Pulitzer Prize Fiction Winner

Tinkers

by Paul Harding

Summary

As an elderly clock repairman lies dying, his consciousness drifts between his own life and that of his father, an epileptic tin peddler who once roamed the Maine backwoods. Harding writes in dense, image-laden prose that fuses natural observation, mechanical lore, and hallucinatory memory. The slim novel is a meditation on time, inheritance, and the fragile machinery of the self.

Historical Context & Significance

A massive upset; the book was published by a tiny academic press (Bellevue Literary Press) and had a very small initial print run.