Before diving into my first post after a long hiatus, I want to apologize for not giving any forewarning about my sudden absence. The summer and fall of 2017 brought about several major changes in my life, including a career change, a new relationship, and the beginning of my postgraduate studies. Needless to say, between all of these happenings, it was hard to fit in time to read, and I have been “stuck” halfway through Paul Theroux’s Deep South since July, when I posted my review of The Seven Daughters of Eve. Rest assured that reading and reviewing are still considerations on my mind, but until I complete my graduate degree (likely to occur in 2019), the frequency of posts may be somewhat reduced.
With all of that out of the way, let us now turn our attention to the core subject matter of this post, my review of Deep South. Despite living in the Southern United States, I had never seen this book in stores until I was traveling abroad on business in Toronto, Canada, where I picked it up in an independently owned bookstore along with a few other similarly unusual finds. Upon conducting some research, I learned that the book’s author, Paul Theroux, is an accomplished travel writer and has written accounts of his time in Africa, Asia and Oceania, among other places. Despite being so widely traveled, however, in his old age Theroux realized that he had rarely ventured outside New England within the confines of the United States, leading him on a year-long series of road trips around the region.
The book is divided into four principle sections, one for each season of the year and corresponding to a trip undertaken by Theroux. The travelogue sections are interspersed with interludes pertaining to some of the finer points of Southern culture that Theroux finds intriguing, such as Southern literature in the vein of William Faulkner. These road trips find Theroux traveling throughout the Deep South to Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. The author generally avoids well-populated and/or wealthy areas in favor of the rural, derelict and impoverished communities that make up much of the region. Throughout his travels, Theroux makes a concerted effort not only to record chance encounters with locals in such places as diners and churches, but also to visit community action centers in an attempt to learn what forms of assistance are being offered to these distressed communities.
Theroux’s unique perspective on the Deep South as a well-seasoned traveler is one of Deep South‘s strengths. Other travel writers based in the United States may be able to comment on the region’s poverty and perceived “backwards” nature, but Theroux is able to recount a more pertinent and startling narrative, such as the fact that many Southern economic development corporations receive less in federal grant funding than their counterparts in Third World countries, despite demonstrating equal need. Similarly, Theroux’s viewpoint as an outsider allows him to analyze Southern culture as a neutral observer, leading him to draw his own conclusions about such debated issues as the continued support among Southern whites for the so-called “lost cause of the Confederacy.”
I have read many good books in 2017 (although not as many as I would have liked), but Deep South was one of the most insightful for me personally as an American born and raised in the South. The book offered potential explanations for queries which I have wondered about for many years while simultaneously bringing entirely new issues to my attention. It is both an expose and a call to action for the next generation of young Southerners. I would go so far as to consider it “recommended reading” for both urban Southerners unaware of living conditions in other parts of the South and for non-Southerners wishing to learn more about our region’s contemporary demographics, culture, economic conditions, and politics.
Sophie's Book Reviews 