Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio: The Individual in the Village Dr ...

Damascus University Journal, Vol.٢٠, No. (١+٢), ٢٠٠٤
Kutrieh
Ahmad Ramez
Endnotes
١. The Boston Transcript makes this observation through the title of
its review, "Ohio Small Town Life: Commonplace People and Their
Everyday Existence." (W.S.B. Boston Transcript, ١١ June ١٩١٩, p. ٦
quoted in Ray Lewis White, Compiler. The Merrill Studies in
Winesburg, Ohio. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.,
١٩٧١, p.٣٠) Another review that appeared in The New Republic is titled,
"A Country Town." The reviewer finds that "the stories are homely and
unsympathetic" (M.A. "A Country Town" The New Republic, XIX(June
٢٥, ١٩١٩), ٢٥٧, ٢٦٠ reprinted in The Merrill Studies in Winesburg, Ohio,
٣٦).
٢. Many writers of the post civil war era looked at the village as a
place where all citizens work in comfort and happiness. Positive images
of the village are found, for example, in the works of Booth Tarkington
among others. For the most part, these writers presented the village as "a
place of idyllic felicities"(٦٥٠). But the village is not presented this way
in Anderson's book.
٣. Horace Gregory, suggested that despite the fact the stories of
Winesburg are "set in the remembered atmosphere of a small town in
America,” they “have a "universal"quality," yet he finds the scene
depicted to be close "to the roots of an American heritage . . ." (٤). Even
in the eighties one scholar comments that "Critics have concentrated, for
the most part, on the subject of small-town life in the Midwest . . . or
isolation . . . " (Fludernik ١١٦).
٤. Waldo Frank notes that the book has no happily married people,
no communion with children, no fulfilled sex, no normal social life, no
worship in congregation, no strength in organized religion, no joy, and no
maturing characters for the traditions and social structures on which the
world builds itself are lacking in Anderson's town (٤٥).
٥. Alan Steven Berkowitz suggests in his dissertation that Anderson
explored the isolation, lonliness and failure hidden in the American
village that gradually lost its agrarian values of charity and community.
٦. David Anderson in “Another Look at Community in Winesburg,
Ohio” argues that Sherwood Anderson “focused on the failures of
individuals to have their performances affirmed . . .”(٧٩). These
performances are “some sort of singularity”(٧٨).
٤٩