Paul Edward Theroux was born April 10, 1941. He is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). He has published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coaston which the 1986 movie is based.
His first novel, Waldo, was published during his time in Uganda and was moderately successful. He published several more novels over the next few years,
After moving to London in 1972, Theroux set off on an epic journey by train from Great Britain to Japan and back. His account of this journey was published as The Great Railway Bazaar, his first major success as a travel writer and now a classic in the genre. He has since written a number of other travel books, including descriptions of traveling by train from Boston to Argentina (The Old Patagonian Express), walking around the United Kingdom (The Kingdom By The Sea), kayaking in the South Pacific (The Happy Isles Of Oceania), visiting China (Riding the Iron Rooster), and traveling from Cairo to Cape Town (Dark Star Safari). As a traveler he is noted for his rich descriptions of people and places, laced with a heavy streak of irony.
- At what point in the story did you begin to guess the identity of the Storm Trooper in 4 C? What were the various pieces of evidence? Why do you think the narrator fails to draw the right conclusions?
- Describe the narator´s attitude towards the British. Does it seem an approppriate one for a diplomat?
- We are only given the narrator´s point of view. How might Wigley view the narrator, as a thread, an interfering busybody, someone to be laughed at? Why do you think he allows the deception to continue?
- Suppose that before Wigley leaves he writes a note saying goodbye to the narrator. What would he say? Would he reveal the truth about the motorcyclist, or would he prefer to leave the narrator to find out for himself?
