WINESBURG, OHIO
5.15 Andersonville prison] Camp Sumter, Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in Macon County, Georgia, where nearly a third of some 45,000 Union prisoners died of disease, exposure, and other causes. Henry Wirz, the camp’s commander, was executed for war crimes on November 10, 1865.
28.13 Doctor Cronin] Patrick Henry Cronin (1846–1889), an Irish-born physician and member of the secret Irish nationalist organization Clan-na-Gael, was expelled and assassinated on suspicion of being a British agent. His decomposing body was found in a Chicago sewer.
28.34 the Big Four] The Central Pacific Railroad, so called after its four principal executives: Leland Stanford (1824–1893), Collis P. Huntington (1821–1900), Mark Hopkins (1813–1878), and Charles Crocker (1822–1888).
41.20–21 another Jesse . . . old] Father of David, as recounted in 1 Samuel.
43.22 the old Bible story] See 1 Samuel 9–29.
68.10 Pop Geers] Edward Franklin “Pop” Geers (1851–1924), Tennessee-born horse trainer and harness racer.
68.18 Pheidippides] Courier (c. 530–490 BCE) who ran from Marathon to Sparta to announce the Greek victory over the Persians, and fell dead after having done so.
78.21–22 The Epworth League] Fellowship organized in 1889 by the Methodist Episcopal Church in Cleveland, Ohio, to encourage and train young people in churchmanship and religious life.
90.25 McKinley and Mark Hanna] Hanna (1837–1904), a millionaire businessman and U.S. senator, managed William McKinley’s presidential campaigns in 1896 and 1900.
113.25 Charles Lamb] English essayist (1775–1834) known chiefly for Tales from Shakespeare (1807) and Essays of Elia (1823).
113.33 Benvenuto Cellini] Italian goldsmith and sculptor (1500–1571); his Autobiography was written between 1558 and 1563.
128.26 Cedar Point] A Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park, which opened in 1870.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE EGG
181.5–11 In the fields . . . Chants] From the poem “Chant To Dawn in a Factory Town,” published in Anderson’s Mid-American Chants (1918).
182.2–3 ROBERT AND JOHN ANDERSON] Anderson’s sons, born in 1907 and 1908.
185.3 Tennessee Mitchell] Anderson’s second wife (1874–1929).
185.4 EUGENE HUTCHINSON] A Chicago portrait photographer (1880– 1957).
203.18–19 waiting. // Upstairs] Anderson may or may not have intended a new stanza here: in the only versions of “The Dumb Man” published during his lifetime, the line break coincides with a new page. The same is true at two other points within the poem, on page 204, lines 11–12 (“forward. / Her”) and page 205, lines 3–4 (“story. // If”) in the present volume.
215.2 a small man with a beard] The main character of this story was based on a close friend of Anderson’s, the psychoanalyst Trigant Burrow (1875–1950), author of The Social Basis of Consciousness (1927) and The Structure of Insanity (1932).
237.26–29 Christopher Columbus . . . stand on its end.] In an anecdote dating at least to the 16th century, Columbus is said to have challenged fellow diners to make an egg stand on its head, a feat he then accomplished by cracking the shell slightly at the tip.
265.32 Cox] James M. Cox (1870–1957), governor of Ohio who ran for president on the Democratic ticket in 1920, with Franklin D. Roosevelt as his running mate, and was defeated by Warren Harding.
266.8–10 Chicago newspapers . . . with an actress.] Likely a reference to newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951) and his affair with Marion Davies (1897–1961), with whom he lived openly after 1919.
266.22–24 Chicago newspapers . . . story of a murder] Anderson alludes to the case of Carl Otto Wanderer (1895–1921), who was executed for the murder of his wife Ruth Johnson in 1920. The case was investigated and solved by the journalist Ben Hecht, a close friend of Anderson.
HORSES AND MEN
368.2–3 Heavy, heavy . . . or superfine?] Phrases associated with forfeits, a children’s game.
368.4 Theodore Dreiser is old] Dreiser (1871–1945) was fifty-two when Horses and Men was published.
368.19 Delineator] Dreiser was editor of the women’s magazine The Delineator from 1907 to 1909.
373.14 swipe] Groom for horses at a racetrack.
374.22 Murphy and Walter Cox] Tommy Murphy and Walter Cox, well-known jockeys.
375.3 Deep River] An African-American spiritual.
375.36 skates] Nags; worn-out horses.
378.10 “About Ben Ahem”] The allusion is to Leigh Hunt’s poem “Abou Ben Adhem” (1834).
382.9 tin horn] Cheap; of low quality.
383.23 Dan Patch] Stallion (1896–1916) famous as the champion harness horse of his day.
386.28–29 George Moore, Clive Bell, Paul Rosenfeld] George Moore (1852–1933), Irish novelist, poet, and art critic; Clive Bell (1881–1964), English art critic; Paul Rosenfeld (1890–1946), American music critic, a close friend of Anderson.
388.6 vorticist] Member of English modernist school of art and poetics led by Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957) and Ezra Pound (1885–1972).
406.20 Nickel Plate Railroad] The New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad Company (1881–1964).
421.8–9 “The stone which the builders refused . . . of the corner.”] See Psalms 1:22.
430.17–18 K of Ps] Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization founded in 1864.
460.32 Carl Sandburg] Sandburg (1878–1967), a friend of Anderson, published his Chicago Poems in 1916. He was the regular movie critic for the Chicago Daily News from 1920 to 1928.
461.11 President McKinley . . . Mark Hanna] See note 90.25.
461.31–32 Fitzsimmons . . . Australian] The British-born boxer Bob Fitzsimmons (1863–1917) began his professional boxing career in Australia. He became world middleweight champion after defeating Jack Dempsey in 1891. He defeated Jim Corbett to win the heavyweight championship in 1897.
468.11 whippletree] Bar-shaped device used in agriculture and elsewhere to equalize distribution of force.
469.10–14 A man came into . . . with her hair.] See Luke 7:36–50.
485.5 bones, a hank of hair] See Rudyard Kipling, “The Vampire” (1897), lines 1–3: “A fool there was and he made his prayer / (Even as you and I!) / To a rag, a bone, and a hank of hair.”
492.16–17 Alfred Kreymborg] The name alone recalls Anderson’s friend the poet Alfred Kreymborg (1883–1966), to whose magazine Broom Anderson contributed work.
494.9–10 the old Harry] Hell (as in, “raising the old Harry”).
496.8 Pop Geers] See note 68.10.
525.1 soc-dolager] Or sockdolager; a beaut, a lulu, a humdinger.
525.2–3 Mencken . . . America] H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) called Chicago “the literary capital of the United States” in his 1917 article “Civilized Chicago.”
525.31–32 Mr. Sandburg . . . Mr. Masters] Carl Sandburg (1878–1976) and Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950), principal figures of the Chicago literary renaissance.
547.26 Woman’s Relief Corps] Patriotic organization founded in 1883, an auxiliary of the veterans’ organization the Grand Army of the Republic.
561.18 fordson] Brand name of tractors manufactured by Henry Ford & Son, Inc., and subsequently by Ford Motor Company.
561.37–38 “He did not wear . . . are red”] See Oscar Wilde, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” (1898), lines 1–2: “He did not wear his scarlet coat / For blood and wine are red.”
573.31–32 “The Light of the World”] Pierre Saisson’s play of this title was produced in the United States in 1920. There is no known film version.
576.4–14 Thomas Edwards . . . wonderful tale] Edwards (1739–1810) published an account of his life in Y Greal in 1805. Anderson’s account follows that of George Borrow in his travel book Wild Wales (1862).
577.10 Bucephalus] The horse of Alexander the Great.
579.38 John Splan] Noted trotting horseman, author of Life with the Trotters (1889).
DEATH IN THE WOODS
600.2 FERDINAND S
CHEVILL] Schevill (1868–1954), a scholar of European history, taught at the University of Chicago from 1892 to 1937.
617.7 Mansfield as Brutus] The English actor Richard Mansfield (1857– 1907), known for his Shakespearean roles, performed frequently in the United States after 1882.
626.5 General Hurst] Major General Samuel H. Hurst (1831–1908), who served with distinction in the Civil War, is buried in Chillicothe, Ohio.
645.25 George Borrow] English author (1803–1881) whose novels Lavengro (1851) and The Romany Rye (1857) were among Anderson’s favorite books.
662.18 dubs] Fools; mediocrities (American slang).
669.25 Krafft-Ebing] Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902), German psychiatrist, author of Psychopathia Sexualis (1886), pioneering study of sexual behavior.
713.24 David] The character is a fictionalized portrait of William Faulkner, whom Anderson had just met.
715.3 a statue of General Jackson] The statue of Andrew Jackson by Clark Mills was erected in 1856.
UNCOLLECTED STORIES
778.36–37 Coolidge . . . didn’t they?] Calvin Coolidge was alleged to have remarked, when rejecting the forgiveness of Allied war debts, “They hired the money, didn’t they?” There is no evidence that he actually said it.
781.33–34 Helen, Thy beauty . . . bark of yore.] The opening lines of Edgar Allan Poe’s “To Helen” (1831).
782.30–31 “When out of Palos . . . Hercules.”] In Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs (1969), Anderson remembered these lines as “some verses Mike Carr had once recited to me”; Carr (1881–1929?) was an artist and friend of Anderson. The “gates of Hercules” refers to the Strait of Gibraltar, through which Christopher Columbus, departing from Palos, sailed in 1492.
782.32–33 Tiger, tiger . . . of the night.] The opening lines of William Blake’s “The Tyger,” in Songs of Experience (1794).
783.6 I am master . . . of my soul.] See William Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus” (1888), lines 15–16.
783.13–14 William James . . . back of the mind.”] William Ernest Hocking, discussing the notion of the existence of God in The Christian Century in 1933 (the year Anderson wrote this story), wrote: “William James once tried to express it, if my memory is not at fault, as a kind of quiet music playing in the back of the mind.”
785.18 the street-car bandits] Peter Niedermeyer, Gustav Marx, and Harvey Van Dine, implicated in seven murders, were executed in Chicago in 1904. The three were also known as the Car Barn Bandits and the Automatic Trio.
804.24 Charles Evans Hughes] Hughes (1862–1948) served as governor of New York, secretary of state, and chief justice of the Supreme Court.
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1. Herman Melville, Typee, Omoo, Mardi (1982)
2. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tales and Sketches (1982)
3. Walt Whitman, Poetry and Prose (1982)
4. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Three Novels (1982)
5. Mark Twain, Mississippi Writings (1982)
6. Jack London, Novels and Stories (1982)
7. Jack London, Novels and Social Writings (1982)
8. William Dean Howells, Novels 1875–1886 (1982)
9. Herman Melville, Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick (1983)
10. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Collected Novels (1983)
11. Francis Parkman, France and England in North America, vol. I (1983)
12. Francis Parkman, France and England in North America, vol. II (1983)
13. Henry James, Novels 1871–1880 (1983)
14. Henry Adams, Novels, Mont Saint Michel, The Education (1983)
15. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays and Lectures (1983)
16. Washington Irving, History, Tales and Sketches (1983)
17. Thomas Jefferson, Writings (1984)
18. Stephen Crane, Prose and Poetry (1984)
19. Edgar Allan Poe, Poetry and Tales (1984)
20. Edgar Allan Poe, Essays and Reviews (1984)
21. Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, Roughing It (1984)
22. Henry James, Literary Criticism: Essays, American & English Writers (1984)
23. Henry James, Literary Criticism: European Writers & The Prefaces (1984)
24. Herman Melville, Pierre, Israel Potter, The Confidence-Man, Tales & Billy Budd (1985)
25. William Faulkner, Novels 1930–1935 (1985)
26. James Fenimore Cooper, The Leather stocking Tales, vol. I (1985)
27. James Fenimore Cooper, The Leather stocking Tales, vol. II (1985)
28. Henry David Thoreau, A Week, Walden, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod (1985)
29. Henry James, Novels 1881–1886 (1985)
30. Edith Wharton, Novels (1986)
31. Henry Adams, History of the U.S. during the Administrations of Jefferson (1986)
32. Henry Adams, History of the U.S. during the Administrations of Madison (1986)
33. Frank Norris, Novels and Essays (1986)
34. W.E.B. Du Bois, Writings (1986)
35. Willa Cather, Early Novels and Stories (1987)
36. Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie, Jennie Gerhardt, Twelve Men (1987)
37a. Benjamin Franklin, Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, & Early Writings (1987)
37b. Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, Poor Richard, & Later Writings (1987)
38. William James, Writings 1902–1910 (1987)
39. Flannery O’Connor, Collected Works (1988)
40. Eugene O’Neill, Complete Plays 1913–1920 (1988)
41. Eugene O’Neill, Complete Plays 1920–1931 (1988)
42. Eugene O’Neill, Complete Plays 1932–1943 (1988)
43. Henry James, Novels 1886–1890 (1989)
44. William Dean Howells, Novels 1886–1888 (1989)
45. Abraham Lincoln, Speeches and Writings 1832–1858 (1989)
46. Abraham Lincoln, Speeches and Writings 1859–1865 (1989)
47. Edith Wharton, Novellas and Other Writings (1990)
48. William Faulkner, Novels 1936–1940 (1990)
49. Willa Cather, Later Novels (1990)
50. Ulysses S. Grant, Memoirs and Selected Letters (1990)
51. William Tecumseh Sherman, Memoirs (1990)
52. Washington Irving, Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveller, The Alhambra (1991)
53. Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail, The Conspiracy of Pontiac (1991)
54. James Fenimore Cooper, Sea Tales: The Pilot, The Red Rover (1991)
55. Richard Wright, Early Works (1991)
56. Richard Wright, Later Works (1991)
57. Willa Cather, Stories, Poems, and Other Writings (1992)
58. William James, Writings 1878–1899 (1992)
59. Sinclair Lewis, Main Street & Babbitt (1992)
60. Mark Twain, Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852–1890 (1992)
61. Mark Twain, Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1891–1910 (1992)
62. The Debate on the Constitution: Part One (1993)
63. The Debate on the Constitution: Part Two (1993)
64. Henry James, Collected Travel Writings: Great Britain & America (1993)
65. Henry James, Collected Travel Writings: The Continent (1993)
66. American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 1 (1993)
67. American Poetry: The Nineteenth Ce
ntury, Vol. 2 (1993)
68. Frederick Douglass, Autobiographies (1994)
69. Sarah Orne Jewett, Novels and Stories (1994)
70. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Collected Poems and Translations (1994)
71. Mark Twain, Historical Romances (1994)
72. John Steinbeck, Novels and Stories 1932–1937 (1994)
73. William Faulkner, Novels 1942–1954 (1994)
74. Zora Neale Hurston, Novels and Stories (1995)
75. Zora Neale Hurston, Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings (1995)
76. Thomas Paine, Collected Writings (1995)
77. Reporting World War II: American Journalism 1938–1944 (1995)
78. Reporting World War II: American Journalism 1944–1946 (1995)
79. Raymond Chandler, Stories and Early Novels (1995)
80. Raymond Chandler, Later Novels and Other Writings (1995)
81. Robert Frost, Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays (1995)
82. Henry James, Complete Stories 1892–1898 (1996)
83. Henry James, Complete Stories 1898–1910 (1996)
84. William Bartram, Travels and Other Writings (1996)
85. John Dos Passos, U.S.A. (1996)
86. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941 (1996)
87. Vladimir Nabokov, Novels and Memoirs 1941–1951 (1996)
88. Vladimir Nabokov, Novels 1955–1962 (1996)
89. Vladimir Nabokov, Novels 1969–1974 (1996)
90. James Thurber, Writings and Drawings (1996)
91. George Washington, Writings (1997)
92. John Muir, Nature Writings (1997)
93. Nathanael West, Novels and Other Writings (1997)
94. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s (1997)
95. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s (1997)
Sherwood Anderson: Collected Stories Page 97