For his new book, “True North: On the Road in Canada,” inveterate traveller and bestselling author Paul Theroux (“The Mosquito Coast,” “The Great Railway Bazaar”) spent several years road-tripping across the country.
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Theroux → spend → country
The 85-year-old writer, who has French Canadian roots, wrote to the Star about his journeys from his home on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
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who → have → Massachusetts
When did you begin travelling across Canada and when did you finish?
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you → begin → Canada
My first trip to Canada in 1952 when I was 11 was with my family, spending time with relatives in Montreal.
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I → spend → Montreal
I have been many times, but around 2020 I paid a formal visit to Yamaska, and decided I wanted to write about Canada.
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I → pay → Canada
I kept travelling, taking notes.
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I → keep → notes
All the while I was writing other books — “Burma Sahib,” “The Vanishing Point” — and reading Canadian fiction.
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I → write → fiction
Late February 2022, I was on a beach near my home in Hawaii when I read about the truckers’ protest.
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I → read → protest
So, I flew to Cape Cod, got in my car and drove to Ottawa in a snowstorm.
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I → fly → snowstorm
No U.S. paper or magazine was interested in commissioning a piece, so this was self-financed, as most of my travel is.
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most → commission → travel
You were here when Mark Carney was elected prime minister in March 2025?
Yes.
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Carney → elect → March
I made a point of travelling throughout the election, watching the debates, talking to voters — and of course this was during the “51st state” business.
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this → make → business
Nothing is more revealing than travelling in a country during a crisis — election, war or Trump disparagement.
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Nothing → travel → crisis
I’m interested in the paradox of writers as both members of a community and as outsiders.
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I → ’m → outsiders
How do you see yourself and why?
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you → see → yourself
It amazes me when I ask a favour from a writer and am turned down — this happened with “True North” — especially from a person who wrote a book set in Canada, and he said no to my three easy questions.
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he → amaze → questions
I am also an outsider, I feel, not part of any movement or clique, or academic institution.
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I → feel → movement
I hate living in cities, where cliques flourish and writers meet.
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writers → hate → cities
I hardly ever associate socially with writers — none in Hawaii, few on the Cape — but know many hunters, kayakers, hikers and tattoo artists.
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I → associate → hunters
Connected, perhaps, is the desire to travel and to reconcile yourself to the idea of being an alien or trespasser.
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desire → connect → idea
In “Travels with Myself and Another,” Martha Gellhorn wrote, “My heart rose like a bird at once.
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heart → write → bird
It always did incurably, except in rain, as soon as I had fallen off the map.”
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I → fall → map
Do you feel the same?
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you → feel → same
Yes, I feel that way, but unlike Martha, who I knew, I have a spouse I love, many children and grandchildren, and I also love to be home, either on the Cape or Hawaii — bliss in both places.
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I → feel → places
I love cooking and gardening.
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I → love → cooking
I love sleeping in my own bed.
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I → sleep → bed
Maybe, but I am a better traveller for having a happy home life.
Other than the risks of driving in bad weather — especially on the Trans-Canada Highway in remote communities — do you feel deterred by weather?
On the contrary.
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you → have → contrary
I am invigorated by dramatic weather.
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I → invigorate → weather
Canada has some serious heavy weather.
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Canada → have → weather
In tracing your Québécois roots — and being able to research your distant forebear Antoine who arrived in the 17th century — what fascinated you most?
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what → trace → you
Antoine was so young when he left his French village to travel across the world — he had previously been nowhere.
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he → leave → world
That he rose to the occasion, had a really challenging life as a traveller and mariner — imagine the difficulties, up and down rivers — and became a householder, a patriarch — and lived a long life — 83 years, pretty good, given the circumstances.
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he → rise → circumstances
On getting to know locals in Yamaska, how did it feel to be given the nickname “Paul le Ratoureux” — the cunning, mischief-maker — and to be celebrated by the community and given a certificat honorifique by the mayor?
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it → get → mayor
This was such an unusual aspect of my Canada travel: being among friends and family, feeling connected and welcomed, not at all like being threatened with spears in the Trobriand Islands or insulted and abused in Africa or India, or feeling so guilty in Vietnam.
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This → feel → Vietnam
I think I deserve the nickname “ratoureux.”
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I → think → nickname
Probably most writers and travellers do.
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writers → do → ?
It seems that you established ongoing relationships with previous strangers on this journey.
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you → seem → journey
Who did you encounter who made an indelible impression?
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who → encounter → impression
A woman named Samantha begging by the side of the road in Winnipeg made the deepest impression — standing upright, looking me in the eye, not old, rather attractive, even dignified, Cree and homeless.
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woman → name → eye
Dutch Thompson in P.E.I., who has recorded people’s stories over decades, the hard-working and enduring Canadians who have to cope with radical change.
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who → record → change
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
