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A review by stephenleary
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
3.0
Winesburg, Ohio is a series of stories with the unifying elements of the town, the character of George Willard, and the theme of Willard growing into a man. Such is the "plot." Anderson's method is to see beneath the surface of lives and their psychological underpinnings.
Nothing much happens and the chapters offer little more than character sketches--characters of a neurotic variety. Anderson paints his characters as lonely failures. Grotesques outside the ordinary. Reality and real people were not Anderson's strong points.
The characters are eager to go elsewhere and make something of themselves if they can. This reflected Anderson's own sojourns from his town of Clyde, Ohio to Chicago and Cleveland.
So much seems to be missing in Winesburg. The namesake town itself, for example. Winesburg is almost invisible, with most of the "action" taking place either indoors or at night. Anderson is sparing in details of the nerve points of the city, other than sidewalks or the creek environs where the characters walk.
Winesburg was part of a trend toward "interior action" without much in the way of a traditional plot, and alienation themes that impacted writers such as Ernest Hemingway. The influence of Winesburg on later writers seems much greater than its own internal quality outside all other considerations.
Nothing much happens and the chapters offer little more than character sketches--characters of a neurotic variety. Anderson paints his characters as lonely failures. Grotesques outside the ordinary. Reality and real people were not Anderson's strong points.
The characters are eager to go elsewhere and make something of themselves if they can. This reflected Anderson's own sojourns from his town of Clyde, Ohio to Chicago and Cleveland.
So much seems to be missing in Winesburg. The namesake town itself, for example. Winesburg is almost invisible, with most of the "action" taking place either indoors or at night. Anderson is sparing in details of the nerve points of the city, other than sidewalks or the creek environs where the characters walk.
Winesburg was part of a trend toward "interior action" without much in the way of a traditional plot, and alienation themes that impacted writers such as Ernest Hemingway. The influence of Winesburg on later writers seems much greater than its own internal quality outside all other considerations.