Winesburg, Ohio / by Sherwood Anderson

Few writers have captured the conscious of small town America as uniquely as Sherwood Anderson. His 1916 novel Winesburg, Ohio was described by John Updike as “feverish, phantasmal and dreamlike . . . a veritable cross-section of Midwestern life”. Similar in scope to Thornton Wilder’s "Our Town" or even Joyce’s Dubliners, Anderson’s fictional Winesburg is a string of loosely interconnected short stories centering on several of the community’s more prominent (and not-so-prominent) figures.


“That’s how it’ll be. That’s how everything’ll turn out.”

20-year-old George Willard wants to write. Louise Drunnion wants a husband. Farmer Jesse Bentley wants his grandson to see things his way. Tom Foster wants another drink and Seth Richmond just wants to be left alone. All want something other than what their quiet Midwestern town of Winesburg, Ohio has to offer. Because in 1890’s America, Winesburg is still an agrarian society, a world of farming and dependence on the soil far removed from the progressive industry and accelerated pace of cosmopolitan metropolises. Little in the way of lifestyle has changed in the last 150 years. How each person manifests his and her own destiny is not just a personalized endeavor, but an enterprise reflecting the conscious and collective temperament of the entire town. Quiet desperation looms like a fog over everything, giving rise to indiscretions, misunderstandings and personal tragedies; unintended for the most part, but disheartening all the same.

Seamlessly does Anderson weave together his microcosm of 19th century American life and yet his world is one which could exist anywhere at anytime. Because, as Anderson demonstrates, all persons must encounter the human condition in one form or another. In Winesburg, though honorable and even noble ambitions aspire within each character, misfortune and disillusionment are realized as the common fate, an inevitable conclusion for anyone mercilessly thrown underfoot of carnal temptations and personal passions. (FIC ANDERSON)