Patrick deWitt's new novel "Dodge City" follows a UCLA dropout fleeing the Vietnam War draft across America in the 1960s, armed with amphetamines and a destination in Canada.
The Canadian author, who gained recognition with his 2011 Booker Prize-shortlisted western "The Sisters Brothers," returns to another distinctly American literary tradition: the road novel. Unlike recent works by Miranda July and Ben Markovits that used road trips to explore midlife crisis, deWitt sets his story in the 1960s and centres on youth instead of middle age.
The protagonist, Leland "Lee" Clarke, receives his draft notice after being expelled from UCLA for assaulting a wealthy hippie student. The assault costs him his draft deferment. Lee rejects both serving in Vietnam and claiming conscientious objector status, which he views as "another form of heroism." He tells himself that "the myth of the hero is at the heart of my critique of the entire exercise" and decides instead to dodge the draft by heading to Canada.
According to the Guardian review, the book's premise sounds like it could be an "Easy Rider" tribute. DeWitt's novels are often compared to films rather than other books, but the review notes "something very different transpires" here. The novel balances "readerly pleasure and literary artifice."
The reviewer notes that deWitt is "a throwback" as a writer and has returned the road-novel genre to its roots in that era. The piece also observes that younger contemporary readers might note with irony the relative consequences of expulsion in the 1960s, when college dismissal mattered far less without the burden of modern student debt.