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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 Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
and
Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles southwest of Cleveland. As of the 2020 ...
. In 1912, Anderson had a nervous breakdown that led him to abandon his business and family to become a writer. At the time, he moved to
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and was eventually married three additional times. His most enduring work is the short-story sequence ''
Winesburg, Ohio ''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. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the ...
,'' which launched his career. Throughout the 1920s, Anderson published several short story collections, novels, memoirs, books of essays, and a book of poetry. Though his books sold reasonably well, '' Dark Laughter'' (1925), a novel inspired by Anderson's time in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
during the 1920s, was his only bestseller.


Early life

Sherwood Berton Anderson was born on September 13, 1876, at 142 S. Lafayette Street in
Camden, Ohio, a farming town with a population of around 650 (according to the 1870 census).Rideout (2006), 16 He was the third of seven children born to Emma Jane (née Smith) and former Union soldier and harness-maker Irwin McLain Anderson. Considered reasonably well-off financially, Anderson's father was seen as an up-and-comer by his Camden contemporaries, but the family left town just before Sherwood's first birthday. Reasons for the departure are uncertain; most biographers note rumors of debts incurred by either Irwin or his brother Benjamin. The Andersons headed north to
Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...
by way of a brief stay in a village of a few hundred called Independence (now
Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantry ...
). Four or five years were spent in Caledonia, years that formed Anderson's earliest memories. This period later inspired his semi-autobiographical novel '' Tar: A Midwest Childhood'' (1926).Rideout (2006), 20. For connection between ''Tar'' and Caledonia, also see Anderson (1942), 14–16 In Caledonia Anderson's father began drinking excessively, which led to financial difficulties, eventually causing the family to leave the town. With each move, Irwin Anderson's prospects dimmed; while in Camden he was the proprietor of a successful shop and could employ an assistant, but by the time the Andersons finally settled down in
Clyde, Ohio Clyde is a city in Sandusky County, Ohio, located eight miles southeast of Fremont. The population was 6,325 at the time of the 2010 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Clyde as a Tree City USA. The town is known for ha ...
, in 1884, Irwin could get work only as a hired man to harness manufacturers. That job was short-lived, and for the rest of Sherwood Anderson's childhood, his father barely supported the family as an occasional sign-painter and paperhanger, while his mother took in washing to make ends meet. Partly as a result of these misfortunes, young Sherwood became adept at finding various odd jobs to help his family, earning the nickname "Jobby".Townsend (1987), 14. The chapter about Anderson's early life is called "Jobby". Though he was a decent student, Anderson's attendance at school declined as he began picking up work, and he finally left school for good at age 14 after about nine months of high school.Howe (1951), 16 From the time he began to cut school to the time he left town, Anderson worked as a "newsboy, errand boy, waterboy, cow-driver, stable groom, and perhaps
printer's devil A printer's devil was a young apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type. Notable writers including Ambrose Bierce, Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain served ...
, not to mention assistant to Irwin Anderson, Sign Painter", in addition to assembling bicycles for the
Elmore Manufacturing Company Elmore Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of veteran and brass era automobiles and bicycles (1893–97), headquartered at 504 Amanda Street, Clyde, Ohio, from 1893 until 1912. The company took its name from a small parcel of land in Clyde ...
. Even in his teens, Anderson's talent for selling was evident, a talent he would later draw on in a successful career in advertising. As a newsboy he was said to have convinced a tired farmer in a saloon to buy two copies of the same evening paper. With the exception of work, Anderson's childhood resembled that of other boys his age. In addition to participating in local events and spending time with his friends, Anderson was a voracious reader. Though there were only a few books in the Anderson home, the youth read widely by borrowing from the school library (there was not a public library in Clyde until 1903), and the personal libraries of a school superintendent and of John Tichenor, a local artist, who responded to Anderson's interest. By Anderson's 18th year in 1895, his family was on shaky ground. His father had started to disappear for weeks. Two years earlier, in 1893, Karl, Sherwood's elder brother, had left Clyde for
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
. On May 10, 1895, his mother succumbed to
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
. Sherwood, now essentially on his own, boarded at the Harvey & Yetter's livery stable where he worked as a groom—an experience that would translate into several of his best-known stories. (Irwin Anderson died in 1919 after having been estranged from his son for two decades.)Townsend (1987), 30 Two months before his mother's death, in March 1895, Anderson had signed up with the
Ohio National Guard The Ohio National Guard comprises the Ohio Army National Guard and the Ohio Air National Guard. The commander-in-chief of the Ohio Army National Guard is the governor of the U.S. state of Ohio. If the Ohio Army National Guard is called to f ...
for a five-year hitch, while he was going steady with Bertha Baynes, an attractive girl and possibly the inspiration for Helen White in ''
Winesburg, Ohio ''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. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the ...
'', and he was working a secure job at the bicycle factory. But his mother's death precipitated his leaving Clyde. He settled in Chicago around late 1896 or the spring or summer of 1897, having worked a few small-town factory jobs along the way.


Chicago and war

Anderson moved to a boardinghouse in Chicago owned by a former mayor of Clyde. His brother Karl lived in the city and was studying at the Art Institute. Anderson moved in with him and quickly found a job at a cold-storage plant. In late 1897, Karl moved away, and Anderson relocated to a two-room flat with his sister and two younger brothers newly come from Clyde. Money was tight—Anderson earned "two dollars for a day of ten hours"— but with occasional support from Karl, they got by. Following the example of his Clyde confederate and lifelong friend Cliff Paden (later to become known as John Emerson) and Karl, Anderson took up the idea of furthering his education by enrolling in night school at the
Lewis Institute Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The ...
.Rideout (2006), 73–74 He attended several classes regularly including "New Business Arithmetic" earning marks that placed him second in the class. It was also there that Anderson heard lectures on
Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical sett ...
and was possibly first introduced to the poetry of
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
. Soon, however, Anderson's first stint in Chicago would come to an end as the United States prepared to enter the
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...
. Although he had limited resources while in Chicago, Anderson bought a new suit and returned to Clyde to join the military. Once home, the company he joined mustered into the army at Camp Bushnell, Ohio on May 12, 1898. Several months of training followed at various southern encampments until early in 1899, when his company was sent to
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
. Fighting had ceased four months prior to their arrival. On April 21, 1899, they left Cuba having seen no combat. According to Irving Howe, "Sherwood was popular among his army comrades, who remembered him as a fellow given to prolonged reading, mostly in dime westerns and historical romances, and talented at finding a girl when he wanted one. For the first of these traits he was frequently teased, but the second brought him the respect it usually does in armies." After the war, Anderson resided briefly in Clyde performing agricultural work before deciding to return to school. In September 1899 Anderson joined his siblings Karl and Stella in
Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northe ...
where, at the age of twenty-three he enrolled for his senior year of preparatory school at the Wittenberg Academy, a preparatory school located on the campus of the
Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ...
. In his time there he performed well, earning good marks and participating in several extracurricular activities. In the spring of 1900 Anderson graduated from the Academy, offering a discourse on
Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
as one of the eight students chosen to give a commencement speech.Howe (1951), 31–32


Business, marriage and family

During his time in Springfield, Anderson stayed and worked as a "chore boy" in a boardinghouse called The Oaks among a group of businessmen, educators, and other creatives types many of whom became friendly with the young Anderson. In particular, a high school teacher named Trillena White and a businessman Harry Simmons played a role in the author's life. The former who was ten years Anderson's senior would walk—raising eyebrows among the other boarders—with the young man in the evenings. More importantly, according to Anderson, she "first introduced me to fine literature" and would later serve as inspiration for a number of his characters including the teacher Kate Swift in ''Winesburg, Ohio''.Townsend (1987), 42–43 The latter, who worked as the advertising manager for Mast, Crowell, and Kirkpatrick (later Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, publishers of the '' Woman's Home Companion'') and occasionally took meals at The Oaks, was so impressed by Anderson's commencement speech that he offered him a job on the spot as an advertising solicitor at his company's Chicago office. Thus, in the summer of 1900, Anderson returned to Chicago where most of his siblings were now living, intent on achieving success in his new white-collar occupation. Though he performed well, problems with his boss and a dislike for the office routine and for the style of correspondence, which caused the ultimate rift, caused Anderson to leave Crowell in mid-1901 for a position set up for him by Marco Marrow, another friend from The Oaks, at the Frank B. White Advertising Company (later the Long-Critchfield Agency). There the author stayed until 1906, selling ads and writing advertising copy for manufacturers of farming implements and articles for the trade journal, ''Agricultural Advertising''. In this latter magazine Anderson published his first professional work, a February 1902 piece called "The Farmer Wears Clothes." What followed were approximately 29 articles and essays for his company's magazine, and two for a small literary magazine published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company called ''The Reader''. According to scholar Welford Dunaway Taylor, the two monthly columns ("Rot and Reason" and "Business Types") Anderson wrote for ''Agricultural Advertising'' exemplified the "character writing" (or character sketches) that would later become a notable part of the author's approach in ''Winesburg, Ohio'' and other works. Part of Anderson's job in those early years of his career was making trips to solicit potential clients. On one of these trips around May 1903 he stopped in the home of a friend from Clyde, Jane "Jennie" Bemis, then living in
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnat ...
. It was there that he met Cornelia Pratt Lane (1877–1967), the daughter of wealthy Ohio businessman Robert Lane. The two were married a year later, on the 16th of May, in Lucas, Ohio. They would go on to have three children—Robert Lane (1907–1951), John Sherwood (1908–1995), and Marion (aka Mimi, 1911–1996). After a short honeymoon, the couple moved into an apartment on the
south side of Chicago The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and ...
. For two additional years, Anderson worked for Long-Critchfield until an opportunity came along from one of the accounts he managed and so on
Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
1906, Sherwood Anderson left Chicago for
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
to become president of United Factories Company, a mail-order firm selling various items from surrounding firms. While his new job, which amounted to the position of sales manager, could be stressfulTownsend (1987), 59–60 the happy home life Cornelia had fostered in Chicago continued in Cleveland; "his wife and he entertained frequently. They went to church on Sundays, with Anderson decked out in morning clothes and top hat. On occasional Sunday afternoons Cornelia taught him French. She also helped with his advertising work." Unfortunately, his home life could not sustain him when one of the manufacturers United Factories marketed produced a large batch of defective incubators. Soon, letters addressed to Anderson (who personally guaranteed all products sold) began to arrive from customers both desperate and angry. The strain from months of answering hundreds of these letters while continuing his demanding schedule at work and home led to a nervous breakdown in the summer of 1907 and eventually his departure from the company. His failure in Cleveland did not delay him for long, however, because in September 1907, the Andersons moved to Elyria, Ohio, a town of approximately ten thousand residents, where he rented a warehouse within sight of the railroad and began a mail-order business selling (at a markup of 500%) a preservative paint called "Roof-Fix". The first years in Elyria went very well for Anderson and his family; two more children were added for a total of three in addition to a busy social life for their parents. So well, in fact, did the Anderson Manufacturing Co. do that Anderson was able to purchase and absorb several similar businesses and expand his firm's product-lines under the name Anderson Paint Company. Carrying on that momentum, in late 1911 Anderson secured the financial backing to merge his companies into the American Merchants Company, a profit-sharing/investment firm operating in part on a scheme he developed around that time called "Commercial Democracy".


Nervous breakdown

It was then, at what seemed the pinnacle of his business achievements, when the stresses of Anderson's professional life collided with his social responsibilities and his writing, that Anderson suffered the breakdown that has remained paramount in the "myth" or "legend"Howe (1951), 49White (1972), xii–xiv of his life. On Thursday, November 28, 1912, Anderson came to his office in a slightly nervous state. According to his secretary, he opened some mail, and in the course of dictating a business letter became distracted. After writing a note to his wife, he murmured something along the lines of, "I feel as though my feet were wet, and they keep getting wetter."The quote above comes from the Frances Shute, Anderson's secretary at the time, as cited in Rideout (2006), 155. In Anderson (1924), it was remembered as, "I have been wading in a long river and my feet are wet. My feet are cold, wet and heavy from long wading in a river. Now I shall go walk on dry land", whereas in Anderson (1942), it was, "My feet are cold and wet. I have been walking too long on the bed of a river." He then left the office. Four days later, on Sunday, December 1, a disoriented Anderson entered a drug store on East 152nd Street in Cleveland and asked the pharmacist to help figure out his identity. Unable to make out what the incoherent Anderson was saying, the pharmacist discovered a phone book on his person and called the number of Edwin Baxter, a member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce. Baxter came, recognized Anderson, and promptly had him checked into the Huron Road Hospital in downtown Cleveland, where Anderson's wife, whom he would hardly recognize, went to meet him. But even before returning home, Anderson began his lifelong practice of reinterpreting the story of his breakdown. Despite news reports in the ''Elyria Evening Telegram'' and the ''Cleveland Press'' following his admittance into the hospital that ascribed the cause of the breakdown to "overwork" and that mentioned Anderson's inability to remember what happened, on December 6 the story changed. All of a sudden, the breakdown became voluntary. The ''Evening Telegram'' reported (possibly spuriously) that "As soon as he recovers from the trance into which he placed himself, Sherwood Anderson ... will write a book of the sensations he experienced while he wandered over the country as a nomad." This same sense of personal agency is alluded to thirty years later in ''Sherwood Anderson's Memoirs'' (1942) where the author wrote of his thought process before walking out: "I wanted to leave, get away from business. ... Again I resorted to slickness, to craftiness...The thought occurred to me that if men thought me a little insane they would forgive me if I lit out...." This idea, however, that Anderson made a conscious decision on November 28 to make a clean break from family and business is unlikely. In the first place, contrary to what Anderson later claimed, his writing was no secret. It was known to his wife, secretary, and some business associates that for several years Anderson had been working on personal writing projects both at night and occasionally in his office at the factory. Secondly, although some of the notes he wrote were to himself during his journey, notes he mailed to his wife on Saturday, addressing the envelope "Cornelia L. Anderson, Pres., American Striving Co.", show that he had some semblance of memory. The general confusion and frequent incoherence the notes exhibit is unlikely to be deliberate. While diagnoses for the four days of Anderson's wanderings have ranged from "
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
" to "lost identity" to " nervous breakdown", his condition is generally characterized today as a " fugue state." Anderson himself described the episode as "escaping from his materialistic existence," and was admired for his action by many young male writers who chose to be inspired by him. Herbert Gold wrote, "He fled in order to find himself, then prayed to flee that disease of self, to become 'beautiful and clear.'"Balakian, Nona (10 July 1988)
"A Life of Dark Laughter"
''The New York Times''. Accessed 31 May 2013.
After having moved back to Chicago, Anderson formally divorced Cornelia.


Novelist

Anderson's first novel, '' Windy McPherson's Son'', was published in 1916 as part of a three-book deal with John Lane. This book, along with his second novel, '' Marching Men'' (1917), are usually considered his "apprentice novels" because they came before Anderson found fame with ''Winesburg, Ohio'' (1919) and are generally considered inferior in quality to works that followed. Anderson's most notable work is his collection of interrelated short stories, ''Winesburg, Ohio'' (1919). In his memoir, he wrote that "Hands", the opening story, was the first "real" story he ever wrote.
"Instead of emphasizing plot and action, Anderson used a simple, precise, unsentimental style to reveal the frustration, loneliness, and longing in the lives of his characters. These characters are stunted by the narrowness of Midwestern small-town life and by their own limitations."
In addition, Anderson was one of the first American novelists to introduce new insights from psychology, including Freudian analysis.Daniel Mark Fogel,"Sherwood Anderson"
''The American Novel,'' PBS, 2007, accessed 2 June 2013
Although his short stories were very successful, Anderson wanted to write novels, which he felt allowed a larger scale. In 1920, he published '' Poor White'', which was rather successful. In 1923, Anderson published '' Many Marriages''; in it he explored the new sexual freedom, a theme which he continued in ''Dark Laughter'' and later writing. ''Dark Laughter'' had its detractors, but the reviews were, on the whole, positive. F. Scott Fitzgerald considered ''Many Marriages'' to be Anderson's finest novel. Beginning in 1924, Sherwood and Elizabeth Prall Anderson moved to
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
, where they lived in the historic Pontalba Apartments (540-B St. Peter Street) adjoining Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter. For a time, they entertained
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
,
Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...
,
Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...
and other writers, for whom Anderson was a major influence. Critics trying to define Anderson's significance have said he was more influential through this younger generation than through his own works. Anderson referred to meeting Faulkner in his ambiguous and moving short story, "A Meeting South." His novel '' Dark Laughter'' (1925) drew from his New Orleans experiences and continued to explore the new sexual freedom of the 1920s. Although the book was satirized by
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
in his novella '' The Torrents of Spring'', it was a bestseller at the time, the only book of Anderson's to reach that status during his lifetime.


Four marriages

Anderson and Cornelia Lane married in 1904, had his only 3 children, and divorced in 1916. Anderson quickly married the sculptor Tennessee Claflin Mitchell (1874–1929), obtaining a divorce from her in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...
in 1924. In 1924, Anderson married Elizabeth Norma Prall (1884–1976), a friend of Faulkner's whom he had met in New York before his divorce from Mitchell. After several years that marriage also failed, and they divorced in 1932. In 1928 Anderson became involved with Eleanor Gladys Copenhaver (1896–1985), whom he married in 1933. They traveled and often studied together, and were both active in the
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
movement. Anderson also became close to Copenhaver's mother, Laura.


Later work

Anderson frequently contributed articles to newspapers. In 1935, he was commissioned to go to
Franklin County, Virginia Franklin County is located in the Blue Ridge foothills of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 54,477. Its county seat is Rocky Mount. Franklin County is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area ...
to cover a major federal trial of bootleggers and gangsters, in what was called "The Great
Moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...
Conspiracy". More than 30 men had been indicted for trial. In his article, he said Franklin was the "wettest county in the world," a phrase used as a title for a 21st-century novel by Matt Bondurant. In the 1930s, Anderson published '' Death in the Woods'' (
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
), ''Puzzled America'' (essays), and ''Kit Brandon: A Portrait'' (novel). In 1932, Anderson dedicated his novel ''Beyond Desire'' to Copenhaver. Although by this time he was considered to be less influential overall in American literature, some of what have become his most quoted passages were published in these later works. The books were otherwise considered inferior to his earlier ones. ''Beyond Desire'' built on his interest in the trade union movement and was set during the 1929 Loray Mill Strike in
Gastonia, North Carolina Gastonia is the largest city in and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest satellite city of the Charlotte area, behind Concord. The population was 80,411 at the 2020 census, up from 71,741 in 20 ...
. Hemingway referred to it satirically in his novel, ''
To Have and Have Not ''To Have and Have Not'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1937 by Charles Scribner's Sons. The book follows Harry Morgan, a fishing boat captain out of Key West, Florida. ''To Have and Have Not'' was Hemingway's second novel set in th ...
'' (1937), where he included as a minor character an author working on a novel of Gastonia. In his later years, Anderson and Copenhaver lived on his
Ripshin Farm Ripshin Farm, also known as the Sherwood Anderson Farm is a historic farm property at the junction of Routes 603 and 732 near Troutdale, Virginia. It was developed as a summer home and later year-round home by writer Sherwood Anderson (1876–19 ...
in
Troutdale, Virginia Troutdale is a town in Grayson County, Virginia, United States. The population was 140 at the 2020 census. Geography Troutdale is located at (36.700963, -81.444823). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3 ...
, which he purchased in 1927 for use during summers. While living there, he contributed to a country newspaper, columns that were collected and published posthumously.


Death

Anderson died on March 8, 1941, at the age of 64, taken ill during a
cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...
to South America. He had been feeling abdominal discomfort for a few days, which was later diagnosed as peritonitis. Anderson and his wife debarked from the cruise liner ''Santa Lucia'' and went to the hospital in
Colón, Panama Colón () is a city and seaport in Panama, beside the Caribbean Sea, lying near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is the capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city. Originally it was ...
, where he died on March 8. An autopsy revealed that a swallowed toothpick had done internal damage resulting in peritonitis. Anderson's body was returned to the United States, where he was buried at Round Hill Cemetery in Marion, Virginia. His epitaph reads, "Life, Not Death, Is the Great Adventure".


Legacy and honors

* In 1971, Anderson's final home in
Troutdale, Virginia Troutdale is a town in Grayson County, Virginia, United States. The population was 140 at the 2020 census. Geography Troutdale is located at (36.700963, -81.444823). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3 ...
, known as
Ripshin Farm Ripshin Farm, also known as the Sherwood Anderson Farm is a historic farm property at the junction of Routes 603 and 732 near Troutdale, Virginia. It was developed as a summer home and later year-round home by writer Sherwood Anderson (1876–19 ...
, was designated as a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
. * In 2012, Anderson was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. * In 1988 the
Sherwood Anderson Foundation The Sherwood Anderson Foundation is an organization founded by the children and grandchildren of American short story writer and novelist Sherwood Anderson that gives grants to emerging writers. The most notable of these is the annual Sherwood Ande ...
was created by the author's children and grandchildren. It gives grants to emerging writers. The most notable of these is the annual Sherwood Anderson Foundation Writers Award. As of 2009, the Foundation's Co-Presidents were Anderson's grandsons David M. Spear and Michael Spear, and Anderson's granddaughter, Karlyn Spear Shankland was Secretary. Also, some great-grandchildren of Anderson served terms in S.A.F. as officers and boardmembers: Tippe Miller, Paul Shankland, Susie Spear, Anna McKean, Margo Ross Sears, Abe Spear. *Michael Spear was also a copy editor, journalist, and a journalism professor specialized in copy editing at the
University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...
for 34 years, before retiring in 2017. David M. Spear is a published author (3 books), retired newspaper editor, and nationally noted journalist photographer in Madison, North Carolina, documenting second world nation life in Cuba, Mexico, and rural North Carolina. Karlyn Shankland retired in 1999 from a public schoolteacher career in Greensboro, North Carolina after 32 years and earned commendations for her pedagogy.


Works


Novels

* '' Windy McPherson's Son'' (1916) * '' Marching Men'' (1917) * '' Poor White'' (1920) * '' Many Marriages'' (1923) * '' Dark Laughter'' (1925) * '' Tar: A Midwest Childhood'' (1926, semi-autobiographical novel) * ''Beyond Desire'' (1932) * ''Kit Brandon: A Portrait'' (1936)


Short story collections

* ''
Winesburg, Ohio ''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. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the ...
'' (1919) * '' The Triumph of the Egg: A Book of Impressions From American Life in Tales and Poems'' (1921) * '' Horses and Men'' (1923) * '' Death in the Woods and Other Stories'' (1933)


Poetry

* ''Mid-American Chants'' (1918) * ''A New Testament'' (1927)Howe (1951), 208


Drama

* ''Plays, Winesburg and Others'' (1937)


Nonfiction

* ''A Story Teller's Story'' (1922, memoir) * ''The Modern Writer'' (1925, essays) * ''Sherwood Anderson's Notebook'' (1926, memoir) * '' Alice and The Lost Novel'' (1929) * ''Hello Towns!'' (1929, collected newspaper articles) * ''Nearer the Grass Roots'' (1929, essays) * ''The American County Fair'' (1930, essays) * ''Perhaps Women'' (1931, essays) * ''No Swank'' (1934, essays) * ''Puzzled America'' (1935, essays) * ''A Writer's Conception of Realism'' (1939, essays) * ''Home Town'' (1940, photographs and commentary)


Published posthumously

* ''Sherwood Anderson's Memoirs'' (1942) * ''The Sherwood Anderson Reader'', edited by Paul Rosenfeld (1947) * ''The Portable Sherwood Anderson'', edited by Horace Gregory (1949) * ''Letters of Sherwood Anderson'', edited by Howard Mumford Jones and Walter B. Rideout (1953) * ''Sherwood Anderson: Short Stories'', edited by Maxwell Geismar (1962) * ''Return to Winesburg: Selections from Four Years of Writing for a Country Newspaper'', edited by Ray Lewis White (1967) * ''The Buck Fever Papers'', edited by Welford Dunaway Taylor (1971, collected newspaper articles) * ''Sherwood Anderson and Gertrude Stein: Correspondence and Personal Essays'', edited by Ray Lewis White (1972) * ''The "Writer's Book,"'' edited by Martha Mulroy Curry (1975, unpublished works) * ''France and Sherwood Anderson: Paris Notebook, 1921'', edited by Michael Fanning (1976) * ''Sherwood Anderson: The Writer at His Craft'', edited by Jack Salzman, David D. Anderson, and Kichinosuke Ohashi (1979) * ''A Teller's Tales'', selected and introduced by Frank Gado (1983) * ''Sherwood Anderson: Selected Letters: 1916–1933'', edited by Charles E. Modlin (1984) * ''Letters to Bab: Sherwood Anderson to Marietta D. Finely, 1916–1933'', edited by William A. Sutton (1985) * ''The Sherwood Anderson Diaries, 1936–1941'', edited by Hilbert H. Campbell (1987) * ''Sherwood Anderson: Early Writings'', edited by Ray Lewis White (1989) * ''Sherwood Anderson's Love Letters to Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson'', edited by Charles E. Modlin (1989) * ''Sherwood Anderson's Secret Love Letters'', edited by Ray Lewis White (1991) * ''Certain Things Last: The Selected Stories of Sherwood Anderson'', edited by Charles E. Modlin (1992) * ''Southern Odyssey: Selected Writings by Sherwood Anderson'', edited by Welford Dunaway Taylor and Charles E. Modlin (1997) * ''The Egg and Other Stories'', edited with an introduction by Charles E. Modlin (1998) * ''Collected Stories'', edited by Charles Baxter (2012)


Notes


References


Sources

* Anderson, Elizabeth and Gerald R. Kelly (1969). "Miss Elizabeth". Boston: Little, Brown and Company. * Anderson, Sherwood (1924). ''A Story Teller's Story''. New York: B.W. Huebsch. * Anderson, Sherwood (1942). ''Sherwood Anderson's Memoirs''. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. * Anderson, Sherwood (1984). ''Sherwood Anderson: Selected Letters''. Edited by Charles Modlin. Knoxville, TN: Tennessee UP. * Anderson, Sherwood (1989). ''Early Writings''. Ed. Ray Lewis White. Kent and London: Kent State UP, 1989. * Anderson, Sherwood (1991).
Sherwood Anderson's Secret Love Letters
'. Edited by Ray Lewis White. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. * Bassett, John Earl (2005).
Sherwood Anderson: An American Career
'. Plainsboro, NJ: Susquehanna UP. * * Daugherty, George H. (December 1948). "Anderson, Advertising Man". ''The Newberry Library Bulletin''. Second Series, No. 2. * Gold, Herbert (Winter, 1957-1958). "The Purity and Cunning of Sherwood Anderson". ''The Hudson Review'' 10 (4): 548–557. * Howe, Irving (1951). ''Sherwood Anderson''. New York: William Sloane Associates. * Rideout, Walter B. (2006). ''Sherwood Anderson: A Writer in America, Volume 1''. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. * Schevill, James (1951). ''Sherwood Anderson: His Life and Work''. Denver, CO: University of Denver Press. * Sutton, William A. (1967)
''Exit to Elsinore
'. Muncie, IN: Ball State UP. * Townsend, Kim (1987). ''Sherwood Anderson: A Biography''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. * White, Ray Lewis (1972). "Introduction". in White, Ray Lewis (ed). ''Marching Men''. Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University.


External links

* *

at Project Gutenberg Australia * *
Sherwood Anderson Biography





Sherwood Anderson Links


hypertext from American Studies at the University of Virginia.

hypertext from American Studies at the University of Virginia.

fro
Oral Histories of the American South

Sherwood Anderson Papers
at The Newberry Library
Sherwood Anderson Archive
at th
Smyth-Bland Regional Library

Sherwood Anderson Literary Center

Ten Stories by Sherwood Anderson
read aloud by contemporary writers including Charles Baxter, Deborah Eisenberg, Robert Boswell, Patricia Hampl, Siri Hustvedt, Ben Marcus, Rick Moody, Antonya Nelson and Benjamin Taylor
am a fool''
Persian Translation, E-Book at Taaghche.ir {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Sherwood 1876 births 1941 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American Presbyterians Writers from Chicago American copywriters Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Writers from Cleveland People from Elyria, Ohio People from Camden, Ohio Wittenberg University alumni Deaths from peritonitis Accidental deaths in Panama American male novelists Ohio National Guard personnel American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers Novelists from Illinois Novelists from Ohio People from Marion County, Ohio People from Morrow County, Ohio People from Clyde, Ohio Lost Generation writers