Winesburg, Ohio (novel)
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''Winesburg, Ohio'' (full title: ''Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life'') is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author
Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...
. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the time he was a child to his growing independence and ultimate abandonment of Winesburg as a young man. It is set in the fictional town of Winesburg, Ohio (not to be confused with the actual Winesburg, Ohio), which is loosely based on Anderson's childhood memories of Clyde, Ohio. Mostly written from late 1915 to early 1916, with a few stories completed closer to publication, they were "...conceived as complementary parts of a whole, centered in the background of a single community."Phillips (1951), 17-18 The book consists of twenty-two stories, with the first story, "The Book of the Grotesque", serving as an introduction. Each of the stories shares a specific character's past and present struggle to overcome the loneliness and isolation that seem to permeate the town. Stylistically, because of its emphasis on the psychological insights of characters over plot, and plainspoken prose, ''Winesburg, Ohio'' is known as one of the earliest works of
Modernist literature Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...
.Dunne (2005), 44Stouck (1996), 229Anderson (1994), 73-74 ''Winesburg, Ohio'' was received well by critics despite some reservations about its moral tone and unconventional storytelling. Though its reputation waned in the 1930s, it has since rebounded and is now considered one of the most influential portraits of
pre-industrial Pre-industrial society refers to social attributes and forms of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which occurred from 1750 to 1850. ''Pre-industrial'' refers to a time befor ...
small-town life in the United States.Updike (1996), 194 In 1998, the
Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing Imprint (trade name), imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Moder ...
ranked ''Winesburg, Ohio'' 24th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.


Genre

Though there is practically no argument about the unity of structure within ''Winesburg, Ohio'', few scholars have concluded that it fits the standards of a conventional novel.Ingram (1971), 149-151Mellard (1968), 1312 Instead, it is typically placed "...midway between the novel proper and the mere collection of stories,"Cowley (1974), 57 known as the short story cycle.See Ingram (1971), 13-25, for an excellent discussion of short story cycles Aside from its structural unity, the common setting, characters, symbolism and "consistency of mood"Howe (1966), 100 are all additional qualities that tie the stories together despite their initial publication as separate tales. Promoted to younger writers by Anderson himself,Ingram (1971), 148 ''Winesburg, Ohio'' has served as a representative early example of the modern short story cycle in American letters.Crowley (1990), 21 Comparisons between ''Winesburg, Ohio'' and Jean Toomer's ''
Cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick, or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking * Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance * White cane, a mobility or safety device used by blind or visually i ...
'' (1923),
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
's '' In Our Time'' (1925),
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
's '' Go Down, Moses'' (1942), and several of
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
's works, among others, demonstrate the pervasiveness of the formal innovations made in Anderson's book.Cowley (1974), 57-58Crowley (1990), 14-15 The focus on George Willard's development as a young man and a writer has also led some critics to put ''Winesburg, Ohio'' within the tradition of "the American boy book, the ''
Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...
'',Fussell (1966), 107 and the ''
Künstlerroman A ''Künstlerroman'' (; plural ''-ane''), meaning "artist's novel" in English, is a narrative about an artist's growth to maturity.Werlock, James P. (2010The Facts on File companion to the American short story Volume 2, p.387 It could be classifie ...
''".Crowley (1990), 15, 21


Setting

It is widely acknowledged that the fictional model of the book's town, Winesburg, is based on Sherwood Anderson's boyhood memories of Clyde, Ohio,Rideout (1996), 169Crowley (1990), 4 where Anderson lived between the ages of eight and nineteen (1884–1896),Howe (1951), 27 and not the actual town of Winesburg, Ohio. This view is supported by the similarities between the names and qualities of several Winesburg characters and Clyde's townspeople,Phillips (1951), 14 in addition to mentions of specific geographic details of Clyde and the surrounding area. It is not known why Anderson chose the name ''Winesburg'' for the town in the book. What is known is that the name was not necessarily determined by the stories themselves. In actuality, Anderson had been using Winesburg, Ohio, as a base for Talbot Whittingham, the protagonist of an unfinished novel he had been writing on-and-off for several years prior to the composition of the Winesburg stories. A direct relationship between the real Clyde and the fictional Winesburg, however, remains the supposition of scholars. Anderson wrote in ''A Writer's Conception of Realism'' that he reacted with "shock" when he "...heard people say that one of my own books ''Winesburg, Ohio'', was an exact picture of Ohio village life." The author went on to admit that, "the hint for almost every character was taken from my fellow lodgers in a large rooming house..." These lodgers were the "...young musicians, young writers, painters, actors..." and others that lived in proximity to Anderson on the North Side of Chicago and to whom he referred as "The Little Children of the Arts".Anderson (1996a), 152 The truth probably lies somewhere in between, with memories of Clyde "merging" with Anderson's interactions at the boardinghouse.Stouck (1996), 221


Literary sources

It is difficult to say that any specific writer or work influenced ''Winesburg, Ohio'' as a whole because Anderson was ambiguous about the matter. Still, most scholars affirm the obvious connection between Anderson's cycle and the '' Spoon River Anthology'' of Edgar Lee Masters (published in ), which Anderson reportedly stayed up all night to read.Howe (1951), 94Phillips (1951), 16-17 Though B.W. Huebsch, Anderson's publisher, sent out a statement, upon the release of ''Winesburg, Ohio'', heading off comparisons between the two works by stating (erroneously, as it turns out) that the Winesburg stories were printed in magazines before the ''Spoon River Anthology'' was published, the similarities in small-town setting, structure, and mood of the works have been noted by several reviewers,Anonymous (1 June 1919), 3Broun, Heywood.
Winesburg, Ohio
. ''New York Tribune'' (31 May 1919). Retrieved 3 July 2011.
Anonymous (25 June 1919).
Books of the Fortnight
. ''Dial'', 66: 666.
with one going so far as to call ''Winesburg, Ohio'', the ''Spoon River Anthology'' "...put into prose."Anonymous (1996), 164
Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...
, whose work Anderson was introduced to by either his brother KarlHowe (1965), 92-93Duffey (1966), 52 or photographer
Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (; January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was k ...
Stouck (1996), 213 between 1912 and 1915, is also said to have played a key role in helping shape the unique style found in the stories. Through his interaction (at first satirizing it before ultimately accepting it as essential to his development) with Stein's '' Three Lives'' (1909) and '' Tender Buttons'' (1914), Anderson found the plain, unambiguous voice that became a staple of his prose.Howe (1951), 95-96 As indicated by the correspondence the two writers developed after the publication of ''Winesburg, Ohio'', variations on the repetition found in Stein's writing in addition to their mutual appreciation for the sentence as a basic unit of prose were also likely features of her writing that Anderson noticed and drew upon in writing his ''Winesburg, Ohio''.Stouck (1996), 218-221 Literary critic
Irving Howe Irving Howe (né Horenstein; ; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American author, literary and social critic, and a key figure in the democratic socialist movement in the U.S. He co-founded and served as longtime editor of ''Dissent'' ma ...
summarized the pair's connection aptly when he wrote, "Stein was the best kind of influence: she did not bend Anderson to her style, she liberated him for his own." Numerous other writers and works have been mentioned as possible sources from which the elements of ''Winesburg, Ohio'' were drawn, most of them either denied or unacknowledged by Anderson himself. The influence of
Theodore Dreiser Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalism (literature), naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despi ...
and the Russians (
Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...
,
Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influenti ...
, and
Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...
) were discounted by the author, the former for stylistic reasons,Anderson (1977), 434-435Phillips (1951), 15 the latter because he had apparently not read them prior to writing his book.Crowley (1990), 17 While Anderson expressed an admiration for
Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...
's '' A Sportsman's Sketches'', the affinities between Turgenev's novel and ''Winesburg, Ohio'' ("...both are episodic novels containing loosely bound but closely related sketches, both depend for impact less on dramatic action than on climactic lyrical insight, and in both the individual sketches frequently end with bland understatements that form an ironic coda to the body of the writing"Howe (1951), 93) may not be a sign of influence since it is not known whether Anderson read the book before writing ''Winesburg, Ohio''. Finally, the regional focus on the
Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
has been linked to the writing of
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
, particularly ''
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' is a picaresque novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, th ...
,'' and while Anderson read and revered Twain,Spencer (1969), 5-6 the connection between Twain and ''Winesburg, Ohio'' has largely been made by scholars seeking to place the book within the canon of
American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...
, not necessarily by the author.


Composition and publication

According to Anderson's account, the first of the stories that became ''Winesburg, Ohio'' (probably "The Book of the Grotesque") was composed, on the spur of the moment, in the middle of the night, probably while he was staying on the third floor of a rooming house at in Chicago:Phillips (1951), 13-14 "...it was a late fall night and raining...I was there naked in the bed and I sprang up. I went to my typewriter and began to write. It was there, under those circumstances, myself sitting near an open window, the rain occasionally blowing in and wetting my bare back, that I did my first writing...I wrote it, as I wrote them all, complete in the one sitting...The rest of the stories in the book came out of me on succeeding evenings, and sometimes during the day while I worked in the advertising office..."Anderson (1942), 287 Study of his manuscripts shows that, though it is probably true that most of the stories were written within a relatively short span of time in late 1915, like a number of facts in Anderson's retelling of his writing process (for instance, his claim that he had written the ''Winesburg, Ohio'' stories after his earlier books were already published), it is inaccurate to say that the final versions of the stories published in 1919 were exactly the same as the ones written whole four years earlier. In fact, in his seminal article "How Sherwood Anderson wrote ''Winesburg, Ohio''," William L. Phillips wrote that the manuscript of "Hands" contained "...almost two hundred instances in which earlier words and phrases are deleted, changed, or added to..."Phillips (1951), 20 though no major structural changes to the story were detected. Additionally, slightly different versions of ten stories that ended up in the book were published by three literary magazines between 1916 and 1918 as follows: Though the stories were published to some acclaim in literary circles,Phillips (1951), 24-25, 30 John Lane, the publisher of Anderson's first two novels, referred to the ''Winesburg, Ohio'' stories as "too gloomy"Phillips (1951), 30 and refused to publish them. It was not until editor Francis Hackett showed the manuscript to Ben Huebsch, owner and editor of a small publishing house in New York, that the stories (Huebsch suggested calling them "Winesburg, Ohio") were brought together and published.


The stories

The cycle consists of twenty-two short stories, one of which consists of four parts:The formatting of the story titles, particularly the italics, em-dashes, and the quotations around "Queer" are consistent with the style of the book's numerous editions. For two examples se
''Winesburg, Ohio''
(Modern Library/Random House, 1947) and Anderson (W.W. Norton, 1996).
* The Book of the Grotesque * Hands—''concerning'' Wing Biddlebaum * Paper Pills—''concerning'' Doctor Reefy * Mother—''concerning'' Elizabeth Willard * The Philosopher—''concerning'' Doctor Parcival * Nobody Knows—''concerning'' Louise Trunnion * Godliness ** Parts I and II—''concerning'' Jesse Bentley ** Surrender (Part III)—''concerning'' Louise Bentley ** Terror (Part IV)—''concerning'' David Hardy * A Man of Ideas—''concerning'' Joe Welling * Adventure—''concerning'' Alice Hindman * Respectability—''concerning'' Wash Williams * The Thinker—''concerning'' Seth Richmond * Tandy—''concerning'' Tandy Hard * The Strength of God—''concerning'' The Reverend Curtis Hartman * The Teacher—''concerning'' Kate Swift * Loneliness—''concerning'' Enoch Robinson * An Awakening—''concerning'' Belle Carpenter * "Queer"—''concerning'' Elmer Cowley * The Untold Lie—''concerning'' Ray Pearson * Drink—''concerning'' Tom Foster * Death—''concerning'' Doctor Reefy and Elizabeth Willard * Sophistication—''concerning'' Helen White * Departure—''concerning'' George Willard The book is written as a third-person omniscient narrative with the narrator occasionally breaking away from the story to directly address the reader or make self-conscious comments (in "Hands", after describing the poignant nature of the story, he writes that "It is a job for a poet",Anderson (1996), 10 later in the same story adding, "It needs a poet there".) These remarks appear less often as the book progresses. Though each story's title notes one character, there are a total of over named in the book, some appearing only once and some recurring several times. According to literary scholar Forrest L. Ingram, "George Willard ecursin all but six stories; 33 characters each appear in more than one story (some of them five and six times). Ninety-one characters appear only once in the cycle (ten of these are central protagonists in their stories)."Ingram (1971), 151 Within the stories, characters figure in anecdotes that cover a relatively large time period; much of the action takes place during George's teenage years, but there are also episodes that go back several generations (particularly in "Godliness"), approximately twenty years ("Hands"), and anywhere in between. Indeed, the climactic scenes of two stories, "The Strength of God" and "The Teacher", are actually juxtaposed over the course of one stormy January evening. As
Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), and his memoir, ''Exile's Return'' ( ...
writes in his introduction to the 1960
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9 ...
edition of ''Winesburg, Ohio'', Anderson's "...instinct was to present everything together, as in a dream".Cowley (1974), 51


Major themes

The major themes of ''Winesburg, Ohio'' largely concern the interaction between the individual citizens of Winesburg and the world around them. As each of the book's stories focuses primarily (though not exclusively) on one character, the narrator develops these themes continuously, sometimes adding new insights about previously introduced characters. (Elizabeth Willard's relationship with Dr. Reefy in "Death,” for example, was never alluded to when she was first introduced in "Mother.”) Because George Willard is a fixture in much of the book, his character arc becomes just as important a theme of ''Winesburg, Ohio'' as that of the rest of the town's inhabitants.


Inability to communicate, loneliness, and isolation

The most prevalent theme in ''Winesburg, Ohio'' is the interplay between how the Winesburg citizens' "...inability to translate inner feelings into outward form"Madden (1997), 364 expresses itself in the loneliness and isolation that makes their various adventures noteworthy.Cowley (1974), 59 This dynamic is present, in some form, in practically all of the stories, three fairly representative examples being the merchant's son, Elmer Cowley, in the story "Queer,” George's mother, Elizabeth Willard, in the stories "Mother" and "Death,” and Jessie Bentley in "Godliness.” In the former, the young man Elmer Cowley, incited by an imagined slight ("He thought that the boy who passed and repassed Cowley & Son's store ... must be thinking of him and perhaps laughing at him" when in reality, " eorgehad long been wanting to make friends with the young merchant...") tries twice to tell George off but is unable to communicate his feelings either time, finally physically assaulting the young reporter. The story ends with Cowley telling himself, "I showed him ... I guess I showed him. I guess I showed him I ain't so queer", a proclamation obviously laced with dramatic irony.Mellard (1968), 1311-1312 In the latter two stories, Elizabeth Willard was the "tall and gaunt...ghostly figure
oving Oving may refer to: * Oving, Buckinghamshire * Oving, West Sussex {{geodis {{good article 1919 American novels Novels set in Ohio Short story collections by Sherwood Anderson Books adapted into films Clyde, Ohio