Featured Reading Guide
Anne Tyler
How does a man addicted to routine – a man who flosses his teeth before love-making – cope with the chaos of everyday life? With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, a dog trainer from the Meow-Bow dog clinic, Macon’s attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
FacebookAbout Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her first novel, If Morning Ever Comes , was published in 1964 whilst her 11th novel, Breathing Lessons , won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. In 1994, Tyler was nominated ‘the greatest living novelist writing in English’ by Roddy Doyle and Nick Hornby. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
topAbout the Book
How does a man addicted to routine – a man who flosses his teeth before love-making – cope with the chaos of everyday life? With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, a dog trainer from the Meow-Bow dog clinic, Macon’s attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone.
topAnne Tyler interview/review
1. When your children were young, did you ever worry that being a mother and a writer were mutually exclusive?’
I learned early that I cared much, much more about my family than my writing. If a novel wasn’t going well, I could still enjoy my children, but if one of my children was sick, I couldn’t even remember what the novel was about. In that way, I’ve been lucky. I didn’t have to deal with any serious inner conflicts.
2. What kind of writing schedule, if any, do you follow?
I try to write every weekday, starting fairly early in the morning and stopping in the afternoon, because my mind always seems to “click off” later in the day. I believe in the importance of routine – going into the same room every morning, sitting in the same place on the couch, hearing the same birds in the tree outside my window.
3. Do you keep any kind of journal when writing a novel?
No, no journal. It seems to me that writing about writing would weaken any impetus to undertake the writing itself. I do have a cardboard box filled with three-by-five index cards on which I’ve very briefly – telegraphically – jotted down random daydreams, or phrases that intrigue me, or thoughts about “what if.” What if such-and-such a type of character had to deal with such-and-such a situation? That sort of thing.
I write with a Parker 75 fountain pen, a No. 62 nib (I live in fear they’ll be discontinued), and black ink on unlined paper. I rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, and then put what I’ve written into a computer. But I rewrite it all over again in longhand at the end because the slow pace of longhand and the silence (no clicking of keys) make it easier for me to catch false notes.
4. How does Baltimore nourish you as a writer?
Baltimore is so much its very own self, with its own language and style and way of looking at things, that a novel set there just seems automatically to develop extra layers. It’s a wonderful gift for a writer. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
5. Which of your novels was the most difficult to write? Which experience was the most pleasurable? Is there an early work you still feel especially proud of?
I always think the most recent book was the most difficult. Certainly the most pleasurable was Searching for Caleb. Writing that was like attending a long party. And the book I’m proudest of is Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, because it’s the one that most closely resembles my original vision of it.
6. What happens after you finish a novel? Is it difficult to let go of certain stories or characters?
After I send a manuscript off to my agent, I always picture my central characters riding the train alone to New York City, looking hopeful and a little scared, and I feel very protective of them. If my agent calls later to say he likes the book, I think, Well, bless their hearts, they made it after all! And then I more or less forget them.
topStarting Points for Discussion
- Macon is seen as the focus for habit in The Accidental Tourist, but is any one character immune to a system? Examine the various forms of habit that permeate the novel – do they oppress or give comfort?
- The Leary ‘children’ have always seemed old.What do you feel Tyler is exploring through their close-knit set-up?
- Houses and homes are very important agents of meaning in the novel. Think about the various characters, their living circumstances and how they offer insights into their worlds.Are these houses homes or prisons?
- Alexander could be seen as functioning as a small Macon, a blank slate on which Macon can put right his own mistakes rather than a surrogate Ethan.Does this relationship show that Macon can be an instigator of change rather than a sponge of it, or is this another of his mistakes?
- Muriel is the antithesis of Macon’s wife, Sarah and embodies many of the elements of life that Macon finds difficult to deal with.What is that draws him to Muriel, in spite of their differences, and eventually makes him choose her over Sarah?
- Consider the role of Edward in Macon’s life. Does Edward help make explicit all that Macon burrows?
- Macon’s moves from a position of seeing blue jeans as illogical to seeing them as a start to fitting in and moving on. Alexander is able to gain his freedom through the conformity of jeans and T-shirt. At the same time, Muriel has always spurned conformity through her outlandish dress sense and escape from an unhappy marriage. How is conformity challenged in the novel? Is conformity shown to be acceptable if it can bring happiness?
Other Books by Anne Tyler
A Patchwork Planet
Barnaby Gaitlin is a loser – just short of thirty he’s the black sheep of a …
A Slipping Down Life
In a small Southern town teenager Evie Decker becomes obsessed with local rock…
A Tin Can Tree
When young Jamie Pike dies in a tragic accident, she leaves behind a family …
Back When We Were Grownups…
When Joe Davitch first saw Rebecca, it was at a party at the Davitch home – a…
Breathing Lessons
Breathing Lessons covers the events of a day in the life of Maggie Moran, …
Celestial Navigation
Jeremy Pauling is a thirty-eight-year-old batchelor who has never left home. He…
Digging to America
Friday August 15th, 1997. The night the girls arrived. Two tiny Korean babies…
Suggested Further Reading
- Independence Day ~ Richard Ford
- Breakfast of Champions ~ Kurt Vonnegut
- Where I’m Calling From ~ Raymond Carver
- The Great American Novel ~ Philip Roth
- Hard Times ~ Charles Dickens