Anne Tyler, Searching for Caleb

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 1975

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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In her sixth novel,

Searching for Caleb

(1976), contemporary American author Anne Tyler presents a multigenerational twentieth-century portrait of the Peck family, an ensemble of relatives who make their home in and around the Baltimore, Maryland (USA) area. The primary focus is on Duncan and Justine Peck, first cousins who mature in mid-century and, despite family objections, marry and proceed to live outside of the closely knit family network. The couple walks way from the stability of residence in the staid Roland Park suburb and employment in the Peck family business, opting instead for a more peripatetic lifestyle; at one point, Justine goes so far as to describe her immediate family as “nomads” (171). Along the way, Duncan makes several attempts at self-employment, ultimately…

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486 words

Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "Searching for Caleb". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2206, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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