Portraits of 20th Century American Writers: Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler by George H. Rothacker - acrylic on canvas - 24" x 24" - Original painting $2400, prints @$90 each plus tax and shipping (Prints are an edition of 50, signed, titled and numbered with an image area of 13"x 13").

Anne Tyler is a novelist, short story writer and literary critic was born in Hennepin County, Missouri in 1941. I was introduced to her during the 1980s, as she was in a group of women writers emerging as the voice of the new woman, along with Margaret Atwood, a Canadian novelist best known for the “Handmaid’s Tale.” In a short period, Tyler produced The Accidental Tourist, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and Breathing Lessons a novel for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. Overall she has written 22 books with her latest, Clock Dance, a National Best Seller.

Anne Tyler’s books are predominately about family and marriage relationships. She writes in detail about ordinary circumstances and is sometimes criticized for the “sameness” and “cuteness” of her books and her characters. In one interview, Tyler responded, “One thing I think it is sort of true. I would say piss and vinegar for Philip Roth and for me milk and cookies. I can’t deny it…. [However] there’s more edge under some of my soft language than people realize.”

In addition to the Pulitzer, Tyler had received the 1985 National Book Critics Award, and has twice been a Finalist for the Man Booker Prize, as well as a Finalist for another Pulitzer for Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.