Winesburg, Ohio (Norton Critical Editions) - Softcover

Anderson, Sherwood

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393967956 ISBN 13: 9780393967951

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of a fictional 1890s town, Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio depicts the not-so-simple lives of its residents as seen through the eyes of George Willard, a young and observant resident.

The text of this Norton Critical Edition is that of the first book edition, published in 1919, and includes Harald Toksvig’s original map of the fictional Winesburg. Ample annotation is provided throughout.

"Backgrounds" includes five of Anderson’s letters, which illustrate his ideas about the stories; memoirs in which he wrestles with the revision process; and eight reviews of Winesburg, Ohio by Anderson’s contemporaries, among them H. L. Mencken and William Faulkner.

"Criticism" collects six of the most illuminating assessments of the book published in the last three decades. A variety of perspectives is provided by Walter B. Rideout, Sally Adair Rigsbee, John Updike, Joseph Dewey, Kim Townsend, and David Stouck.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.

About this title

Review:

Library Journal praised this edition of Sherwood Anderson's famed short stories as "the finest edition of this seminal work available." Reconstructed to be as close to the original text as possible, Winesburg, Ohio depicts the strange, secret lives of the inhabitants of a small town. In "Hands," Wing Biddlebaum tries to hide the tale of his banishment from a Pennsylvania town, a tale represented by his hands. In "Adventure," lonely Alice Hindman impulsively walks naked into the night rain. Threaded through the stories is the viewpoint of George Willard, the young newspaper reporter who, like his creator, stands witness to the dark and despairing dealings of a community of isolated people.

From the Back Cover:

In 1919 a middle-aged Chicago advertising writer from Ohio, a failure as a businessman, husband, and father, published a slim yellow book of short stories intended to "reform" American literature. Sherwood Anderson strove to portray the buried inner lives of "pathetic grotesques" - people wounded by life in body or spirit - and to tell their stories in short revelations rather than in sweeping novels. Against all expectations, Winesburg Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life accomplished what its author intended. Afterwards, American literature would be written and read differently. Writers of short fiction learned from Anderson to achieve both character-centered form and daring Modernist subject matter. Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, authorized by the Sherwood Anderson Literary Estate Trust, is an expert text, in that Ray Lewis White has consulted all Anderson manuscripts, typescripts, letters, diaries, and all editions of the book to present the masterpiece as it was intended. White's edition also is informed by his 35 years of experience in editing, studying, and appreciating Sherwood Anderson and his fiction. New to this edition of Winesburg, Ohio are historical and cultural annotations, documentation of changes of various editions, identification of the Ohio originals of Anderson's characters; and maps of the real town of Clyde, in North Central Ohio, which was the basis of Anderson's fictional account. Included as well are unique photographs of Anderson and Clyde that deepen knowledge and feeling for the author's time and his work.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0393967956
• ISBN 13: 9780393967951
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Modlin Charles E., White Ray Lewis