Iyer and Theroux: Two Very Different Perspectives on the Op-Ed Pages
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 01.02.07 | 1:54 PM ET
As 2006 drew to a close, two of our favorite travel writers—Pico Iyer from his home in Japan, and Paul Theroux from his home in Hawaii—published op-ed pieces about America and the world. Theroux, our favorite crank, was in fine form in the New York Times, bemoaning overcrowding in American cities and across the globe. “Travel, except in almost inaccessible places, is no longer the answer to finding solitude,” he writes. “And this contraction of space on a shrinking planet suggests a time, not far off, when there will be no remoteness: nowhere to become lost, nothing to be discovered, no escape, no palpable concept of distance, no peculiarity of dress — frightening thoughts for a traveler.” Yes, fine form. Iyer was, characteristically, in a much better mood, pointing out in the Los Angeles Times that even though Americans are complaining about the state of the world these days, for many people in other countries, their world is looking better and better. “One in every three people on our planet lives in China or India, and for those worthy souls, the new century is a time of possibilities unimagined before,” he writes. “There is corruption and oppression and pollution all over China; India is still a byword for suffering and poverty; and yet, for well over 2 billion of our neighbors in the global village, history is moving in a positive direction right now.”
Related on World Hum:
* Pico Iyer: On Travel and Travel Writing
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
