Sherwood Anderson
Page 96
Since Anderson’s death several corrected or critical editions of Winesburg have appeared. In 1960, in a new text for the Viking Press, Malcolm Cowley corrected “discrepancies in the spellings of proper names” and made other changes—including the insertion of 37 commas—“needed to make Anderson’s meaning clear.” In 1997, Ray Lewis White published an edition with Ohio University Press that adopts a number of variant readings from Anderson’s manuscripts, emends “scores and scores of inconsistencies” in spelling and punctuation, and makes other changes intended to clarify Anderson’s meanings. In the present volume, the text of Winesburg, Ohio has been taken from the corrected fifth printing of the first edition, published by B. W. Huebsch in 1922.
The Triumph of the Egg: A Book of Impressions from American Life in Tales and Poems. Anderson sent B. W. Huebsch a typescript of his second collection of stories on March 24, 1921, but he was still unsure what to title the book. In January, his friend Paul Rosenfeld had tried to dissuade him from “Some Americans”: “The Triumph of the Egg was ever so much more colorful.” Huebsch disliked “Unlighted Lamps,” another title Anderson proposed, because it sounded “too much like O. Henry.” But The Triumph of the Egg, Huebsch advocated persuasively, “sounds like nothing else, and is a most arresting title.”
All but one of the stories in the collection had appeared in magazines or had been accepted for publication when Anderson submitted his typescript. In early April, he sent “Unlighted Lamps”—the one exception—to H. L. Mencken, who published it in The Smart Set in July. Similarly, Anderson placed three of the previously unpublished poems in the collection in the final issue of Voices (London), to appear in the fall. The prior publication history of each of the parts of The Triumph of the Egg is described in the list below:
[untitled opening poem]: Voices 5 (Autumn 1921): 107–9 (as “The Teller of Tales”).
The Dumb Man: first published in Triumph of the Egg (1921).
I Want to Know Why: Smart Set 60 (November 1919): 35–40.
Seeds: Little Review 5 (July 1918): 24–31.
The Other Woman: Little Review 7 (May–June 1920): 37–44.
The Egg: Dial 68 (March 1920): 295–304 (as “The Triumph of the Egg”).
Unlighted Lamps: Smart Set 65 (July 1921): 45–55.
Senility: Little Review 5 (September 1918): 37–39.
The Man in the Brown Coat: Little Review 7 (January–March 1921): 18–21.
Brothers: Bookman 53 (April 1921): 110–15.
The Door of the Trap: Dial 68 (May 1920): 567–76.
The New Englander: Dial 70 (February 1921): 143–58.
War: Little Review 3 (May 1916): 7–10 (as “The Struggle”).
Motherhood: Voices 5 (Autumn 1921): 107–9.
Out of Nowhere into Nothing: Dial 71 (July, August, September 1921): 1–18, 153–69, 325–46.
The Man with the Trumpet: Voices 5 (Autumn 1921): 107–9 (as “The Tired Man”).
Along with these stories and poems, Anderson arranged for the inclusion of “Impressions in Clay,” a previously unpublished portfolio of photographs (by Eugene Hutchinson) of seven portrait busts by his wife Tennessee Mitchell.
Anderson urged Huebsch to provide him with a set of proofs by May 1, when he was scheduled to sail for Europe, so he could read them at sea and return them in time for publication early in the fall. As it happened, the typesetter sent an incomplete set of proofs, and publication was delayed until October 24, 1921. The Triumph of the Egg went through at least three additional printings (in December 1921, February 1922, and August 1924), and a British version was published by Jonathan Cape in 1922, but Anderson did not alter the text of his collection. The text of The Triumph of the Egg in the present volume has been taken from the first printing of the first edition.
Horses and Men: Tales, Long and Short, from Our American Life. On May 16, 1923, Anderson sent Huebsch “copy for the new book of tales—HORSES AND MEN.” He had only just completed some of the longer stories in the collection—“‘Unused’,” “The Man Who Became a Woman,” and “An Ohio Pagan”—and they were published in the forthcoming book for the first time. (Two of these—“‘Unused’” and “An Ohio Pagan”—were drawn from Ohio Pagans, an unfinished novel.) The first part of the two-part story “A Chicago Hamlet” was previously unpublished as well; Anderson had published the second part separately in March, as “Broken,” but revised it considerably for the new collection. The rest of the stories in the volume had appeared in magazines during the previous two years, as detailed in the list below. To these, he added a prefatory appreciation of Theodore Dreiser that had first appeared in 1916:
Dreiser: Little Review 3 (April 1916): 5.
I’m a Fool: Dial 72 (February 1922): 119–29.
The Triumph of a Modern: New Republic 33 (January 31, 1923): 245–47.
“Unused”: first published in Horses and Men (1923).
A Chicago Hamlet: first published in Horses and Men (1923), revising and incorporating the story “Broken,” Century 105 (March 1923): 643–56.
The Man Who Became a Woman: first publication in Horses and Men (1923).
Milk Bottles: Vanity Fair 16 (March 1921): 23–24 (as “Why There Must Be a Midwestern Literature”).
The Sad Horn Blowers: Harper’s 146 (February 1923): 273–89.
A Man’s Story: Dial 75 (September 1923): 277–64. This story was begun as part of Talbot Whittingham, a novel Anderson would later abandon.
An Ohio Pagan: first published in Horses and Men (1923).
Anderson read proofs beginning in mid-July, returning a final set in early August. Huebsch published Horses and Men on October 26, 1923. The collection was subsequently published in London by Jonathan Cape in 1924, and in London and New York by Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith in 1927, but Anderson is not known to have corrected or altered his original text. In the present volume, the text of Horses and Men has been taken from the 1923 Huebsch first printing.
Death in the Woods and Other Stories. Anderson sent a typescript of his new collection Death in the Woods to Horace Liveright—his publisher since 1925—at the beginning of 1933, having arranged its contents a few months earlier. When the proofs arrived in February he found he was dissatisfied with the book, however, and asked Liveright to make significant changes: two stories were to be cut, and four to be added (“These Mountaineers,” “A Meeting South,” “The Flood,” and “Brother Death”). Liveright accommodated Anderson’s requests, and published Death in the Woods on April 8, 1933.
The prior publication history of each story is given below:
Death in the Woods: American Mercury 9 (September 1926): 7–13. See also Tar: A Midwest Childhood (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926), pp. 231–33, and “Girl by the Stove,” Decision 1 (January 1941): 19–22, in, which similar events are narrated.
The Return: Century 110 (May 1925): 3–14.
There She Is—She Is Taking Her Bath: first published in Death in the Woods (1933). Anderson had hoped to include this story in Horses and Men (1923), but was unable to because Pictorial Review, which had paid for first serial publication rights, did not print it in a timely fashion. They ultimately chose not to publish it at all, but allowed him to include it in the later collection.
The Lost Novel: Scribner’s 84 (September 1928): 255–58; Alice and The Lost Novel (London: Elkin Mathews & Marrot, 1929), pp. 19–28.
The Fight: Vanity Fair 29 (October 1927): 72, 106, 108.
Like a Queen: Harper’s Bazaar 63 (January 1929): 78–79, 118 (as “Beauty”); Alice and The Lost Novel (1929), pp. 3–15 (as “Alice”).
That Sophistication: Vanity Fair 31 (December 1928): 68, 116.
In a Strange Town: Scribner’s 87 (January 1930): 20–25.
These Mountaineers: Vanity Fair 33 (January 1930): 44–45, 94; This Quarter 3 (April–May–June 1931), 602–9.
A Sentimental Journey: Vanity Fair 29 (January 1928): 46, 118; Hello Towns! (New York: Horace Liveright, 1929), pp. 265–72.
A
Jury Case: American Mercury 12 (December 1927): 431–34.
Another Wife: Scribner’s 80 (December 1926): 587–94.
A Meeting South: Dial 78 (April 1925): 269–79; Sherwood Anderson’s Notebook (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926), pp. 103–21.
The Flood: first published in Death in the Woods (1933).
Why They Got Married: Vanity Fair 32 (March 1929): 74, 116.
Brother Death: first published in Death in the Woods (1933). Originally part of an unfinished novel, Thanksgiving.
Liveright went into bankruptcy soon after Death in the Woods was published and only one printing of the collection appeared during Anderson’s lifetime. The text of Death in the Woods in the present volume has been taken from that first printing.
Uncollected Stories. This volume concludes with a selection of 15 stories that Anderson did not gather in any of his books. They are presented in approximate chronological order of composition. Ten were published in magazines during Anderson’s lifetime and one in a hardcover anthology; four remained unpublished. Two of the unpublished stories, “White Spot” and “A Landed Proprietor,” have been associated posthumously—in Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs: A Critical Edition (1969)—with a collection of autobiographical writings on which Anderson was at work, along with other fiction and nonfiction, toward the end of his life. Had Anderson lived, he might have published these stories as parts of such a collection rather than in a book of stories: his final intentions remain ambiguous, and the line between fiction and memoir is one he blurred or crossed often throughout his career.
The list below gives the source from which the text of each uncollected story in the present volume has been taken and further information about their textual histories:
Sister: The Little Review 2 (December 1915): 3–4.
The White Streak: The Smart Set 55 (July 1918): 27–30.
Certain Things Last: Certain Things Last: The Selected Short Stories of Sherwood Anderson, Charles E. Modlin, ed. (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1992), pp. 1–7. This story was probably written in the early 1920s but was not published during Anderson’s lifetime. The text in Certain Things Last was prepared from Anderson’s untitled, annotated typescript, now at the Newberry Library; the title was supplied by Charles E. Modlin.
Off Balance: The New Yorker 9 (August 5, 1933): 12–14.
I Get So I Can’t Go On: Story 3 (December 1933): 55–62.
Mr. Joe’s Doctor: American Magazine 118 (August 1934): 81–82.
The Corn Planting: American Magazine 118 (November 1934): 47, 149–50.
Feud: American Magazine 119 (February 1935): 71, 112–14.
Harry Breaks Through: The New Caravan, Alfred Kreymborg, Lewis Mumford, Paul Rosenfeld, eds. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1936), pp. 84–89.
Mrs. Wife: Certain Things Last, pp. 271–87. This story was published during Anderson’s lifetime as “A Moonlight Walk” (Redbook 70 [December 1937]: 43–45) in a version substantially revised by his mother-in-law, Laura Copenhaver, without his direct involvement. The text in Certain Things Last was prepared from an earlier typescript of the story, without Copenhaver’s revisions.
Two Lovers: Story 14 (January–February 1939): 16–25.
White Spot: Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs: A Critical Edition, Ray Lewis White, ed. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969), pp. 230–34. This story, probably written in 1939, was first published posthumously in The Sherwood Anderson Reader, Paul Rosenfeld, ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947). The text in Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs was prepared from a Newberry Library manuscript, with some correction of punctuation and spelling and occasional emendation of “ambiguous sentences.”
Nobody Laughed: Certain Things Last, pp. 307–17. Unpublished during Anderson’s lifetime, this story went through several revisions in typescript, its title changing from “Playthings” to “The Town’s Playthings” to “Nobody Laughed.” It was first published, with revisions by Paul Rosenfeld, in The Sherwood Anderson Reader (1947). The text in Certain Things Last was prepared from the last of Anderson’s typescripts (c. 1939).
A Landed Proprietor: Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs: A Critical Edition, pp. 57–62. First published in The Rotarian 58 (March 1941): 8–10. The text in Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs was prepared from a Newberry Library manuscript, with some correction of punctuation and spelling and occasional emendation of “ambiguous sentences.”
The Persistent Liar: Tomorrow 6 (September 1946): 10–12.
This volume presents the texts of the editions chosen for inclusion here but does not attempt to reproduce every feature of their typographic design. The texts are reprinted without change, except for the correction of typographical errors. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are often expressive features, and they are not altered, even when inconsistent or irregular. The following is a list of typographical errors corrected, cited by page and line number: 7.9, carelessness; 9.6, has been; 20.1, Sinning’s; 35.34, Winny’s; 51.15, Aunt Sallie; 54.23, Hardy’s; 68.25–26, Sinning’s; 76.31, them Sometimes; 86.5, become; 92.15, track’s; 99.36, than; 113.9, Winter’s; 127.6, Nate; 134.33, Hanby; 143.2, Hearn’s; 149.25, you-ve; 157.22, Wracker’s; 173.37, Westley; 173.39 (and passim), Westley’s; 180.16, Smallet; 180.18, over night; 206.25, Churchhill; 212.4, before its; 217.31, than; 222.2, superflous; 250.3, “You; 281.11, at dog.; 285.29, recah; 288.7, tinker it.; 297.13, still, also; 305.6, bangs; 312.21, away..; 315.38, uncomforable; 332.4, the the; 338.25, on odd; 340.29, out hot; 345.10, women; 350.11, want her of; 382.22, trees,; 390.4, Lot’s; 417.24, said she; 421.26, .lands; 426.4, Nickle; 433.7, hillock,—; 436.18, May had; 436.38, away.”; 437.40, cloth s; 444.40, the house,”; 445.18, build; 447.35, Lets; 488.24, trapsing; 496.22, of being; 496.33, Gears,; 515.40, night,; 523.26, wonderd; 534.23, Sundey; 535.8, carrry; 535.28, resent; 540.16, arrive,; 565.17, her couch; 594.4, Tom ran; 660.36, undertand; 697.15, make; 729.34, scholar’s sister; 782.36, But didn’t; 802.37, “Senator; 803.8, Air.”; 803.15, A’in’t; 803.37, A’in’t; 804.5, a’in’t; 829.4, A.P.; 830.5, day’; 834.21, time (A. P.; 834.37–38, students.; 836.35, wife.’; 858.29, No,’”; 859.14, up,”; 860.26, mother. She.
Acknowledgments
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From Horses and Men, “Foreword,” “Dreiser,” “Unused,” “The Man Who Became a Woman,” and “An Ohio Pagan” copyright © 1923 by B. W. Huebsch, Inc., copyright renewed © 1950 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “The Triumph of a Modern,” copyright © 1923 by The Republic Publishing Co., copyright renewed © 1950 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “A Chicago Hamlet” copyright © 1923 by D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., copyright renewed © 1950 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “The Sad Horn Blowers” copyright © 1923 by Harper & Brothers, copyright renewed © 1950 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson. Reprinted with permission of The Newberry Library.
Death in the Woods and Other Stories copyright © 1933 by Sherwood Anderson. Copyright renewed © 1960 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson. Reprinted with permission of The Newberry Library.
“Certain Things Last” copyright © 1992 by Charles E. Modlin, Hilbert H. Campbell, and Christopher R. Sergel, trustees of the Sherwood Anderson Literary Estate Trust; “Off Balance” copyright 1933 by F-R Pub. Corp., copyright renewed © 1960 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “I Get So I Can’t Go On” copyright © 1933 by Story Magazine, Inc., copyright renewed © 1960 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “Mr. Joe’s Doctor” copyright © 1934 by Crowell Pub. Co., copyright renewed © 1960 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “The Corn Planting” copyright © 1934 by Crowell Pub. Co., copyright renewed © 1961 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “Feud” copyright © 1935 by Crowell Pub. Co., copyright renewed © 1962 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “Mrs. Wife” copyright © 1937 by McCall Corp., copyright renewed © 1965 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “Two Lovers” copyright © 1938 by Story Magazine, copyright renewed © 1966 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “White Spot” and “Nobody Laughed,” copyright © 1947 by Eleanor Anderson, copyright renewed © 1975 by Elea
nor Anderson; “A Landed Proprietor” copyright © 1941 by Rotary International, copyright renewed © 1968 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson; “The Persistent Liar” copyright © 1946 by Creative Age Press, Inc., copyright renewed © 1974 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson. Reprinted with permission of The Newberry Library.
Notes
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In the notes below, the reference numbers denote page and line of this volume (the line count includes titles and headings but not blank lines). No note is made for material included in standard desk-reference books. Biblical references are keyed to the King James version. For further information on Anderson’s life and works, and references to other studies, see Hilbert H. Campbell, ed., The Sherwood Anderson Diaries, 1936–1941 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987); Hilbert H. Campbell and Charles E. Modlin, eds., Sherwood Anderson: Centennial Studies (Troy, NY: Whitston Publishing Company, 1976); Charles E. Modlin, ed., Certain Things Last: The Selected Short Stories of Sherwood Anderson (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1992); Walter B. Rideout, Sherwood Anderson: A Writer in America (2 vols. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006–07); Kim Townsend, Sherwood Anderson: A Biography (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987); Ray Lewis White, ed., Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio: With Variant Readings and Annotations (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997); Ray Lewis White, ed., Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs: A Critical Edition (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969); and Ray Lewis White, ed., Sherwood Anderson: Early Writings (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1989).