The Consul's File by Paul Theroux (Washington Square Press)

When people see or hear the name Paul Theroux, it most likely brings up images of a well-traveled man who goes on journeys and writes about his experiences. It is his travel essays where he found most of his success. His first major success was the account of his journey from Great Britain to Japan and back. The book was titled The Great Railway Bazaar and has become a classic of the travel genre. However, Theroux is a prolific writer of fiction as well. 

The Consul’s File which was published in 1977 is a collection of stories set in the fictional town of Ayer Hitam in Malaysia. The unnamed narrator is the American consul sent to the town as the United States still had an interest in the rubber estates. However, the rubber trees were being replaced by oil palms and many of the Americans had already left. It was the narrator’s job to phase out the consulate. 

We are told, “In other places the consular task was, in the State Department phrase, bridge-building; In Ayer-Hitam I was dismantling a bridge.” The narrator tells us that he was told that all he needs to know are all written in files kept in a small box-room at the Residence. He decides to write and add his own stories and stories he heard which he knows to be true to the files for posterity. 

The narrator’s secretary told him about the files so one day, the consul takes a day off and spends it at the Residence where he decides to open the box-room. There was a mystery surrounding files holding who knows what kind of secrets. What he does find is a stack of yellow papers bounded by string and partially eaten by termites. It didn’t take him long to discover “that there was little writing on them, and certainly no secrets; in fact, most of the pages were blank”.

The Consul spends two years in Ayer-Hitam and deals with a variety of people who either need his help or ask favors of him. One of the most annoying characters is a woman writer named Margaret Harbottle. She is the epitome of the entitled white American when the term wasn’t even in fashion yet. She bursts into his office as soon as it opens, she makes all sorts of demands before the Consul can even sit down. She believes it’s the Consul who should make her feel comfortable as she says she will give his name a mention in her forthcoming book. 

There is the woman anthropologist who reminds you of Conrad’s Kurtz as she goes native and marries an aboriginal chief. The woman who claims to have been raped by some oily man only to be told by one of his helpers, the person responsible was Orang Minyak, orang meaning man and minyak which means “oily, like ghee butter on his body”. He also tells the consul that Orang Minyak is a Malay spirit that only bothers women at night. 

The twenty intertwined stories gives you a feel of what it must have been like to work as a diplomat in a third world country in one of its outermost posts. The characters, both and foreign and domestic, are brought to life by Theroux’s wit and observance. It’s a shame that there are still American citizens who act like the writer who expects everything to be done for her. Visitors to other countries must remember that they are the guests and shouldn’t be making any demands just because of their nationality. ~Ernie Hoyt