Honolulu Weekly

Paul Theroux burst the modern travel narrative wide open with the publication of his 1975 book The Great Railway Bazaar. Thirty-odd years later, the O’ahu resident decided to break the mold again and retrace his own footsteps for Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, his most recent book. The Weekly caught up with Theroux a few days after the end of his book tour.

You’re just back from a book tour. You’ve talked in past about how much you loathe them, but has anything ever happened on one that inspired you?

Yes, once, in Australia. I was talking in Perth, and a man started screaming at me from the back of the room. This was a literary dinner. And I saw him get up and push a table over in the back of the room. The people at the front couldn’t see what was happening And he started screaming. “You fucking wanker! You fucking wanker!” Over and over. He got up and waded through the audience, pushing people aside, pushing tables over. “You fucking wanker!” His girlfriend was trying to drag him backward, but he was a big guy. He kept coming, screaming, “I’m going to fucking kill you!” It took four people to subdue him, and when they finally dragged him out, he was still screaming. “I’m gonna kill him!”

What were you talking about?

I can’t even remember. My mind washed over. I did write about this, I believe in The Happy Isles of Oceania. But as for book tours, I was thinking on this tour not about how awful it is, but about how lucky I am. I had three weeks of it, Barack Obama had 20 months! He’s been on the book tour from hell. And I can say anything that comes into my head, whereas he has to be on message all the time.

Anyway I was thinking, what’s to like about the book tour? Quite a lot, actually. For one thing, you get to get see your readers. I was in 11 cities, from coast to coast. My readers are really, first, they’re really nice. Everyone was complimentary, no one has a discouraging word. They’re old, they’re young, they’re from all different classes. They’re dropouts, lawyers, retired people. I was amazed. They come from every ethnic group, every social class…on the mainland anyway. I didn’t do anything in Honolulu.

Do you ever? I was under the impression you didn’t like doing events here.

Not recently. Maybe four or five years ago. For Dark Star Safari.

OK, sorry, the book tour.

There’s nothing good to eat, you can’t get good night’s sleep. Obama has his own plane. That would be nice. But I don’t have a lot to complain about. I also wonder, am I too old for this? Hemingway never did it. Although Norman Mailer, who never did them in the early part of his life, was always doing tours later on. Hunter S. Thompson did it. A lot of writers do. Not that writers should be wandering around meeting readers all the time. A writer should be at home. But it is nice.

Maybe you are more comfortable being the “very famous writer” these days than you were in years past.

Possibly. The other thing on this tour was that I was a visiting professor at three places. I was at universities, delivering addresses or a lecture or something like that, and talking to students. Something I’ve never done in Hawai’i, by the way, and have never been asked to do. But these are people who were born in the 1990s. It’s fascinating to talk with them.

You take a shot or two at American college students in the book, especially in comparison with their international peers, so it’s funny that you ended up spending time on college campuses this year. Were you surprised by anything?

Yeah, by a lot of things, mainly at their naivety about the world, and I suppose at their innocence about American literature, and literature generally. I’m not used to talking to students. I taught university in 1971, and nothing since. I’m just not used to students. Some are very, very impressive, they read, they’re interesting. Others are just…they haven’t got a clue. But I guess that’s education for you.

Was the visit to India in the book your first since you accompanied the Clintons on the State Visit to India?

Oh no, that was [my wife.] I didn’t go [but] we have dinner with the Clintons every year as part of a fundraiser. He’s an amazing man, but he’s a snakeoil salesman, too. He’s a politician. He’s done a lot of things I completely disagree with– he supported the death penalty, he pardoned Mark Rich, who was selling Iranian oil illegally all over the world while Americans were captive in Tehran…I thought he was a very effective president, but he’s a politician, and you shouldn’t like them too much.

I was asking because I wonder whether you’ve been in the same room as Obama, and how you’d compare them in terms of the impression they make?

I was at Kua ‘Aina in Hale’iwa two years ago–

You met Obama at Kua ‘Aina?

He was squiritng ketchup onto seven hamburgers. There he was with a tray, at the ketchup pump. There were maybe 35 people in Kua ‘Aina, and not a single person recognized him. I was with Pico Iyer. I said I was going over to meet him. Iyer said not to do it, but I said, “I have to.” And he said, “I love your books about Southeast Asia.” Really, he is 10 times more charismatic than Clinton. Then he told Iyer, “I love your book on Cuba.” We had a great talk. He made a tremendous impression. In my lifetime, he’s the most impressive candidate for president that I’ve sene. More than Kennedy. JFK always seemed privileged, entitled.

What did you think of his book?

I thought it was tremendous. First of all, he actually wrote it himself. I’ve read McCain’s books…he tells a great story, but it’s not his prose style. He uses a ghostwriter. Obama can write. And he’s truthful, he talks about his flaws, about the negatives and the difficulties and the struggles. Drugs, race, all of that unpleasant stuff. Anyway, I think Obama will be the end of racial politics.

Seriously?

He could be. Because he’s the bridge. It was B.S. that Clinton was the first black president. But this could be the beginning of the end. In some people’s minds, he’ll never be. But I think he’s a bridge. He’s the most unlikely candidate for president–

Since Lincoln, maybe?

Yeah, he reminds me of Lincoln. The way he looks and talks and all of it, very Lincolnesque. And also, it’s the end of Karl Rove politics. The end of Guantanamo Bay. The end of torture. I believe that in my heart.