Anne Tyler, The Amateur Marriage

Cecilia Donohue (Independent Scholar - North America)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2004

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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The Amateur Marriage

(2004), prolific and talented American author Anne Tyler returns to familiar geographic and thematic ground. As in many of her previous works, we are introduced here to a dysfunctional yet quirkily sympathetic family residing in the Baltimore, Maryland, USA area. This novel also features the Tyler trademark “midlife fork in the road” with its attendant promise of a second chance at love and happiness. In addition, the Tyleresque dénouement of resolution with reconciliation is present in this work, but with a surreal twist open to multiple interpretations.

The Amateur Marriage chronicles the relationship of Michael and Pauline Barclay Anton. First meeting in December, 1941, as a result of Pauline's need for first aid (caused by her impulsive jump off a

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770 words

Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "The Amateur Marriage". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 January 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14492, accessed 04 May 2024.]

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