Winesburg, Ohio, a collection of short stories, most written between 1915 and 1916, with a few others written closer to publication in 1919 is an exacting look at and dissection of life in a fictional small town in Ohio. Each story presents George Willard, a protagonist who grows in age and wisdom throughout the short story cycle. Not unlike the feelings attendant to the waves of modernism percolating in Paris and filtering back to the states, the themes invariably deal with Willard’s isolation, inability to communicate, alienation from present surroundings and the need and desire to break the bonds of small town conventions, to move away, to engage the world that was then known to be vast, new and no longer inaccessible. It is accepted that Winesburg, the fictional town, is based on Anderson’s hometown, Clyde, Ohio. In the book’s composition Anderson became a loyal and meaningful correspondent with Gertrude Stein, who was living in Paris. Stein is credited not with forcing her style on Anderson, but with freeing him to find his authentic voice and style. Anderson is also known for his kind mentoring of the young and callow William Faulkner when both lived for a time New Orleans, a kindness that Faulkner failed to acknowledge or repay. (Summary by Michael Hogan)

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