Writing Techniques in Breathing Lessons

Breathing Lessons Techniques/Literary Precedents

Limiting the action of a novel to one day in the life of ordinary people was an experiment for James Joyce in Ulysses, and it is a new technique for Anne Tyler. Like Joyce, she uses flashbacks that circumvent the time constraint, and she takes the reader on detours and side trips from the main road to Deer Lick to reveal character and add action. The tension between the Morans' seemingly ordinary day trip and the odd twists and turns on the journey is the perfect illustration of a central idea of the novel. Each day of life or marriage is both the same old round and a unique experience; people can live life without thinking about it — like breathing — or be open to each day trip's vagaries, accepting them when necessary and enjoying them when possible. Like Molly at the end of Ulysses, Maggie affirms at the...
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