Sherwood Anderson

by Collected Stories- Winesburg, Ohio, The Triumph of the Egg, Horses

  1902

  Publishes essay “The Farmer Wears Clothes,” his first appearance in print, in Agricultural Advertising in February. It is followed by “A Soliloquy” in April, “Writing it Down” in November, and “Not Knocking” in December.

  1903

  Writes regularly for Agricultural Advertising. Publishes first essay in a literary magazine, “A Business Man’s Reading,” in The Reader. Reads Shaw, Stevenson, Carlyle, and George Borrow (whom he later describes as “to me the great writer”). In May meets Cornelia Platt Lane (b. 1877), daughter of a wealthy Ohio businessman, on a business trip to Toledo, Ohio.

  1904

  Marries Cornelia Platt Lane on May 16. Keeps a “Honeymoon Journal” about their travels through Tennessee en route to the St. Louis World’s Fair. Returning to Chicago, they rent an apartment on the South Side. Publishes a series of articles in Agricultural Advertising on “Business Types.”

  1905

  In May delivers talk on “Making Good” at Long-Critchfield banquet. Visits Philadelphia at the expense of Cyrus Curtis, head of Curtis Publishing, to discuss a possible series of articles on American business life, but declines Curtis’s proposal. The Saturday Evening Post, published by Curtis, solicits but ultimately rejects his fiction.

  1906

  Hoping to make more money, approaches one of his firm’s clients, George Bottger of United Factories, a small mail order marketing firm, proposing he join their business. Is appointed president, and in September relocates to Cleveland with his wife. Writes advertising copy and entertains manufacturers, hoping to market their products.

  1907

  Early in the year one of the products his firm has sold, a chicken incubator, is revealed to be fundamentally defective; they lose thousands of dollars. (Later fictionalizes the episode in “The Egg.”) His first child, Robert Lane, is born August 16. About the same time, suffers a nervous breakdown and is found “wandering around in the woods.” Leaves United Factories, moving with wife to Elyria, Ohio, around September to start a new business. His “Anderson Manufacturing Company” buys a preservative roofing paint in bulk, reselling it to individuals and hardware stores as “Roof-Fix.”

  1908

  Joins the Elyria Country Club. Moves with wife and son and brother Earl into a new house. Begins selling household items as well as paint. A second son, John Sherwood, is born December 31.

  1909

  Wins a local golf tournament. In August, buys a local paint manufacturer, renaming it the Anderson Paint Company. Wife joins the Fortnightly Club, devoted to literary discussion. Late in the year, advertises a scheme he calls “Commercial Democracy,” which would enable retailers to purchase shares in manufacturing profits.

  1910

  Spends an increasing amount of time writing stories, and begins a novel (eventually published as Marching Men). Publishes Commercial Democracy, a series of advertising pamphlets, to promote his profit-sharing plan. Anderson Manufacturing sponsors a float in the Elyria Fourth of July parade. With others in Elyria participates in a discussion group, the Round Table Club.

  1911

  Has his secretary type and submit for publication stories he has read into a Dictaphone. Addresses the Teachers’ Club of Elyria on “Women in Business.” In June, attends a rally of the Ohio Equal Suffrage Association with his wife. A daughter, Marion Anderson, is born October 29. In November, incorporates the American Merchants Company, which merges Anderson Manufacturing and Anderson Paint. Capitalized at $200,000, its shares are divided between Anderson ($25,000) and prominent local investors ($24,000), with the remainder to be sold to cooperating retailers.

  1912

  Secretary Frances Shute types early drafts of Windy McPherson’s Son and Marching Men. Superintendent of Anderson Paint resigns and starts a rival firm. Business begins to fail. On Thanksgiving day, leaves office and walks toward Cleveland for four days, sleeping outdoors; sends his wife a disorganized seven-page letter describing his experiences; shows symptoms of amnesia. Is admitted to a Cleveland hospital, where he is visited by wife and secretary. On December 2, an Elyria newspaper recounts the episode and describes him as suffering from “nervous exhaustion.”

  1913

  In February returns to Chicago to resume advertising work for Taylor-Critchfield; wife and children remain in Elyria, later relocating to Little Point Sable, Michigan. Lives in a cheap rooming house. Goes to Art Institute repeatedly to see Chicago version of the Armory Show, which had brought modernist art to America (and to which his brother Karl had contributed work). Becomes acquainted with the “Fifty-Seventh Street circle,” community of writers and artists frequenting adjacent buildings near Jackson Park, including Floyd Dell, Susan Glaspell, Ben Hecht, Carl Sandburg, Eunice Tietjens, Margaret Anderson, and Tennessee Mitchell. Forms friendship with Dell, who is impressed by the manuscript of Windy McPherson’s Son. Dell leaves in October for New York, where Anderson visits him and enjoys Greenwich Village artistic milieu. In November goes with family to Hooker, Missouri, where they live together for around four months at isolated hunting lodge in Ozark Mountains; Anderson and wife agree to separate. Works on novels “Mary Cochran” and “Talbot Whittingham” (both completed but never published).

  1914

  Resumes job at Taylor-Critchfield in March. Contributes artistic statement (“The New Note”) to first issue of Margaret Anderson’s The Little Review. First published story, “The Rabbit-pen,” appears in Harper’s in July. Meets Marietta “Babs” Finley, a publisher’s reader in Indianapolis, who becomes a close friend and frequent correspondent. Becomes increasingly involved with Tennessee Mitchell, artist and teacher of music and dance. Moves into rooming house at 735 Cass Street where he will live for the next several years. Reads Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons with enthusiasm.

  1915

  Writes “Hands,” first story of what will become Winesburg, Ohio (originally titled “The Book of the Grotesque”). Publishes stories in The Masses, whose literary editor is Floyd Dell.

  1916

  Travels with Tennessee in June to Camp Owlyout at Lake Chateaugay in upstate New York. Cornelia files for divorce, which becomes final on July 27; Anderson and Tennessee are married in Chateaugay on July 31, and spend the summer at Lake Chateaugay. Anderson forms close friendship with psychoanalyst Trigant Burrow. After returning to Chicago he and Tennessee continue to maintain separate apartments. Windy McPherson’s Son is published in September by John Lane. Waldo Frank publishes an admiring review of it in The Seven Arts under the title “Emerging Greatness.” Anderson works on novel “Immaturity” (subsequently abandoned).

  1917

  Visits New York in February; at Seven Arts office meets Waldo Frank and Van Wyck Brooks; subsequently meets Seven Arts associate Paul Rosenfeld. On return to Chicago, embarks on series of free-verse poems. Anderson spends summer at Lake Chateaugay, where he is visited by Waldo Frank; Tennessee joins him late in summer. Harriet Monroe publishes a sequence of Anderson’s poems in Poetry. Marching Men published by John Lane in September, to generally unenthusiastic reviews. Essay “An Apology for Crudity” appears in The Dial.

  1918

  Corresponds with Van Wyck Brooks about Mark Twain, about whom Brooks is writing a book. Mid-American Chants published by John Lane in April. Travels in Kentucky and attends the Kentucky Derby. Clifton Paden, who has changed his name to John Emerson and married screenwriter Anita Loos, offers Anderson a job as publicist with their film production company Emerson-Loos Productions; Anderson resigns from Taylor-Critchfield and moves to New York in the summer, renting a room alone on West 22nd Street. Works desultorily as publicist while devoting himself chiefly to his own writing; writes a draft of novel Poor White. Forms friendship with French director Jacques Copeau, in residence in New York, and with Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. Manuscript of Winesburg, Ohio rejected by John Lane. Meets publisher B. W. Huebsch, who by the end of the year offers to publish Winesburg, Ohio. Tennessee spends September with him in New York.
Suffers debilitating bout of Spanish influenza. Returns to Chicago in December; resumes working for Taylor-Critchfield.

  1919

  Works on a series of experimental pieces in quasi-biblical style (later forming part of A New Testament), of which thirteen appear in The Little Review between October 1919 and March 1921. Winesburg, Ohio published in May by B. W. Huebsch. Elicits enthusiastic response from many reviewers and readers, including H. L. Mencken, Floyd Dell, Heywood Broun, and Hart Crane, who writes: “America should read this book on her knees. It constitutes an important chapter in the Bible of her consciousness.” Father dies in May. During the summer Anderson and Tennessee spend several weeks at a cabin near Ephraim, Wisconsin, with Waldo Frank and his wife Margaret. Opens private office in September for dealing with advertising clients. Heartened by Waldo Frank’s praise of him in his book Our America. Is impressed by D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers and by W. Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence, whose artist protagonist reminds him of himself.

  1920

  In February travels to Fairhope, Alabama, where (after spending some time in Mobile) he rents a beach cottage; becomes friendly with artist Wharton Esherick and his wife Letty. With great enthusiasm, takes up watercolor painting; visits the progressive School of Organic Education where Wharton teaches. Returns to Chicago briefly and convinces Tennessee, who has “gone to pieces nervously,” to come to Alabama. There, she experiments with sculpture in clay, some of her portrait busts later to be photographed and included in The Triumph of the Egg. They take an excursion steamer trip up the Alabama River with the Eshericks. Anderson completes a draft of Poor White. Contemplates literary projects based on his observations of African American life: “a thing to be done as big as any of the great masters ever tackled.” Begins novel Many Marriages and writes poetry. Visits New York, where he spends time with Rosenfeld, Stieglitz, and O’Keeffe. Spends summer with Tennessee in Ephraim, Wisconsin. Works on novel “Ohio Pagans” (never completed). Rents cottage in Palos Park, near Chicago, where he will be based for the next two years; befriends painter Felix Russman. Has a solo exhibition of his paintings at a bookstore in Chicago. Poor White published by Huebsch in October; it receives many strong reviews but sales are disappointing. Writes long story “Out of Nowhere into Nothing.” Has Christmas dinner with his three children, now thirteen, eleven, and nine.

  1921

  Reads Lawrence’s Women in Love with deep admiration. Meets Ernest Hemingway, who is working as an occasional copywriter and journalist. On a stopover in Baltimore, meets H. L. Mencken. In May, accompanied by Tennessee, sails to France with Paul Rosenfeld, who had invited him on the trip and paid his passage. Keeps a notebook of his stay, and spends much time studying Paris museums and architecture; dazzled by visit to Chartres (“poetry in stone . . . the last word in beauty”). Meets James Joyce and Sylvia Beach; forms friendship with Gertrude Stein, whose writing he has long admired. Travels to England in July and meets his new English publisher Jonathan Cape; returns to America in August. The Triumph of the Egg is published by Huebsch; the reviews are strong and in October he receives the first Dial award. Encourages Ernest Hemingway to go to Paris, which he does in November; Anderson writes letters of introduction to Stein, Joyce, and others.

  1922

  Uncomfortable with growing celebrity, moves alone to a room in New Orleans. Publishes in local literary magazine The Double Dealer; having abandoned “Ohio Pagans,” works on Many Marriages. At Stein’s request, writes preface to her Geography and Plays, published as “The Work of Gertrude Stein.” Returns to Chicago in March. Obliged to vacate her own apartment, Tennessee moves in with him in Palos Park, but the reunion is uneasy; Anderson leaves Chicago for New York in July. Writes to Stein: “Have run away from all my friends, including friend wife.” (He never sees Tennessee again.) Cuts ties with Taylor-Critchfield. Visits Hart Crane in Cleveland but occasion is spoiled by violent literary argument with Crane’s friend Gorham Munson, who had recently attacked Anderson and Paul Rosenfeld in print. Enters agreement with Otto Liveright to serve as his literary agent. Decides to abandon advertising work permanently: “I shall quite separate myself from the advertising business . . . Enough is enough. I am forty-six next week.” In New York takes a room on St. Luke’s Place in Greenwich Village, next door to Theodore Dreiser, whom he meets on several occasions; meets F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, and Edmund Wilson. Meets Elizabeth Prall, manager of Doubleday bookstore on Fifth Avenue, and falls in love with her. Visits New Orleans in November; writes to Jean Toomer after being impressed by a Toomer story in The Double Dealer.

  1923

  Sits for Alfred Stieglitz for series of photographic portraits. Has brief reunion with his children en route to Reno, Nevada, where he travels in February to obtain divorce from Tennessee (state law requires six-month residency); works on memoir later published as A Story Teller’s Story. Many Marriages published in February. Elizabeth joins him in Reno in April for what turns out to be a process of more than a year as Tennessee seeks to delay the divorce. Story collection Horses and Men published in October. Works on novel “The Golden Circle” (never completed). Hires Clarence Darrow to handle his divorce suit, while Tennessee continues to raise difficulties. Writes to Jean Toomer in admiration of the just-published Cane.

  1924

  Gratified by letter of praise from Theodore Dreiser. Divorce becomes final in April. Anderson and Elizabeth marry in Martinez, California, on April 5. After a honeymoon trip to San Francisco they settle for a few months at her family’s home in Berkeley. Works on “Father Abraham,” uncompleted study of Lincoln. Approached by publisher Horace Liveright, who convinces him to change publishers. Joined in Berkeley by son Bob, who will stay with him for a year. Lectures at University of California on “Modern American Writing.” In July Anderson moves to New Orleans; joined some weeks later by Elizabeth and Bob. William Faulkner, recently arrived in New Orleans and an admirer of Anderson’s work, pays call on Anderson and the two become friends. Writes draft of novel Dark Laughter (originally titled “Love and War”). A Story Teller’s Story appears in October, last book of Anderson’s published by Huebsch. Signs with Leigh Lecture Bureau.

  1925

  Embarks on lecture tour of over a dozen cities from coast to coast. In New York at the end of January is guest of honor at literary luncheon organized by his publisher B. W. Huebsch and attended by Kenneth Burke, Waldo Frank, H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, Mark Van Doren, and others. Enjoys a preview of the group show “Seven Americans” in which his newly married friends Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz are participating; writes a poem for the exhibition catalog. Inspired by performance of The Triumph of the Egg at Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village (adapted for the stage by Raymond O’Neil), becomes interested in writing for the theater. Returns to New Orleans in early March. With Elizabeth, finds a room in the French Quarter for Faulkner, who had worked on his first novel in Anderson’s apartment during his absence. Begins work on a “Childhood book” (a fictionalized memoir later titled Tar: A Midwest Childhood) for serialization in The Woman’s Home Companion. Buys house at 628–30 St. Ann Street (it will be sold, at a profit, later in the year). Charters a yacht for a Lake Pontchartrain cruise on March 14–15, in honor of visiting writer Anita Loos; at work on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she is unable to sail, but the cruise proceeds. (William Faulkner, one of those on board, will use it as the setting for his second novel, Mosquitoes). In April, signs a five-year, five-book contract with Boni & Liveright. Embarks on a two-week tugboat trip on the Mississippi. Anderson and Elizabeth travel in July to Troutdale, in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Marion, Virginia, where they settle into a cabin on the property of friends. Anderson purchases land on a hillside near Marion, where he will build first a cabin and then a four-bedroom house, to be called “Ripshin” after a creek running through the property. After recovering from serious bout of influenza, Anderson starts on two-and-a-half-month nationwide lecture tour. Novel Dark Laughte
r published by Boni & Liveright in September; the book is a bestseller, with eight printings within nine months. Spends Christmas in New Orleans. Reviews Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, calling him “the most important American writing.”

  1926

  Gives series of lectures on the west coast in January. Learns in February that his younger brother Earl, whom he had not seen in years, is critically ill in a New York hospital following a stroke; troubled to learn that Earl feels ill-treated by Anderson, he begins to correspond with him. Quarrels with Faulkner and their friendship cools thereafter. Publishes Sherwood Anderson’s Notebook, a collection of earlier published pieces, in May. Ernest Hemingway’s The Torrents of Spring, a parody of Dark Laughter and other works by Anderson, published by Scribner’s in May. Anderson works in cabin at Ripshin while main house is under construction; works on novel “Another Man’s House” and writes story “Death in the Woods.” Depressed by inability to finish the novel on which he has been working. Tar appears in November. In December sails to Europe with Elizabeth, his son John, and daughter Mimi. Meets English novelists Frank Swinnerton and Arnold Bennett. Spends a week in London before going on to Paris. Celebrates Christmas with Gertrude Stein.

  1927

  Suffers from flu and continuing depression. Meets Hemingway on several occasions; does not attend party Stein gives in his honor; describes the trip to his son as “a dead, blank time.” Sails to New York in March. On arriving learns of the death of his brother Earl; gives a lecture in Brooklyn, then with Karl accompanies Earl’s body to Ohio for burial. Returns to Ripshin in April; he and Elizabeth settle into country life. A New Testament published in June. Disturbed by New Republic review of the book that concludes: “The author of Winesburg, Ohio is dying before our eyes.” Learns that two local Virginia newspapers—the Smyth County News and the Marion Democrat—are for sale and, with the help of a loan from advertising executive and bibliophile Burton Emmett, buys both in November and incorporates them as Marion Publishing Company. Declares his intention as editor-publisher to “give expression to . . . all of the everyday life of a typical American community.” He and Elizabeth move to a hotel in Marion, staying at Ripshin on weekends.