The Old Patagonian Express

Last updated
The Old Patagonian Express
TheOldPatagonianExpress.jpg
First edition (publ. Houghton Mifflin)
Author Paul Theroux
Publication date
1979
Preceded by The Great Railway Bazaar  
Followed by The Kingdom by the Sea  

The Old Patagonian Express (1979) is a written account of a journey taken by novelist Paul Theroux. Starting out from his home town in Massachusetts, [1] via Boston and Chicago, Theroux travels by train across the North American plains to Laredo, Texas. He then crosses the border and takes a train south through Mexico to Veracruz where he meets a woman looking for her long-lost lover. He then takes the train south into Guatemala and then El Salvador where he goes to a soccer match and is amazed by the violence. He then flies to Costa Rica where he takes the train to Limón and Puntarenas. He ended his transit of Central America in Panama where he takes the short train ride across the isthmus. Theroux then proceeds to Colombia and then over the Andes [2] and finally reaches the small town of Esquel in Patagonia. He endures harsh climates, including the extreme altitude of Peru and the Bolivian Plateau, meets the author Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires [2] and is reunited with long lost family in Ecuador.

The book has been praised for its depth and understanding about the people, the culture, giving a flavor of the various South American countries. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patagonia</span> Geographical region in South America

Patagonia refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers in the west and deserts, tablelands and steppes to the east. Patagonia is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and many bodies of water that connect them, such as the Strait of Magellan, the Beagle Channel, and the Drake Passage to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Theroux</span> British-American filmmaker, journalist, broadcaster, and author (born 1970)

Louis Sebastian Theroux is an English-American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Theroux</span> American travel writer and novelist

Paul Edward Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been 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 and the 2021 television series of the same name.

<i>Orient Express</i> Luxury passenger train service in Europe

The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and into western Asia, with terminal stations in Paris and London in the northwest and Athens or Istanbul in the southeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lostwithiel</span> Town in Cornwall, England

Lostwithiel is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwithiel electoral ward had a population of 4,639 at the 2011 census. The name Lostwithiel comes from the Cornish "lostwydhyel" which means "tail of a wooded area".

<i>Lives of the Mayfair Witches</i> Series of supernatural horror novels by Anne Rice

Lives of the Mayfair Witches is a trilogy of supernatural horror/fantasy novels by American novelist Anne Rice. It centers on a family of witches whose fortunes have been guided for generations by a spirit named Lasher. The series began in 1990 with The Witching Hour, which was followed by the sequels Lasher (1993) and Taltos (1994). All three novels debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esquel, Argentina</span> Town in Chubut, Argentina

Esquel is a town in the northwest of Chubut Province in Argentine Patagonia. It is located in Futaleufú Department, of which it is the government seat. The town's name derives from one of two Tehuelche words: one meaning "marsh" and the other meaning "land of burrs", which refers to the many thorny plants including the pimpinella, and the other meaning herbaceous plants whose fruits, when ripe, turn into prickly burrs that stick to the animals' skins and wool or people's clothes as a way of propagation.

<i>Full Circle with Michael Palin</i>

Full Circle with Michael Palin is a 10-part 1997 documentary television series, first broadcast on BBC One in 1997. Presented by Michael Palin, Full Circle was the third of a series of programmes in which Palin made and documented lengthy journeys. The first was Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin, a 7-part series first broadcast in 1989, and the second was Pole to Pole with Michael Palin, an 8-part series first broadcast in 1992.

<i>Pole to Pole with Michael Palin</i>

Pole to Pole with Michael Palin is an eight-part television documentary travel series made for the BBC, and first broadcast on BBC1 in 1992. The presenter is Michael Palin, this being the second of Palin's major journeys for the BBC. The first was Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin, a 7-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1989, and the third was Full Circle with Michael Palin, a 10-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Theroux</span> American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter

Justin Paul Theroux is an American actor and filmmaker. 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 films such as Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), American Psycho (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Strangers with Candy (2005), Wanderlust (2012), The Girl on the Train (2016), The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018), On the Basis of Sex (2018), and Lady and the Tramp (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Trochita</span>

La Trochita, in English known as the Old Patagonian Express, is a 750 mm narrow gauge railway in Patagonia, Argentina using steam locomotives. The nickname La Trochita means literally "The little gauge" though it is sometimes translated as "The Little Narrow Gauge" in Spanish while "trocha estrecha", "trocha angosta" in Argentina, is often used for a generic description of "narrow gauge."

<i>The Great Railway Bazaar</i>

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.

<i>Tomorrow Is Forever</i> 1946 film by Irving Pichel

Tomorrow Is Forever is a 1946 black-and-white romance film directed by Irving Pichel, and starring Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles and George Brent. It was also the film debut of Richard Long and Natalie Wood. It was distributed by RKO Radio Pictures and was based upon the 1943 serialized novel of the same name by Gwen Bristow.

<i>Dark Star Safari</i>

Dark Star Safari (2002) is a written account of a trip taken by author Paul Theroux from Cairo to Cape Town via trains, buses, cars, and armed convoy. Theroux had lived in Africa as a young and idealistic early member of the Peace Corps and part of the reason for this trip was to assess the impact on Africa of the many years of aid from Western countries. His assessment is generally critical of the long-term impact of aid programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padang Besar railway station</span>

The Padang Besar railway station is a railway station located at and named after the border town of Padang Besar, Perlis in Malaysia. It is the northernmost station of the west coast line where the line connects to the State Railway of Thailand's rail network via its Southern Line.

<i>Ghost Train to the Eastern Star</i>

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is a 2008 train travel book by Paul Theroux. In this book, he retraces some of the trip described in The Great Railway Bazaar. He travels from London, through Europe on the Orient Express and then through Turkey, Turkmenistan, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Japan before making his way home on the Trans-Siberian Railway. He realizes that what has really changed compared to his first trip is himself and not just the countries. Theroux was 33 years old at the time of the first book, and twice that age for the second trip. In his trip Theroux encounters beauty and kindness but also various troubling and dysfunctional countries, plagued by poverty, over-crowding, dictators and government control and oppression. This book is similar in concept to Dark Star Safari, his account of returning to see how Africa had changed, in the long interval since his time of living and working there while an early member of the Peace Corps. Theroux's travel coincides with the early part of the American invasion of Iraq. A previous book, The Happy Isles of Oceania, coincided with the First Gulf War. Theroux includes his experiences with people and their reaction to these wars in his work.

<i>Millroy the Magician</i> Novel by American writer Paul Theroux

Millroy the Magician is a novel by American writer Paul Theroux. It was published in 1993 by Hamish Hamilton in the UK and by Random House the following year in the US, where it was chosen as one of the New York Times notable books of the year. The novel has been identified as one of the best of the 1990s. It is a satire of American consumer culture and love of fast food, and contains elements of parable and magic realism.

<i>The Mosquito Coast</i> (novel) 1981 novel by Paul Theroux

The Mosquito Coast is a 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.

List of the published work of Paul Theroux, American novelist, short story writer and travel writer.

<i>Deep South</i> (book)

Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads is a 2015 non-fiction book authored by Paul Theroux.

References

  1. Theroux, Paul (Apr 2, 2009). "The Old Patagonian Express: an extract from the Paul Theroux travel book" . Retrieved May 6, 2020 via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  2. 1 2 "On the Go Again". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  3. "The Old Patagonian Express (review)" . Retrieved 2010-06-03.