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Echoes of Wordsworth and Coleridge resound in "The Accidental Tourist"

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Date Issued:
1997
Summary:
Anne Tyler, who lived a "Romantic" childhood in mountain-terrained communes of North Carolina, borrowed ideas from Wordsworth and Coleridge for her 1985 novel The Accidental Tourist. Reflections of these Romantic poets are seen primarily in images but are also seen in Tyler's simple writing style. Macon Leary, the protagonist of the novel, is a wandering writer who loves the English language, but struggles to communicate his feelings verbally, a reflection of Romantic ideology. Other motifs include home as a place abandoned as well as a refuge for the mind and body; the destructive and renewing powers of the city; physical heights used for inspiration and reflection; and endurance after tragedy. Tyler, who is married to a psychiatrist, parodies the Romantics when she brings endurance into the self-help age of the 1980s. Macon Leary not only endures but, with assistance, triumphs.
Title: Echoes of Wordsworth and Coleridge resound in "The Accidental Tourist".
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Name(s): Finger, Susan Clare.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Furman, Andrew, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1997
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 74 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Anne Tyler, who lived a "Romantic" childhood in mountain-terrained communes of North Carolina, borrowed ideas from Wordsworth and Coleridge for her 1985 novel The Accidental Tourist. Reflections of these Romantic poets are seen primarily in images but are also seen in Tyler's simple writing style. Macon Leary, the protagonist of the novel, is a wandering writer who loves the English language, but struggles to communicate his feelings verbally, a reflection of Romantic ideology. Other motifs include home as a place abandoned as well as a refuge for the mind and body; the destructive and renewing powers of the city; physical heights used for inspiration and reflection; and endurance after tragedy. Tyler, who is married to a psychiatrist, parodies the Romantics when she brings endurance into the self-help age of the 1980s. Macon Leary not only endures but, with assistance, triumphs.
Identifier: 9780591624953 (isbn), 15494 (digitool), FADT15494 (IID), fau:12258 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1997.
Subject(s): Tyler, Anne.--Accidental tourist.
Coleridge, Samual Taylor,--1772-1834--Criticism and interpretation.
Wordsworth, William,--1770-1850--Criticism and interpretation.
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15494
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.