The Kingdom by the Sea
by Paul Theroux | Travel | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0140071814 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0140071814 Global Overview for this book
Registered by TrikerKev of Enfield, Greater London United Kingdom on 5/4/2005
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
The following is from www.paultheroux.com
After eleven years as an alien in London, Paul Theroux set out on a damp May day in 1982 to discover Britain by traveling round her entire coast. Being American was an advantage. He could write about the British as they could not write about themselves. He did not want to write about museums, castles and cathedrals. Nor did he want his journey to be a stunt; he would not set a time limit or restrict himself to one means of transport. He would simply take to the coast and keep to it. Mainly by train, but walking too, he would circumnavigate Britain. It was a natural itinerary. Britain’s coast defined her: ‘the coast belongs to everyone.’
Naturally talkative, Theroux discovered the candor as well as the secretiveness of the island’s people. Staying in bed and breakfasts and small hotels he found himself on the receiving end of confidences and strident opinions as well as British hospitality. He found unadulterated pleasures -- sunlit strands, three-coach branch-line trains, an invitation to a crofter’s cottage for tea -- and doubtful experiences -- caravan-lined beaches, stony cities, a day at Butlins, and the terrors of Ulster which rule its hard-pressed people. ‘To be anonymous and traveling in an interesting place is an intoxication,’ he says, and from Weymouth, with its welcoming smell of fish and beer, to Cape Wrath, ‘a beautiful unknown place,’ he communicates that intoxication in a restless, vivid, opinionated series of eye-witness impressions.
After eleven years as an alien in London, Paul Theroux set out on a damp May day in 1982 to discover Britain by traveling round her entire coast. Being American was an advantage. He could write about the British as they could not write about themselves. He did not want to write about museums, castles and cathedrals. Nor did he want his journey to be a stunt; he would not set a time limit or restrict himself to one means of transport. He would simply take to the coast and keep to it. Mainly by train, but walking too, he would circumnavigate Britain. It was a natural itinerary. Britain’s coast defined her: ‘the coast belongs to everyone.’
Naturally talkative, Theroux discovered the candor as well as the secretiveness of the island’s people. Staying in bed and breakfasts and small hotels he found himself on the receiving end of confidences and strident opinions as well as British hospitality. He found unadulterated pleasures -- sunlit strands, three-coach branch-line trains, an invitation to a crofter’s cottage for tea -- and doubtful experiences -- caravan-lined beaches, stony cities, a day at Butlins, and the terrors of Ulster which rule its hard-pressed people. ‘To be anonymous and traveling in an interesting place is an intoxication,’ he says, and from Weymouth, with its welcoming smell of fish and beer, to Cape Wrath, ‘a beautiful unknown place,’ he communicates that intoxication in a restless, vivid, opinionated series of eye-witness impressions.
Journal Entry 2 by TrikerKev at Cock & Lion, Wigmore Street in Marylebone, Greater London United Kingdom on Friday, May 13, 2005
Released 19 yrs ago (5/13/2005 UTC) at Cock & Lion, Wigmore Street in Marylebone, Greater London United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Left by the bar. Was briefly picked up by a snooty woman in pink who showed it to her friends and put it back with a disdainful look and who later attended the same Wigmore Hall concert as I did. Hopefully it's been found by someone less snooty, even if they are in pink!
Left by the bar. Was briefly picked up by a snooty woman in pink who showed it to her friends and put it back with a disdainful look and who later attended the same Wigmore Hall concert as I did. Hopefully it's been found by someone less snooty, even if they are in pink!
