Winesburg, Ohio

The classic story collection by a great American master: "He was the father of my generation of American writers" (William Faulkner). One of the Modern Library's one hundred Best Novels of the 20th Century Sherwood Anderson's unforgettable story cycle has long been considered one of the finest works of American literature. The central character is George Willard, a young artist coming of age in a quiet town in the heart of the Midwest, but his story is no more extraordinary than those of friends and neighbors such as Kate Swift, a lonely schoolteacher whose beauty inspires lust and confusion; Wing Biddlebaum, a recluse whose restless hands are the source of both his new name and the terrible secret that led him to abandon the old one; and Doctor Reefy, who hides his personal suffering by pouring it onto scraps of paper. With its uncompromising realism and unique narrative structure—twenty-two short tales linked by their setting and by a large cast of recurring characters— Winesburg, Ohio inspired an entire generation of writers, including William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and forever changed the depiction of small-town life in popular American culture. "A work of love, an attempt to break down the walls that divide one person from another, and also, in its own fashion, a celebration of small-town life in the lost days of goodwill and innocence." —Malcolm Cowley This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.