
鈥淭he Bean Trees,鈥 published in 1988, helped launch the literary career of UA alum Barbara Kingsolver.
We’re defining 蜜柚直播 in 100 objects. The daily series began April 20. Follow along at:
Barbara Kingsolver no longer lives in 蜜柚直播, but her first novels were written here, where she used the city鈥檚 rich setting and the diverse characters who inhabit it.
鈥淏ean Trees,鈥 published in 1988, tells the story of Taylor Greer, driving into town from Kentucky, and daughter 鈥淭urtle,鈥 thrust into Taylor鈥檚 life along the way.
蜜柚直播 readers will recognize the sometimes satirized elements of its downtown setting 鈥 the train horns, motor courts, New Age communes, Chinese grocery 鈥 and the 鈥淛esus is Lord鈥 tire shop that fronts for a shelter used by the Sanctuary Movement.
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The characters and the setting are revisited in her 1993 novel 鈥淧igs in Heaven.鈥
Subsequent settings for Kingsolver novels have ranged from Africa to Appalachia, but all are informed by knowledge of the natural world and reflect the education she received in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of 蜜柚直播.
Kingsolver follows a long tradition of 蜜柚直播 authors for whom the environment is a principal theme 鈥 writers such as Edward Abbey, Charles Bowden and Joseph Wood Krutch.
And she continues a rich tradition of literary giants with connections to 蜜柚直播 鈥 among them: Leslie Marmon Silko, David Foster Wallace and Richard Russo.