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BUCKLE UP!
well...general lit chatters the doc used the search function and found out that there's never been a thread dedicated solely to this american gem...
so here it is...
the doc's main thought that he took from anderson, general lit chatters?
'it's the twisted apple that contains the sweetest juice...'
discuss...
and, then...
if you have read this book...
you've got the doc's permission to...
ROAR!
I adore this book, I consider it small-town, or midwestern gothic, myself. The fact that it represents different aspects of the authors own feelings and eventual escape for isolated small town life makes it all the more real, esp. for those out there who have ever experienced this mode of living, all the various characters and their viewpoints make up the whole. Nothing else can explain, much less illustrate, the inner turmoil, pushed-to-the-brink feelings of 'fight or flight.'
and notQuote:
'it's the twisted apple that contains the sweetest juice...'
''it's the sweetest apple that contains the twisted juice''?
BUCKLE UP!
good post, joelopp...but the doc is pretty surprised that a literature forum thread on 'winesburg, ohio' that has evidently never been started before had only two responses...
anderson influenced faulkner...aint that enough reason for this thread to at least have two pages, general literature chatters?
not to mention hemingway and wolfe...
and if you haven't read this one, general lit chatters...well...WHAT ARE YOU WAITIN' FOR?
ROAR!
It's pretty lonely, a bit dreary, and yet hopeful at the same time. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I think"Hands" is one of the most well-crafted short stories I've ever read. It's perfectly succinct, every detail matters, and I've never been able to see so clearly how a story becomes powerful. About a third of a way through the collection now and "Hands" is still my favorite.
BUCKLE UP!
right you are, chicagoreader...surely the story that 99 percent of the readers will put in the top three of the collection...the psychological make-up of this 'grotesque' in circa 10 pages by anderson has created a 1000fold response by the critics over the years...very powerful stuff here, literature chatters...
ROAR!
I love this book. Though it was published in 1919, it does not seem out of touch today. Sure, details about everyday life have changed, but the human emotions in the book often haven't. I think anybody who's led a lonely life in small towns(I'm from the rural midwest) can relate to this book. ''Hands'' isn't one of my favorite stories in the book, but the story about Doctor Reefy is good. I love the ending of the book, and the parts about George Willard's mother. ''Tandy'' ''Nobody Knows'' and the stories about Louise Bentley are very interesting to me. The story about the minister and the teacher is also very powerful. ''Sophistication'' is a good story. My favorite story, though, is ''Adventure'' about Alice. I could really relate to her last year, the autumn I was 27. I can also relate Elizabeth Willard and Louise Bentley, and even to George Willard, who wants a life beyond Winesburg. ''Winesburg, Ohio'' is really a wonderful book that shows the sad, human side of small town life, unlike Sinclair Lewis's book ''Main Street'' which is funny and satire, though it is also about small town unhappiness.