Winesburg, Ohio - Paperback

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) abandoned his job managing a paint factory and left his wife for Chicago to pursue writing. He was forty when his first novel appeared during the Chicago Renaissance. While he wrote several novels including Poor White (1920) and Dark Laughter (1925), his short story collections like The Triumph of the Egg (1921) and Horses and Men (1923) achieved greater success.

This Edition

This Penguin Classics edition features an Introduction by Irving Howe, the renowned literary critic who founded the intellectual quarterly Dissent and wrote extensively on American literature. An Afterword by bestselling author Dean Koontz provides additional perspective on Anderson's enduring influence.

Essential reading for students of American literature, this paperback edition offers an accessible entry point to one of the twentieth century's most important works of fiction.

With an Introduction by Irving Howe
and an Afterword by Dean Koontz



About the Author
Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) was an American short story writer and novelist. He was raised in the small town of Clyde, Ohio, served in the Spanish-American War, and managed a paint factory before abandoning his job and his wife for Chicago and the writer's life. He was forty before his first novel, Windy McPherson's Son, was published in the peak of the Chicago Renaissance. Winesburg, Ohio, his masterpiece, appeared in 1919. His other novels include Poor White (1920) and Dark Laughter (1925), but his short story collections were more successful. Two of his best are The Triumph of the Egg (1921) and Horses and Men (1923). After moving to Marion, Virginia, in 1927, he owned and edited two newspapers. He died in Panama during a trip to South America.

Irving Howe (1920-93) was born in New York, and he attended City College before serving in the U.S. Army in World War II. He was well-known both for his social activism and his literary and cultural criticism, and in 1954, he helped found the intellectual quarterly Dissent, which he edited until his death. Among his enduring works are Sherwood Anderson, Decline of the New, Politics of the Novel, and World of Our Fathers.

Dean Koontz was born in Everett, Pennsylvania, and grew up in nearby Bedford. He won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition when he was twenty and has been writing ever since. His books are published in thirty-eight languages, and he has sold more than 450 million copies to date.