The Soul of the South

The beginning of a most interesting article on the modern South, the South you do not see from the Interstates. It is a long article, but well worth reading all the way through.

I expect many on the BB have read one or more of Paul Theroux's books. He has made a living traveling the world, talking to people and reporting on his conversations and observations.

 

I cannot answer your question with assurance that I am correct. However, I will give it a shot. [Remember this is speculation.]

1] It could be that was his assignment, if indeed he had an assignment from the Smithsonian.

2] This is not inconsistent with much of his writing in books I have read by him. He seeks out the people other authors probably would not talk to and reports on these conversations. Much of his travel, which is very extensive, have been in countries that are not developed. While I do not always like how he describes people I do find his descriptions very good. As you could see from this article he does seek out people who are known in their area as well as those who are unknown.

He wrote a very interesting book entitled, "Riding the Iron Rooster," which is about his travels by rail in China. The Iron Rooster was a train, with a steam engine, that ran from Beijing through Xi'an through Lanzhou and on through the Gobi Desert. As he said, the Chinese tagged it with this name as it flipped and flapped along with much noise and smoke. Purely by chance my wife and I rode that train in 1992 from Beijing to Xi'an, going to work with a Chinese friend at a university in Xi'an. In this book I thought his descriptions were excellent, but that when it came to the people of China he really misunderstood them and I did not appreciate some of his negative comments about them.

In this article I found his comments on Faulkner enlightening. I did not know that Faulkner wrote anything about Emmett Till. I am going to try to find his essay on this.

I also found Ralph Emerson's comment very interesting:

I also want to read Fanning the Sparks that was mentioned in the article.

Perhaps his own words say best what his intent was:

What other thoughts did you have on the article?