant revelation has sunk in. He's definitely someone I want to read but he's not someone I want sharing my train compartment for 6,000 miles across the Soviet Union.
On one hand, this barely seems like travel lit to me. It is about travelers more than locales - his description of the many stops along the path are brief interludes to break up the conversations with the other tourists or to shake him out of daydream rhapsodies. Travel is about travelers in this book, even though Theroux hints at intimacy with each stop that might make you think that place is first in his heart. On the other hand, why couldn't that be exactly what travel is about? The destination is the train. Its passengers are the colorful local culture.
The Great Railway Bazaar goes a little too long and Theroux-the-character does become tiresome - a bit. Misanthropy and snark are in his toolbox. He has a lovely moment here and there, even one that wouldn't have been out of place in Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales. But there's no longing in it; no call to hit the rails. Maybe that's why I think it falls outside of the travel lit I know; this book makes me not want to go on such a trip, interesting as it is.
