Winesburg, Ohio
by Sherwood Anderson
Summary
A cycle of linked stories set in a fictional small Ohio town follows an assortment of lonely, thwarted residents, dubbed grotesques by the author, whose private longings rarely find any outlet in their narrow daily lives. Anderson writes in a plain, confiding style that strips away Victorian ornament in favor of psychological directness, using young reporter George Willard as the thread connecting the townspeople's confessions. The book profoundly shaped the generation of American writers who followed, including Hemingway and Faulkner.
Historical Context & Significance
The book appeared the year before the Pulitzer board's famous 1920 override of its own fiction jury, and it received no prize itself. Anderson's influence on later Nobel and Pulitzer winners far outweighed any recognition he received for this collection during his own career.