Anne Tyler, If Morning Ever Comes

Cecilia Donohue (Independent Scholar - North America)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: 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 (Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1964

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Alongside the universal literary theme of quest for identity, Anne Tyler, in her first published novel If Morning Ever Comes (1964), addresses a pair of issues often visited by both past and present women writers of the American South. These are: (1) the irresistible pull of home and family despite responsibilities elsewhere; and (2) home and hearth as the locus of empowerment for women.

Protagonist Benjamin Josiah, or “Ben Joe” Hawkes, a law student at New York City’s Columbia University, answers a self-induced summons in mid-semester to return to his native Sandhill, North Carolina, to see his older sister Joanne, who has separated from her husband Gary. Joanne’s marital problems are not the only distaff …

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455 words

Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "If Morning Ever Comes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 September 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4589, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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