Cannot Stay Book Synopsis

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2 Cannot Stay Book Synopsis This is a book of journeys, but it is not a guidebook. Cannot Stay doesn't merely describe traveling to Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Europe. It delves into why we leave our front porch in the first place. These twelve essays take us from Bali to the Baltics, from Corsica to Cambodia. But more importantly, they speak to the experience of travel, to what it means to shake loose of your at-home identity and pack all you need in a worn daypack. Cannot Stay bears witness to how travel reawakens us to the world by revealing the strange in the familiar and the familiar in the strange.

3 READER S GUIDE secondary and post-secondary levels SYNOPSIS Cannot Stay is a collection of travel essays, which journey from the vintage Baltics to the subtropics of Southeast Asia, and a dozen of places in between. Oderman s essays compare the traveler and the traveling, the self with the place. Each destination, whether a popular tourist joint or a less-explored local facet of life, each narrative vividly depicts the nature of Oderman s travel, which capturing the sheer essence of the location. AUTHOR BIO In addition to Cannot Stay (Etruscan Press, 2015) and White Vespa (Etruscan Press, 2011), Kevin Oderman is the author of a book of literary criticism, Ezra Pound and the Erotic Medium; a book of essays, How Things Fit Together; and the novel, Going, set in Granada, Spain. Twice he has lived abroad as a Fulbright Fellow, teaching modern American poetry at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, and American literature at Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan. He teaches at West Virginia University and in the Wilkes Low-Residency MA/MFA Program. He lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, with his wife, the writer Sara Pritchard. STUDY QUESTIONS AND WRITING PROMPTS THE GETTING THERE 1. In the first chapter, Oderman discusses how often the actual traveling is overlooked. Why do you think it s important to focus on the act of traveling just as much as the location of travel? How does Cannot Stay support your opinion?

4 THE TRAVELING SELF 1. Oderman defies convention by using repetition of words for emphasis of a theme. The old town there is very old (pg. 6). Consider this effect as you read the rest of the text, and determine how Oderman uses it to accurately portray the location and his experience there. 2. Explain how Oderman compares the towns he visits to his own being the town acting as a body. What does this say about his role as a traveler? THE TRUTH IN TRAVEL 1. Authenticity is an important theme throughout the book. How does Oderman s writing reflect an authentic view of the locations he travels to? Is achieving authenticity as a traveler even possible? Why or Why not? RETURNING HOME 1. In the beginning of Cannot Stay, Oderman states: I ve been wondering about what this kind of travel is all about (pg. 9). Does he answer his own question by the conclusion of the book? Why or why not? 2. Oderman suggest that Travel attracts us, attracts me, by appealing to potentials that have gone unexpressed (pg. 12). After reading Cannot Stay, what potentials do you think the author seeks to find? What makes the concept of traveling attractive to you?

5 LEARNING STANDARDS STANDARDS FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (compiled by NCTE and IRA) 1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., soundletter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts. 9. Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles. 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities. 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

6 Kevin Oderman Bio Kevin Oderman is the author of two expat novels, Going (set in Granada) and White Vespa (set in Greece). He won a Bakeless Prize in nonfiction for a book of literary essays, How Things Fit Together. He twice taught abroad as a Fulbright Scholar, first in Thessaloniki, Greece, and subsequently in Lahore, Pakistan. He teaches at West Virginia University and in the Wilkes University Low-Residency Creative Writing MA/MFA Program. He lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, with his wife, the writer Sara Pritchard.

7 Cannot Stay Blurbs In Cannot Stay, Kevin Oderman proves himself one of our most interesting and original travel writers. In these dozen essays he journeys from the Baltics to Lahore, Pakistan, from the arid Turkish and Greek coastlines to the tropical humidity of Southeast Asia, from familiar tourist haunts like Florence to the spooky otherworld of Corsica, from Bali to Nepal, and even, incredibly, on imagined voyages to Mali and Mexico. His prose style is both exacting and lyrical, visually alive and philosophically astute. Oderman is a self-reflexive traveler, constantly aware of how the places he passes through also pass through him, how travel changes him, how porous and pliable a thing is identity. In these essays, he teaches us how best to travel, fully and meaningfully alive on this planet. Neil Shepard, author of Scavenging the Country for a Heartbeat, I m Here Because I Lost My Way, and This Far from the Source What Kevin Oderman brings from his travels to the page is so exquisitely attentive and wide-ranging that I can t read the man without wanting to pack my bags. Cannot Stay fuses remarkable places to remarkable observations to remarkable language without ceasing, demonstrating that travel, at its best, is a contemplative tool as valid as any church, yogic exercise, or zafu. - David James Duncan, author of The River Why and The Brothers K Kevin Oderman is a walker. Reading Cannot Stay, I felt as though I was walking by his side, through towns and villages, from Athens to Izmir, from Hanoi to Hoi An, alert to the culture and history of these places; he brings it home by making it personal with delightful, disturbing, surprising, and always wise reflections. It s a privilege to glimpse the world through such keen eyes. - Beverly Donofrio, author of Astonished and Riding in Cars with Boys

8 Cannot Stay Title/Publication Info Cannot Stay: Essays on Travel By Kevin Oderman Publication Date: 06/30/2015 Page Count: 238 ISBN: