The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean

by Paul Theroux

Hardcover, 1995

Call number

914 THERO

Collection

Nonfiction

Genres

General Nonfiction

Publication

G. P. Putnam's Sons (1995), Edition: First Edition, 511 pages

Description

"DAZZLING." --Time "[THEROUX'S] WORK IS DISTINGUISHED BY A SPLENDID EYE FOR DETAIL AND THE TELLING GESTURE; a storyteller's sense of pacing and gift for granting closure to the most subtle progression of events; and the graceful use of language. . . . We are delighted, along with Theroux, by the politeness of the Turks, amazed by the mountainous highlands in Syria, touched by the gesture of an Albanian waitress who will not let him pay for his modest meal. . . . The Pillars of Hercules [is] engrossing and enlightening from start (a damning account of tourists annoying the apes of Gibraltar) to finish (an utterly captivating visit with Paul Bowles in Tangier, worth the price of the book all by itself)." --Chicago Tribune "ENTERTAINING READING . . . WHEN YOU READ THEROUX, YOU'RE TRULY ON A TRIP." --The Boston Sunday Globe "HIS PICARESQUE NARRATIVE IS STUDDED WITH SCENES THAT STICK IN THE MIND. He looks at strangers with a novelist's eye, and his portraits are pleasantly tinged with malice." --The Washington Post Book World "THEROUX AT HIS BEST . . . An armchair trip with Theroux is sometimes dark, but always a delight." --Playboy "AS SATISFYING AS A GLASS OF COOL WINE ON A DUSTY CALABRIAN AFTERNOON . . . With his effortless writing style, observant eye, and take-no-prisoners approach, Theroux is in top form chronicling this 18-month circuit of the Mediterranean." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)… (more)

Subjects

Mediterranean region Description and travel

Theroux, Paul Journeys Mediterranean Region

Media reviews

NY Times

For along with being an anti-tourist, Mr. Theroux prides himself on being something of the village atheist: religious enthusiasm of any kind fills him with equal-opportunity loathing. And why not? There are enough horrors to be apportioned among the great Mediterranean faiths, and Mr. Theroux, to

give him credit, casts a skeptical eye on the murderous accomplishments of the secular powers as well.

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Kirkus

Theroux bestows perhaps his greatest compliment of all to the journey itself: ``I knew I would go back, the way you went back to a museum, to look . . . and think.'' Never has he said that before. As satisfying as a glass of cool wine on a dusty Calabrian afternoon

User reviews

LibraryThing member Don1

I'm a big fan of Theroux's travel books and this is one of his best. Some people think Theroux is too cranky and too blunt but that's part of what I find appealing in his books. I don't always agree with him but his books are never boring.

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LibraryThing member NellieMc

Excellent travel book, though not quite in the upper echelon. Excellent observations and writing, but there was still a remoteness that interfered with real knowledge. Do have to admire the author's courage -- he definitely traveled to get the story, even when it was difficult if not dangerous. I

think I would have also preferred more of an historical context.

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LibraryThing member ubaidd

The Pillars of Hercules is a "Grand Tour of the Mediterranean", an encounter with the most storied sea on the planet. Paul Theroux is well up to the task of bringing a his unique brand of spartan travel to a journey that has been written about since Homer's Odyssey.

Reading the travelogues of Paul

Theroux is not just an encounter with exotic geography and customs, it is also an intensely literary experience. Mr. Theroux is a scholar, a linguist and in his uniquely curmodgeonly manner a keen observer of men. He is funny and mindful of his sour temper as he pokes fun at his own style. He makes generalizations as he sneers at the "snap judgments and obnoxious opinions" expressed by Evelyn Waugh in Labels (1930), an account of that writer's cruise around the Mediterranean. I found his description of an encounter with another traveler hilarious -

"In life, it is inevitable that you meet someone just like yourself. What a shock that your double is not very nice, and seems selfish and judgmental and frivolous and illogical."

The book begins on a fiesty note - at the Rock of Gibraltar, one of the "Pillars of Hercules" where the author clearly prefers the company of apes to 'tourists'. Tourists he thinks are the worst kinds of humans but he promises early on not to talk about them. Mr. Theroux of course is not a tourist, he is a traveler. The interesting fact is that I agree with his characterization, at least of himself. I found the overall tone less vitriolic than the one employed in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. There are three cities the author showers considerable praise on - Dubrovnik, Jerusalem and Venice. He is kinder to the Italians but ruthless in his criticism of the Greeks. He relates his frustrating experience with Israel's security and then talks about his meeting with American expat Paul Bowles that borders on the surreal. I've encountered Istanbul twice in Mr. Theroux' works - once in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and once in Pillars of Hercules - and I can't wait to go visit that grand city. There are encounters with other writers and other, more colorful characters, each contributing to a delightfully readable account.

Mr. Theroux says -
"But then a travel book is a very strange thing, there are few good excuses for writing one--all of them personal..The fairest way of judging travel books is by their truth and their wit"

If he were to judge his work by his own standards, I would say Mr. Theroux would be very proud. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member charlie68

Well-written and funny.

LibraryThing member satyridae

Choppy and disconnected, but still well-written and fun.

LibraryThing member untraveller

Excellent writing about a clockwise circuit of the Mediterranean, more or less. He skips a few places due to the political and military nature of that spot of geography, but does a good job getting into and eyeballing places the average person would not go. A really good eye for some incriminating

detail....

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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23

Certainly the best of Theroux's work - though I have yet to read a book of his that wasn't at least interesting. His grand idea this time is to travel from Gibraltar to Ceuta (Morocco), the two fabled pillars of Hercules, but to do so the long way round. That's the principle, at any rate. What

follows is a uniquely bizarre adventure that swings this way and that around the Med; nothing is as simple as it seems. Wonderfully fun.

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LibraryThing member sarcher

The Mediterranean is simultaneously a barrier and a shared resource depending on how it's used and viewed. Does influence span it, or is influence limited by it? The travel limitations faced on Theroux's overland sections are contrasted by the fact that the sea is right there for travel,

illustrated by the constant retreat to a ferry, cruise ship, etc. Really enjoyed the contrast of the different cruise experiences.

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