Blinding Light: A Novel - Softcover

Theroux, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0618711961 ISBN 13: 9780618711963

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2006

Synopsis

From the New York Times best-selling author Paul Theroux, Blinding Light is a slyly satirical novel of manners and mind expansion. Slade Steadman, a writer who has lost his chops, sets out for the Ecuadorian jungle with his ex-girlfriend in search of inspiration and a rare hallucinogen. The drug, once found, heightens both his powers of perception and his libido, but it also leaves him with an unfortunate side effect: periodic blindness. Unable to resist the insights that enable him to write again, Steadman spends the next year of his life in thrall to his psychedelic muse and his erotic fantasies, with consequences that are both ecstatic and disastrous.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

From the jungles of Ecuador to the island of Martha's Vineyard, Paul Theroux's new novel titillates with eroticism, intelligence, and wit.
Slade Steadman is the ultimate one-book wonder. His lone opus, published twenty years ago, was a cult classic about his travels through dozens of countries without benefit of passport. With his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend in tow, he sets out for Ecuador's easternmost jungle in search of a rare hallucinogenic drug and what he hopes will be the cure for his writer's block.
But his world is altered profoundly when he becomes addicted to the drug and the insights it provides, only to have them desert him, along with his sight. Will he regain his vision? His visions? Or will he forgo the world of his imagining and his ambition? As Theroux leads us toward the answers, he makes fresh magic out of the venerable, intertwined themes of sight and insight. He also offers incisive, sometimes hilarious takes on the manifold ironies of travel and the trappings of the writer's life -- from the fear of the blank page to the unexpected challenges of the book tour.

About the Author:

PAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and Cape Cod.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0618711961
• ISBN 13: 9780618711963
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 438