Anne Tyler, The Tin Can Tree

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 1966

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Recommended Reading

The Tin Can Tree

(1965), American author Anne Tyler’s second novel, is set in rural Larksville, North Carolina—not the Baltimore, Maryland suburb of Roland Park which would serve as the backdrop for her later, more iconic works such as 1982’s

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

and

The Accidental Tourist

from 1988. While Tyler’s signature setting was not yet cemented in 1965,

The Tin Can Tree

nonetheless provides readers with an early representation of the thematic and plot elements that would become her stock-in-trade: family response to estrangement and death; feelings of isolation even while in close proximity to others; the tug of war faced by young adults torn between parental home and independence; and a dénouement of reconciliation rife with more questions than answers.

Most

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1179 words

Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "The Tin Can Tree". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 July 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7940, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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