Winesburg, Ohio

In this moving collection of interrelated stories, Ohio-born Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) illuminates the loneliness and frustration -- spiritual, emotional and artistic -- of life in a small American town. Before George leaves the community, we have learned much about his mother Elizabeth, his friend Helen White, his teacher Kate Swift and other Winesburg residents -- the lonely, sensitive Dr. Winesburg, Ohio subtly portrays as well a young writer's coming of age, searching for love, yearning for a less stifling world.Through the eyes of young George Willard, the inner lives of many of Winesburg's inhabitants open to us.

Charles Hartman and the enigmatic Wing Biddlebaum among them.Through Anderson's art, their stories are woven into a powerful portrayal of community life, and, ironically, of the isolation its close atmosphere can engender. A great Reefy, the tormented Rev.