Alexander Theroux, Clueless Philistine

In a literary culture dominated by good careerists who graduated from the same cluster of highly rated MFA programs, it’s easy to see something cherishable in a gifted oddball like Alexander Theroux. Between 1972 and 1987, Theroux published three unusual, excellent novels—Three Wogs, Darconville’s Cat, and An Adultery—that earned him good reviews and a cult following, while establishing that his reputation would never approach the bestselling fame and respectability of his brother, The Mosquito Coast author Paul Theroux. In 1999 and 2000, Theroux published short critical studies on Al Capp and Edward Gorey through the art-comics publisher Fantagraphics, which also brought out his impressionistic travelogue Estonia: A Ramble Through The Periphery and Laura Warholic, his first novel in more than 20 years.