2,678 words
Paul Theroux
Part 1, Part 2
There is more to recommend in Paul Theroux’s African travelogues Dark Star Safari (2002) and The Last Train to Zona Verde (2013) than their comprehensive yet tacit uncovering of racial truths. Yes, race realism is both everywhere and nowhere in these books. Yes, these works will ward off any sane, openminded individual from absurd ideas such as racial egalitarianism, negrophilia, and affirmative action. Yes, these are good things, despite Theroux’s increasingly strident hopes for the contrary.
Also good in a completely different sense, however, are the literary and historical references Theroux consistently drops, mostly in Dark Star. He seemed to have studied ravenously before embarking on his travels, and if there had been a African-themed...
