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Anne Tyler (1941-) | |
| American novelist and short-story
writer, whose keen ear for dialogue and life-like characters have won critical
acclaim. Several of Tyler's novels focus on the loneliness and isolation
of middle-class people living in disunited families.
"I mean you're given all these lessons for the unimportant things - piano-playing, typing. You're given years of lessons in how to do in normal life. But how about parenthood? Or marriage, either, come to think of it. Before you can drive a car you need a state-approved course of instruction, but driving a car is nothing, nothing, compared to living day in and day out with a husband and rising up a new human being." (from Breathing Lessons, 1988) Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but grew up in North Carolina, as the daughter of an industrial chemist and social worker. The family lived among various Quaker communities in the rural south before settling in Raleigh, North Carolina. These years formed background for her Southern literary flavor, which is seen in the settings of her fiction. Also the writer Eudora Welty, who has depicted the Mississippi of her childhood, has influenced Tyler. At the age of 19 Tyler graduated from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, where she twice won the Anne Flexner Award for creative writing. She became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and did post-graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. Before settling in Baltimore, where she has lived for much of her adult life, Tyler was a bibliographer at Duke University, ordering books from the Soviet Union, and worked in the law library of McGill University. Tyler married in 1963; she and her husband have two daughters. As a writer Tyler made her debut with If Morning Ever Comes in 1964, depicting a young man, Ben Joe Hawkes, returning from Columbia to North Carolina and attempting to find his own way under family expectations. He knows that his father had lived alternately with wife and mistress and his grandmother married his grandfather although she was in love with another man. Finally Ben is jolted from his routine by his ex-girlfriend who is ready to prove her definite commitment. In 1967 Tyler became a full-time writer. She won in 1977 an award from the American Academy for Earthly Possessions. Her novel Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982) explores tensions inside a family seen from the perspective from each member in turn. Pearl Cody Tull's children see her from different perspectives - she is violently abusive, suspicious, or nurturing. Absentminded Ezra, the youngest son, runs the restaurant of the title, where Pearl's husband and her children gather for dinner after her funeral. The Accidental Tourist won in 1986 National Book Critics Circle Award and was made into a film in 1988, directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. It tells a story of a man, Macon, who writers travel guides for travel-hating businessmen. After his son is murdered and his wife leaves him, Macon spends his time in planes, addicted to routine. "He approved planes. When the weather was calm, you couldn't even tell you were moving. You could pretend you were sitting safe at home. The view from the window was always the same - air and more air - and the interior of one plane was practically interchangeable with the interior of any other." Macon's life in his shell starts to change when he meets Muriel, a dog trainer and her young son. As is many Tyler's novels, the characters are trapped by the past and are hesitant to flee their present lives. In this story Tyler also explores the possibility of an accident, which could open new ways of personal development. In 1989 Tyler won Pulitzer Price for Breathing Lessons, a story of a couple who have been married for 28 years. Maggie Moran, the eternal optimist, is married to Ira and the mother of Jesse and Daisy. On a hot summer day Maggie and Ira drive to the funeral of the husband of Maggie's best friend. During their journey, Tyler explores the problems of marriage, love and happiness. Among Tyler's later works is Saint Maybe (1991), in which Tyler
dealt with the theme of guilt inside an unhappy middle-class family. After
the death of his brother, Ian is tortured by self-accusations until he
realizes that change is a part of life. Ladder of the Year (1996)
is a story about a woman who leaves her marriage and family to discover
who she is. A Patchwork Planet (1998) is about Barnaby Gaitlin,
divorced and considered irresponsible by his daughter. Barnaby helps old
people but in fact he needs help in his own misfortunes.
© 2000 |