Figures in a Landscape: People and Places

Last updated
Figures In a Landscape
FiguresInLandscapeCover.jpg
Cover, 1st edition, US
AuthorPaul Theroux
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectCollection of essays
PublisherHoughton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date
May 8, 2018
Media typePrint, hardback
Pages386
ISBN 978-0-544-87030-7

Figures in a Landscape, subtitled: People and Places; Essays: 2001-2016, is a collection of thirty essays, profiles, articles and book introductions all by Paul Theroux. [1] The thirty pieces cover a wide variety of topics including authors, artists, celebrities, Africa, travel experiences, reading and the craft of writing.

Contents

This 2018 volume is a companion to earlier published collections of Theroux's essays and articles including Sunrise with Seamonsters (1985) and Fresh Air Fiend (2000).

Contents

#title [1] topic(s)previously appeared [1]
1My Drug Tour: Searching for Ayahuascatrip to Equador in search of a psychoactive plantas “Honey, the Shaman Shrunk My Head”, Men's Journal
2Thoreau in the Wilderness Henry David Thoreau, authorintroduction to The Maine Woods (Princeton University Press)
3Liz in Neverland Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson, celebrities and close friendsTalk magazine (defunct)
4Greeneland Graham Greene, authorNew York Times and introductions to the Penguin editions of Greene's Journey Without Maps and The Comedians
5Hunter in the Kingdom of Fear Hunter S. Thompson, author and gonzo journalistThe Guardian, newspaper
6Conrad at Sea Joseph Conrad, authorintroduction to Typhoon and Other Tales (Folio Society)
7Simenon's World Georges Simenon, authorintroduction to The Widow, New York Review Books Classics
8Dr. Sacks, the Healer Oliver Sacks, neurologist, naturalist and authoras “My Friend the Doctor”, Prospect magazine (February 20, 1999)
9Nurse Wolf, the Hurtera professional dominatrix in New YorkThe New Yorker magazine, (June 7, 1998)
10Robin Williams: “Who’s He When He’s at Home?” Robin Williams, comedian and actorTalk magazine
11Tea with Muriel Spark Muriel Spark, Scottish authorTalk magazine
12Mrs. Robinson Revisitedolder women, younger menHarper's Bazaar (March, 2002)
13Talismans for Our Dreamscollecting objects in travelsDepartures (March 30, 2010)
14The Rock Star's Burden Bono, Africa, charity & harm doneNew York Times (December 15, 2005)
15Living with Geeseraising geese, anthropomorphism and E.B. White Smithsonian (December 2006)
16Trespassing in Africaa harrowing experience of Theroux as a young man in AfricaGranta
17The Seizures in ZimbabweZimbabwe commercial farmers chased from their farms by local gangs and politiciansepilogue to the paperback edition of Dark Star Safari
18Stanley: The Ultimate African Explorerreview of biography of Henry Morton Stanley by Tim Jeal New York Times (September 30, 2007) book review
19Paul Bowles: Not a Tourist Paul Bowles introduction to The Sheltering Sky (Penguin)
20Maugham: Up and Down in Asia W. Somerset Maugham introduction to The Gentleman in the Parlour (Vintage Classics)
21English Hours: Nothing Personalmemories as an expatriate living in England in 1970s and ‘80sGranta #114, February 10, 2011
22Traveling Beyond Googletraveling to places despite receiving warnings to stay awayas “Why We Travel”, New York Times, April 1, 2011
23Hawaii: Islands upon IslandsHawaii; reflections on the author's adopted home of 22 yearsas “ One Man’s Islands”, Smithsonian magazine, May 2012
24Mockingbird in Monroevillea visit to the Monroeville Alabama home town of Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbirdas “Return of the Mockingbird” in Smithsonian magazine, July 2015
25Benton's America Thomas Hart Benton and his work America Today Smithsonian magazine, December 2014
26My Life as a Readerauthor's reading passionsintroduction to On Reading, photographs by Steve McCurry (Phaidon)
27The Real Me: A Memorya harrowing experience of Theroux as a college studentn/a
28Life and the MagazineLife magazine and meeting Gardner McKay New York Times Magazine
29Dear Old Dad: Memories of My Fatherthe author's fatherGranta #98, July 2, 2007
30The Trouble with Autobiographythe genre of autobiographySmithsonian magazine, January 2011

Reception

In the Irish Times Dervla Murphy found favor with "a superb set of musings on Graham Greene’s life and works." [2]

In the New York Times Tom Zoellner said "What emerges [instead] is a portrait of an optimist with curiosity and affection for humanity in all its forms, as well as a ravenous appetite for the literary efforts of others." [3]

Kirkus Review called it "A masterfully simple and satisfying collection." [4]

In the Guardian Robert McCrum said "There are several highly entertaining essays here, and some quotably arresting lines, but the voice is elusive, unfixed and dissonant – an echo of the divisions within." [5]

Related Research Articles

Louis Theroux English documentary filmmaker and broadcaster

Louis Sebastian Theroux is a British documentary filmmaker, journalist and broadcaster.

Paul Theroux American travel writer and novelist

Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best-known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). He has published numerous works of fiction, some of which were adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name.

Dervla Murphy Irish touring cyclist and writer

Dervla Murphy is an Irish touring cyclist and author of adventure travel books for over 40 years.

<i>The New York Review of Books</i> Magazine

The New York Review of Books is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of important books is an indispensable literary activity. Esquire called it "the premier literary-intellectual magazine in the English language." In 1970 writer Tom Wolfe described it as "the chief theoretical organ of Radical chic".

Paul Muldoon Irish poet

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 to 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 Professor in the Humanities and Founding Chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts. He has also served as president of the Poetry Society (UK) and Poetry Editor at The New Yorker.

<i>London Review of Books</i> journal of literary reviews

The London Review of Books (LRB) is a British journal of literary essays. It is published twice a month.

Justin Theroux American actor and screenwriter

Justin Paul Theroux is an American actor, film producer, director, and screenwriter. He gained recognition for his work with director David Lynch in the mystery film Mulholland Drive (2001) and the thriller film Inland Empire (2006). He also appeared in the films American Psycho (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), The Girl on the Train (2016), and The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018).

Robert Macfarlane is a British writer and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is best known for his books on landscape, nature, place, people and language, which include The Old Ways (2012), Landmarks (2015) The Lost Words (2017), and Underland (2019). In 2017 he received The EM Forster Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is married to China scholar Julia Lovell.

Thomas Holland is an English writer and popular historian who has published best-selling books on topics including classical and medieval history and the origins of Islam. In addition to his writing, he has worked with the BBC to create and host historical television documentaries, and presents the radio series Making History.

<i>The Most Hated Family in America</i> 2007 BBC documentary film

The Most Hated Family in America is a 2007 BBC documentary film written and presented by Louis Theroux about the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. The organization was led by Fred Phelps and located in Topeka, Kansas. Westboro Baptist Church members believe that the United States government is immoral due to its tolerance of homosexuality; in addition, they protest at funerals of U.S. military killed in action with signs that display text such as "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". With a BBC film crew, Theroux travelled to Kansas to spend time with members of the church and interview its leadership. In the documentary, church members are shown protesting at funerals of U.S. soldiers. Theroux interviews church leadership including Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper.

<i>Love, Poverty, and War</i> book by Christopher Hitchens

Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays is a collection of essays and reportage by the author, journalist, and literary critic Christopher Hitchens. The title of the book is explained in the introduction, which informs the reader that "an antique saying has it that a man's life is incomplete unless or until he has tasted love, poverty, and war."

Rebecca Solnit Author and essayist from United States

Rebecca Solnit is an American writer. She has written on a variety of subjects, including feminism, the environment, politics, place, and art.

<i>Holiday</i> (magazine) American travel magazine

Holiday was an American travel magazine published from 1946 to 1977. Originally published by the Curtis Publishing Company, Holiday's circulation grew to more than one million subscribers at its height. The magazine employed writers such as Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Lawrence Durell, James Michener and E. B. White. The magazine was relaunched as a bi-annual magazine in 2014, located in Paris, but written in English.

The Dublin Review is a quarterly magazine that publishes essays, reportage, autobiography, travel writing, criticism and fiction. It was launched in December 2000 by Brendan Barrington, who remains the editor and publisher, assisted by Nora Mahony and then Deanna Ortiz in 2013. An anthology of non-fiction pieces from the magazine, The Dublin Review Reader, appeared in 2007. The magazine has been noted for the range of its contributors, which includes new writers from Ireland and elsewhere. In his introduction to the Reader, Brendan Barrington wrote:

"If forced to articulate a governing idea behind the magazine, I might offer this: that the essay in its various guises is every bit as much an art form as the short story or poem, and ought to be treated as such."

<i>The City Addicted to Crystal Meth</i> 2009 documentary film

The City Addicted to Crystal Meth is a British documentary by Louis Theroux. It was televised on 9 August 2009. Theroux filmed his documentary in Fresno, California which has one of the highest number of crystal meth users in the United States.

<i>Arguably</i> book by Christopher Hitchens

Arguably: Essays is a 2011 book by Christopher Hitchens, comprising 107 essays on a variety of political and cultural topics. These essays were previously published in The Atlantic, City Journal, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, Newsweek, New Statesman, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Times Literary Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The Wilson Quarterly, and Vanity Fair. Arguably also includes introductions that Hitchens wrote for new editions of several classic texts, such as Animal Farm and Our Man in Havana. Critics' reviews of the collection were largely positive.

Tom Zoellner is an American author and journalist. He is the author of popular nonfiction books which take multidimensional views of their subject and show the descent of an influential object through history. His work has been widely reviewed and has been featured on The Daily Show.

<i>Jungle Lovers</i> novel by Paul Theroux

Jungle Lovers (1971) is the fifth novel by American author Paul Theroux and set in post-colonial Malawi. It was published by Houghton Mifflin (US) and The Bodley Head (UK). The author worked in Malawi from 1963 to 1965 with the United States Peace Corps, before being deported for public criticism of the government. Because the Malawi government did not like the novel, it banned it for many years.

<i>The Mosquito Coast</i> (novel) Novel by Paul Theroux

The Mosquito Coast is the most successful novel by author Paul Theroux. Published in 1981 it won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was the Yorkshire Post Novel of the Year.

<i>Mere Anarchy</i> book by Woody Allen

Mere Anarchy is an anthology of short essays written by Woody Allen. The book was initially published on 5 July 2007 by Ebury Press. The book is a collection of 18 tales, 10 of which were previously released in The New Yorker. This is Allen's first collection in 25 years.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Theroux, Paul. Figures in a Landscape. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  2. Murphy, Dervla (19 May 2018). "Figures in a Landscape: People and Places by Paul Theroux". The Irish Times. Retrieved 21 Dec 2019.
  3. Zoellner, Tom (1 Jun 2018). "Paul Theroux's New Book Ranges From Literature to Landscapes, With Surprising Cheer". New York Times. Retrieved 21 Dec 2019.
  4. "FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE". Kirkus Review (March 15th, 2018). Retrieved 21 Dec 2019.
  5. McCrum, Robert (24 Jun 2018). "Figures in a Landscape by Paul Theroux review – a writer driven by divided loyalties". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 Dec 2019.