| Winesburg, Ohio (novel) |
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Information AboutWinesburg, Ohio (novel) |
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The work explores the theme of loneliness and frustration in small-town America. Anderson's writing often seems disjointed and tentative, a style that lends itself to the half-conscious thoughts and raw emotions of Winesburg's residents and their inability to express their deepest hopes and fears. The townspeople are Grotesque s, stunted Moral ly, Emotion ally, Mental ly, or Spiritually , and they are inarticulate. They seem to gravitate toward George, telling him their strange, often sad, stories in the hope that, in writing the stories of their lives, he will be able to impart dignity and meaning to their personal struggles and experiences. This characterization foreshadowed the outlook of Sinclair Lewis on the characters in Midwest America in his novel Main Street, published the following year after, although it seems as though it is a parody of the citizens of Winesburg. In both works, the townspeople are presented as being simple minded, but are miserable in Anderson's work while they are obliviously happy in all their narrow mindedness with the heroine, struggling to reform their mindset as the only miserable one in Main Street. The critical reception to ''Winesburg, Ohio'' upon its publication was positive, but it did not receive a wide readership. Among the Literati , it was very highly regarded, but its sales were modest. It is now regarded as one of the finest American novels of the 20th century. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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