Winesburg, Ohio

Welcome to Winesburg! Let me show you around, introduce you to a few folks. It's a small-town assortment of people with their various foibles, each defining him or herself by one trait or another but never wholly what they claim to be. Self-identity can be very self-deceiving, don't you find, especially if you believe you embody a particular trait in its purest form? Who can actually do that, I ask you! Bunch of hypocrites, the lot of them. There's something kind of grotesque about all this self-delusion.

Is this an earnest depiction of small town life? My personal experience has always been that a small town contains self-important myopic people who think power and control over a small populace is dream-realization in its own right. show more They're balanced by the calmer sort who likes the quieter setting and has no wish to live anywhere else or experience anything more. Neither of these types is much in evidence in Winesburg, which seems more like an asylum for people half off their rocker, people who still yearn to escape or else were thwarted, and people who came there to hide after failing elsewhere. Granted, Anderson was writing from personal experience, and this was more than a hundred years ago when the horizon of possible futures in that setting was narrow indeed.

Whether you recognize Winesburg or not, this collection/novel hasn't become unrelatable. Anyone stands out more strongly in a smaller environment. In a place where everyone knows everybody else's business, you can't hide your flaws for very long before they become what defines you. If you're from a large city, you'll describe its highlights in terms of particular places downtown and annual events. But if you're from a little town like this, the highlights you'll tell people about are the little old lady on the corner who was always selling flowers, the mechanic who knew everybody's first name, and the town drunk(s). All the best stories arise from the intersections between them.

If I hadn't known, to judge from its style I would guess this was written in the 1950s but in fact it's a product of 1919. It introduced a modern tone that broke new ground and influenced many, including William Faulkner. There's legitimate debate over what this work is, exactly. Is it a novel presented as interlinked episodes? A sequence of related short stories? Some of them only barely qualify as stories, reading more like scenes or character profiles. It's a rare entry that offers any insight into any other, as scarcely any characters overlap except for George Willard. I'd leave town too if everyone kept haphazardly approaching me with mad random outbursts. show less

If Winesburg, Ohio had gone on for just another 10 pages, I would have started looking for a razor blade. Oh, this work deserves its place among classics, sure, because you could read and re-read and still have plenty of "grotesque" meat left to chew on. But, good lord, who would want to? A therapist?

I had to force myself to finish the long parade of people nursing old hurts, sabotaging themselves with actions sure to shame them, and often blaming others. Granted, Anderson wrote some amazing, delicate moments of the human condition but I was still much relieved at the last page. I made it through. Alive!

There was one character who made me smile, Joe Welling. He's the tiny volcano of a man in "A Man of Ideas," who quietly works around show more town until suddenly charged by an idea, big or small, an idea he finds so fascinating he erupts with enthusiasm, accosting any hapless soul. Gee, one guy in the whole town who is undamaged by childhood, made no bad life choices, and is not steeped in brooding. Just a half-nutty, likeable guy being true to himself.

Call me well-adjusted, but I wish the town had had half a dozen more Wellings. show less

A beautiful, melancholy song to small-town loneliness and despair--to the fragile bonds that tie neighbors together and the vivid lives and heartfelt personal dramas that pulse beneath the surface of ordinary affairs. This was once a book I carried with me everywhere, a book I tried (and failed) to emulate in my own writing, and a book whose sentences I'd whisper to myself to catch something of their hypnotic cadences. It's easy to see how influential this book was on so much American literature: from Hemingway to Faulkner to Thomas Wolfe to Updike, they (and we) all owe Sherwood Anderson a tremendous debt for opening up the possibilities of fiction in a uniquely American landscape.

I've had the paperback in my collection for decades (!) but never got past the first story, so I figured why not try the audiobook. There were several versions available, but Recorded Books was a pioneer, so I figured this one would be good, and it is definitely well read by George Guidall. As for the interrelated set of stories, there are certainly highlights, but the setting--small town Ohio around the beginning of the 20th century, is so alien that it blunts the impact here. These people are not that different from us, certainly. They make bad decisions and they compound the bad decisions by sticking with them long after it's apparent they made the wrong choice. They have sex lives, romances, and enounters and there seems to be a show more certain amount of understanding and tolerance. A priest has carnal thoughts on a woman he is spying upon. There are fights and there are people with sadnesses so deep that at times this is one of the darkest books you'll ever read or listen to. The story of the telegraph operator stands out in this regard. So, finally after so many years, I'm glad I have finished Winesburg, Ohio. It even made me appreciate the 21st century in a few ways! show less

Esta es la historia de un observador, George Willard, y de sus crónicas sobre algunas de las situaciones que acontecen o acontecieron a su alrededor. Sherwood Anderson era un mago. No hay otra explicación. Es capaz de conmovernos con cualquier mísera historia, apenas importante a simple vista, pero contada con tal apasionamiento que logra hacer grande lo insignificante. Anderson es capaz de ver lo extraordinario en lo cotidiano, de hablarnos de sus semejantes con una precisión y una poesía exquisitas.

Estos cuentos transcurren en el Medio Oeste americano, concretamente en Winesburg, Ohio, durante los primeros años del pasado siglo.

* EL LIBRO DE LO GROTESCO. Nada más empezar la novela, un relato extraño pero maravilloso sobre un show more anciano escritor que desea elevar la altura de su cama para poder observar por su ventana. Como digo, una pequeña maravilla, cuyo significado se va comprendiendo según se van leyendo el resto de cuentos.

* MANOS. Las protagonistas de este cuento son las manos de Wing Biddlebaum. ¡Pobre Wing! Este cuento es una pequeña (o gran) obra maestra.

* PÍLDORAS DE PAPEL. Nunca más veré las manzanas rugosas y arrugadas de la misma manera. Un cuento, apenas una miniatura, conmovedor y bellísimo.

* MADRE. Elizabeth Willard desea lo mejor para su único hijo, ya que no ha podido conseguirlo para ella misma. Un cuento triste y hermoso al mismo tiempo.

* EL FILÓSOFO. El doctor Parcival es un personaje curioso que intenta inculcar a George Willard su particular filosofía de vida a través de sus vivencias. Una buena historia de aventuras.

* NADIE LO SABE. Historia sobre el deseo, contada muy sutilmente.

* DEVOCIÓN. Este cuento está dividido en cuatro partes en las que se nos cuentan las vicisitudes de la familia Bentley, sobre todo del cabeza de familia, Jesse Bentley, obsesionado con ser el elegido de Dios y conseguir cuantas más riquezas mejor. Los otros dos personajes principales de este cuento son Louise, hija de Jesse y mujer sumamente compleja para su época, y David, su hijo y nieto del viejo Jesse, muchacho absorbido por las neurosis de ambos. Es un relato perfecto, en el que ni sobra ni falta nada.

* UN HOMBRE DE IDEAS FIJAS. Otro cuento exquisito en el que prima el humor, y es que Joe Welling es un personaje memorable.

* AVENTURA. Me he sentido muy identificado con este cuento, porque al igual que Alice Hindman, también he sufrido más de una vez el temor a la soledad, a qué será de mí en los años venideros.

* RESPETABILIDAD. Una clásica historia de amor e infidelidad, perfectamente contada.

* EL PENSADOR. De nuevo un personaje, Seth Richmond, en busca de qué y quién ser en la vida. Seth se siente un extraño en su propio pueblo, no logra integrarse. Le gusta la soledad y hablar poco, y esto me gusta.

* TANDY. ¡Ójala encuentre algún día mi propia Tandy!

* LA FUERZA DE DIOS. A simple vista, parece que el reverendo Curtis Hartman es un hombre satisfecho con la vida que lleva. Pero surge un obstáculo, en forma de mujer, que pone en entredicho su fe.

* LA MAESTRA. Este cuento es el complemento del anterior, 'La fuerza de Dios', y un ejemplo de cómo escribir un cuento con los mínimos medios, para obtener un resultado en donde todo encaja como en el mecanismo de un reloj.

* SOLEDAD. Este es un triste cuento de hasta dónde nos puede conducir un exceso de imaginación.

* UN DESPERTAR. De cómo la pasión y el amor, por y de una mujer puede ofuscar la razón.

* "RARO". Elmer Cowley odia ser un bicho raro. Pero no se da cuenta de que es imposible huir de uno mismo, que luchar contra la propia naturaleza es imposible. Cuanto menos raro quieres parecer, más lo eres. ¡Qué bien comprendo a Elmer!

* LA MENTIRA NO DICHA. Un relato precioso sobre las insatisfacciones de la vida, y de las obligaciones a las que se han de ver abocadas las personas en un momento dado de su existencia.

* BEBIDA. Otro maravilloso cuento. Cómo me gustaría vivir en un pueblo como Winesburg, estar cerca de la naturaleza, que cuando quieras alejarte y pensar un rato, estés a un paso del campo. Tom Foster y su abuela son unos personajes muy tiernos de los que habría que aprender.

* MUERTE, es un emotivo relato impregnado de una bella tristeza.

* SOFISTICACIÓN. El despertar a la edad adulta siempre supone un fuerte golpe y un enigma.

* PARTIDA. Y por fin, George Willard se decide.

Tras la lectura de estos cuentos, no me extraña que escritores de la talla de Faulkner, Hemingway o Steibeck, por citar unos pocos, hablasen de Anderson como de una de sus más significativas influencias.

Recomiendo este libro a todos aquellos que amen las palabras y las buenas historias. Así de simple. show less

The stories in Winesburg, Ohio, tell of a restless longing for something that the characters can’t quite define, but which may be community or connection. It has an aura of disappointment verging on despair. The town is filled with lonely souls who seem detached from everyone around them, except for young reporter George Willard, who seems to be the last remaining thread connecting the people of Winesburg. What will happen to the town when George Willard leaves?

Anderson seems to capture the beginning of the Midwest’s shift from agricultural economy to manufacturing economy and the waning of its small towns. Everyone with Midwestern roots ought to read this book.

This novel-y collection of interconnected short stories exploring the inner thoughts and outer actions of the people of turn-of-the-century small town Winesburg, Ohio is just about the most perfect encapsulation of the weird tension between our inner feelings and emotions and the society around us that I've ever read. Each of the stories stands alone, but as a group they make up a much deeper whole which, you know, is a pretty good metaphor for a community, no matter how imperfect. Published in 1919 and taking place just 25 years or so after the Civil War, this is a uniquely Amaerican and Midwest town that is centered around the railroad, berry picking, horses and carriages, and Main Street. The people are farmers, hotel owners, show more milliners, storekeepers, pastors, wives, bankers, and layabouts. More than one of them is distinctly odd on their exterior, and everyone is distinctly odd on their interior, and very few of them have any luck communicating honestly with each other (but when they do: wow!), just like all of us. The explosions of emotion and release of control that happens as interior desires butt against all the rest of life are amazing. Not sure why I hadn't ever read this one, but now that I have, I want to read it again. show less