Deep South (book)

Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads[1]
AuthorsPaul Theroux
IllustratorSteve McCurry
LanguageEnglish
SubjectSouthern United States
Genrenon-fiction
PublisherHamish Hamilton
Publication date
2015
ISBN9780241146729 [1]
OCLC919896847
[1]

Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads is a 2015 non-fiction book authored by Paul Theroux.[2]

Critical reception

Critical reception has been mixed.[3]

Deep South received reviews from the Financial Times and The Independent, the latter of which wrote "At the end of the road, the veteran traveller catches a glimpse of an unfamiliar figure in the eyes of those he has met: to them, he realises with a profound shock, he is old. Perhaps he has failed to evade one cliché of the quest narrative – that the final discovery of the traveller is oneself – yet Deep South is none the worse for that."[4][5]

Critics for The New York Times were mixed, as Dwight Garner criticized the work for having "slack passages, the repetitions, the lack of anything truly fresh to say" while Geoffrey C. Ward commented that "it's Theroux's remarkable gift for getting strangers to reveal themselves that makes going along for this ride worthwhile."[6][7]

Reviewing it for The Spectator, Jan Morris suggested, "Deep South is more truly a work of philosophy and analysis than of movement, and indeed includes some sharpish criticisms of conventional travel writing and its compulsory hardships."[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Theroux, Paul; McCurry, Steve (2015). "Deep South : four seasons on back roads". WorldCat. Archived from the original on March 6, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  2. ^ Hepworth, David (August 29, 2015). "Menace and manners: Paul Theroux journeys through the deep south". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  3. ^ Hitt, Jack. "Discovering the Deep South's cliches all over again". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  4. ^ Taylor, William (August 28, 2015). "'Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads', by Paul Theroux". Financial Times. Archived from the original on August 30, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  5. ^ Attlee, James (September 10, 2015). "Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads by Paul Theroux, book review: Theroux undergoes a journey of self-discovery in the American Deep South". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  6. ^ Garner, Dwight (22 September 2015). "Review: In 'Deep South,' Paul Theroux Takes an Eye-Opening Road Trip". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  7. ^ Ward, Geoffrey C. (2 October 2015). "Paul Theroux's 'Deep South'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. ^ Morris, Jan (December 12, 2015). "Paul Theroux returns home — to guns and evangelism". The Spectator. Archived from the original on December 27, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2016.


Stub icon

This article about a non-fiction book on U.S. history is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.