Have Pen, Will Travel

Twenty-five years ago, the Australian writer Robyn Davidson made the observation that travel writing, unlike most other literary genres, suffers from a “weird allergy to itself.” Often travel writers desperately attempt to distance themselves from a variety of voyeuristic sins (tourism being the cardinal one, but also cultural ignorance, geographical blunders, and so on). At the beginning of True North: On the Road in Canada, the latest of his many travel books, Paul Theroux appears to suffer a severe anaphylaxis.

“Lazy and imitative,” he says of most modern travel books. “Unreadable for their flatulence and frivolity. The worst of them indulge in humble-bragging, recounting miles traveled, annoyances endured, or the bliss of quasi-mystical experiences — all of it flapdoodle.” Gesundheit! That we’re about to share a car with him on a cross-Canada journey makes one wonder if this antipathy might be contagious. His Carthaginian tone won’t surprise any of his...