“The Bean Trees,” published in 1988, helped launch the literary career of UA alum Barbara Kingsolver.
We’re defining Tucson in 100 objects. The daily series began April 20. Follow along at: azstarnet.com/100objects
Barbara Kingsolver no longer lives in Tucson, but her first novels were written here, where she used the city’s rich setting and the diverse characters who inhabit it.
“Bean Trees,” published in 1988, tells the story of Taylor Greer, driving into town from Kentucky, and daughter “Turtle,” thrust into Taylor’s life along the way.
Tucson readers will recognize the sometimes satirized elements of its downtown setting — the train horns, motor courts, New Age communes, Chinese grocery — and the “Jesus is Lord” tire shop that fronts for a shelter used by the Sanctuary Movement.
The characters and the setting are revisited in her 1993 novel “Pigs in Heaven.”
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 Arizona.
Kingsolver follows a long tradition of Tucson authors for whom the environment is a principal theme — writers such as Edward Abbey, Charles Bowden and Joseph Wood Krutch.
And she continues a rich tradition of literary giants with connections to Tucson — among them: Leslie Marmon Silko, David Foster Wallace and Richard Russo.
