JAIPUR: Celebrated travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux has revealed he uses different hands to write in different genres!
“I write with my left hand when I am writing a travel book but I use my right hand while writing fiction,” Theroux said at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival here.
He was in conversation with authors Charles Glass, Samanth Subramaniam, Sam Miller, Brigid Keenam and William Dalrymple, about “Wanderlust and Art of travel writing.”
“When am writing fiction I will begin with something, I will write and rewrite and keep on wondering unless I reach a conclusion. Where as a travel book is all about trying those things and then penning them down. So I need my right hand free!,” he said.
The American author, who is best known for his travel writing in books such as “The Great Railway Bazaar” said, “Good travel writing doesn’t require good writing skills but it definitely requires excellent traveling skills.”
“When you are writing a travel book, you have certain notes, you sit with a cup of coffee and jot them down to be converted into a book with fancy glossy cover. There is much more to travel writing which is defined by the way you travel.
“It is not just the ability to take trips but take risks too for discovering the most inaccessible and infamous places and admiring minute details of its beauty and importance,” he added.
The 73-year-old author whose pieces of fiction have also been adapted in movies, said, “The way people traveled and perceived traveling changed around the 1970s when airfares went down and so did the world travel writing.”
“As years progressed there was too much information available that the area became more challenging but satisfying,” he said.
Theroux, said he admires travel writing.
“There are whims and fancies of novel writing too but they are meant for a particular section of readers. They aren’t for everyone. Travel books are accessible for all and hence open to revisions and discoveries,” he said.-PTI
