Sherwood Anderson

Novelist, Author

1876 – 1941

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Who was Sherwood Anderson?

Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and Elyria, Ohio. In 1912, Anderson had a nervous breakdown that led him to abandon his business and family to become a writer.

At the time, he moved to Chicago and was eventually married three more times. His most enduring work is the short-story sequence Winesburg, Ohio, which launched his career. Throughout the 1920s, Anderson published several short story collections, novels, memoirs, books of essays, and a book of poetry. Though his books sold reasonably well, Dark Laughter, a novel inspired by Anderson's time in New Orleans during the 1920s, was the only bestseller of his career.

He may be most influential for his effect on the next generation of young writers, as he inspired William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Thomas Wolfe. He helped gain publication for Faulkner and Hemingway.

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Born
Sep 13, 1876
Camden
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Wittenberg University
Lived in
  • Cleveland
  • Elyria
  • Ohio
Died
Mar 8, 1941
Colón

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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