The road to nowhere

Abstract

The Road to Nowhere is a novel about David Kingman, a math teacher from the fictional town of Midfield, Ohio. The plot itself is straightforward: one Friday in October, Dave skips school. He is determined to climb Shuckstack, a mountain in the Smokies that he once hiked with his Grandpa, but his plan devolves, transformed into picaresque encounters with characters that distract, harass, and befriend him along the way. Modeled after a trail guide, the novel’s structure reflects this fragmentation. The sketches are narrative prose, but they also incorporate maps, photographs, and even mathematics assignments. Many occur on the roads and trails that link Midfield to Shuckstack, while others explore the events from Dave’s past that forged his peculiar character. The novel is preceded by a critical introduction, “On Amusement Parks, Maps, and the Perils of Realism: Fragmented Thoughts on a Sketchy Creation,” which examines the origin and development of the manuscript. The essay touches on places and people in the author’s life that have influenced the novel’s content; it also discusses the project’s structure and works of literature that provided inspiration. The title of the novel is a reference to an abandoned construction project within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an incomplete road that suggests a metaphor for Dave’s quest and his life as a whole. The subtitle is a nod to the fragmented presentation and the ongoing nature of the work.