[The Salon
Interview: Paul Theroux]















[by Dwight Garner]

Paul Theroux, like most writers, is far uglier in person than he is in
photographs. For one thing, there's the matter of his bluntly-cut toupee, which
tilts noticeably from side to side as he shifts in his chair. For another, there
are Theroux's teeth, which are so badly stained they seem to be carved from the
driftwood that dots the nearby Cape Cod shoreline. Never mind his unpleasant
habit of hacking up massive gobs of phlegm, which he then expectorates into the
Persian carpet at his visitor's feet.  


None of this is true, of course. I've never met Paul Theroux, and have no reason
to believe that he wears a toupee, or has rotten teeth, or likes to spit into his
carpet. But he has encouraged me, over the course of several telephone
conversations, to make things up about him.







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The truth ends here.