Monday's Body of Work

On The Road

Every day people carve new paths. It’s not simply that we yearn to construct additional roads, it’s more that we have an insatiable desire to arrive at new places — for industry, commerce, culture, and…literature. In keeping with our propensity for fresh locales, today we’re looking at books and stories that use pavement as their magic carpet. Let’s begin with William T. Vollman’s review of Routes of Man –  a worthy read no matter which side of the road you’re on — and then consider Slate’s interpretation of the novelist’s modern-day Odyssey, which, rather oddly, parallels Anna Gavalda’s boulevard of broken dreams. Moving on, Stieg Larsson paves a one-way street to success, a Yankee from the Boston Globe road-trips to Flannery O’Conner’s native state, and N+1 has a high speed Vancouver narrative that brakes just shy of Rain Taxi’s collision with Brian Evenson, which, (roadies take note) makes all the difference in the world. — Kevin Murphy

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