Sherwood Anderson: A Writer in America, Volume 1

852 Pages·2006·2.48 MB·English

by  Walter B. Rideout

Sherwood Anderson

Sherwood
Anderson
(cid:1)
A W R I T E R I N A M E R I C A
V O L U M E 1
Walter B. Rideout
Introduction by Charles E. Modlin
The University of Wisconsin Press
The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53711
www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU, England
Copyright © 2006
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rideout, Walter B. (Walter Bates)
Sherwood Anderson : a writer in America / Walter B. Rideout ; introduction by Charles E. Modlin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-299-21530-x(cloth : alk. paper)
1. Anderson, Sherwood, 1876–1941. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. I. Title.
ps3501.n4z773 2005
813'.52—dc22 2005011164
This book was published with the support of the Brittingham Fund and the Anonymous Fund for the
Humanities of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
To Jean

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1. A Mid-American Beginning 3
2. Clyde, Ohio 23
3. Young Man from the Provinces 71
4. The Dream of Success 121
5. New Man in a New World 165
6. The Dream of Failure 209
7. The New York Attraction 250
8. Achievement 295
9. In the Trap 330
10. Experiments in Prose 353
11. To the Old World, and Back 398
12. Arrival and Departure 435
13. A New Life 470
14. Reno 497
15. “The Most Cultural Town in America” 529
16. Turning Point 556
17. Speaking of the Modern Movement 588
18. Collapse 628
19. The Door of the Trap 656
Notes 701
Selected Bibliography 803
Index 807
vii

Acknowledgments
Professor rideout had virtually finished his book before illness
left him unable to complete the final touches, including a list of ac-
knowledgments. It is impossible now to compile a complete one or
to include the genial words of appreciation that he would certainly have
written. But we have listed here the names, so far as we can determine
them, of major informants, librarians, colleagues and friends, Anderson
family members, and the University of Wisconsin Press staff who have
contributed to the making of this biography. We apologize for the imper-
sonality of the lists and for omissions:
Informants: Marc and Lucile Antony, Dorothy Bartlett, William Bird,
Charles Bockler, George A. Bottger, Mrs. Lorenz Carstensen, Ralph
Church, John Cournos, Mrs. John Craun, George M. Day, H. Kellogg
Day, William R. Dennes, Burt L. Dickinson, Mrs. Jack Dillman, Margaret
E. Edwards, Wharton Esherick, Ernestine Evans, Richard Faben, Richard
Faxon, James K. Feibleman, Julius Friend, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence G.
Fuller, Lewis Galantiere, Albert Goldstein, Mildred Becker Fuller, Charles
H. Funk, Glenn and Laura Gosling, Mrs. W.K. Graham, B.W. Huebsch,
Herman Hurd, Thaddeus Hurd, Maria Jolas, Nellie Lewis, Dorothy
Jones, Mr. and Mrs. W. Powell Jones, Mrs. Joel Harris Lawrence, Mrs. Al-
fred Newman, Anne Poor, Felix Russman, Adaline Katz Samuel, Alma
Schiff, William Spratling, Mrs. James Stark, Joe Stephenson, Mrs. James
Thomas, Margaret Bartlett Thornton, Raymond J. Toner, Harriet Walker
Welling, Elizabeth Whaley, William L. White, Mrs. Frank Wilford,
William Wright.
Librarians: Diana Haskell and Amy Wood Nyholm at the Newberry
Library.
Andersonian colleagues: David D. Anderson, Hilbert H. Campbell,
Charles E. Modlin, William A. Sutton, Welford D. Taylor, Kim Townsend,
Ray Lewis White, Kenny Williams.
His colleagues and friends at the University of Wisconsin and elsewhere:
ix