Date of Award
1997
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Furman, Andrew
Abstract
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.
Extent
74 p.
Recommended Citation
Finger, Susan Clare, "Echoes of Wordsworth and Coleridge resound in "The Accidental Tourist"" (1997). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1990 - 1999. 1107.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_4/1107
Identifier
FADT15494
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1997.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters