Sherwood+Anderson's+Contingent+Novel

Contingent Novel By Kyle A. Kovacs

Pamela Mooman describes a contingent or linked novel as “a series of connected stories with the same characters, each standing alone, yet, when put together, [it] tell[s] one cohesive tale.” Mooman describes its basic features as having “each chapter could be a stand-alone story, chapters contain the same characters, [and] the overall effect is a cohesive work that tells a complete story.” Sherwood Anderson’s __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio __ follows this recipe. Anderson gives the reader a series of vignettes that could easily exist on their own, yet the stories share characters, the titular common setting, and common themes and motifs. An anonymous submission to the //Springfield Republican// in 1919 explains that “The step from real merit to worthlessness in writing is so imperceptible that many times the average reader misses it,” and this is especially true for a work like __Winesburg, Ohio__ whose seemingly loosely related stories have almost nothing to do with an arch of an overall plot. William Phillips explains how these loosely related tales add up to a much more meaningful work when he explains how the book: was conceived as a unit, knit together, however loosely, by the idea of the first tale, ‘The Power of the Grotesque,” and consisting of individual sketches which derived additional power from each other, not, as anthologists of Anderson repeatedly suggest, a collection of short stories which can be separated from each other without loss of effect. (263) As Phillips explains it is only when taken as a whole, not stories but a linked novel, that the true effect of Anderson’s work is expressed. Dr. Nicosia informed the class that Anderson was writing in part to establish ‘American Literature.’ I believe that through the use of the contingency novel and narrative of community forms aids Anderson’s attempt to “do the country honor” (//Smart Set// 257) because he creates a believable ‘Small-town USA’ and in this archetypal town he explores the issues central to the American experience of the early 1900’s. //The New// //Republic// states that “every Middle Westerner will recognize Winesburg, Ohio, as the town in which he grew up” (253). The //Chicago Evening Post// beautifully explains how Anderson has in these pages given remarkable proof of his power to hold in a realm of the mind more intimate than memory the very feel of what his own youth must have been and the inner aspects of all youth, the age, the whole psychic atmosphere of this Ohio town. He has not merely remembered the peculiarities of his townsfolk and made stories of them, he has managed to stay in the center of each little town tragedy or comedy…He does not write these stories- the writing seems an accident… Sherwood Anderson lets you overhear him telling the tales. (255) As //The New Republic// states “The story of a small town anywhere is the story of the revolt of youth against custom-morality; with youth winning only occasionally and in secret, losing often and publicly” (253). __Winesburg, Ogio__ becomes especially poignant when the reader considers the citizenry’s struggles and failures to fulfill their dreams during the era when the idea America as a land of success and destiny seems to be solidified in the minds of people worldwide, yet almost none of the inhabitants of Winesburg get to fulfill their dreams. This failure leads many to grow attached to George Willard, in whom many see “something” and hope he can succeed where they could not. The novel’s central character is George Willard, but George isn’t the only thing a conscientious reader will see appear and reappear throughout the novel. Roger Asselineau notes how even Anderson’s vocabulary “is limited and sometimes flat or banal. The same words are used over and over” (348). Words and images, such as hands or dreams, are repeated many times throughout the novel. This repetition begins at the very start of the novel with the introduction entitled “The Book of the Grotesque” which introduces us to the concepts of truths and grotesques. The segment ends by discussing “the young thing inside” the old man that kept him liberated and fresh and prevented his becoming a grotesque. Most segments in __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio __ will end with a mention of the effervescent but ever present “thing” inside a person who has a physical or moral abberation. This “thing” may be described as a taste for twisted apples (Anderson 38) or “a secret striving to grow” (43) or “a kind of crude and animal-like poetic fervor” (65), yet whatever this thing is, it is continually present in each character and struggling to be expressed. These repressed feelings often seem to manifest themselves in Anderson’s vignettes as rebellion against the duties and practicalities of life in Winesburg or a desire for sexual liberation and fulfillment. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio __ should be considered a masterfully crafted piece of literature for its “insights into the buried life, into the thoughts of the repressed, the inarticulate, the misunderstood. Most frequently frustrated is the desire to establish some degrees of intimacy with another person” (Walcutt 437). George Willard, the most obvious thread in this contingent novel, is so often befriended because people feel he will succeed in expressing what they could not. George has an edge over the doctors, farmers, and school teachers he lives with because he seeks to write, one of the most basic forms of expression available to civilized man. The reader’s and the other characters’ faith in George’s ability is rewarded when we witness his ecstatic and orgasmic moment of inexplicable childlike clarity with Helen White on the Fairground bleachers. We see the necessity of Anderson’s use of the contingent novel because we have to view the countless failures of others to fully appreciate George’s success. Work Cited Anderson, Sherwood. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio ____ Text and Criticism __. Ed. John H. Ferres. New York: Penguin Books, 1966. Print. Asselineau, Roger. “Language and Style in Sherwood Anderson’s __ Winesbug ____, ____ Ohio __ ”. Anderson, Sherwood. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio ____ Text and Criticism __. Ed. John H. Ferres. New York: Penguin Books, 1966. Print Mooman, Pamela. “Irvine Welsh- A Master of the Linked Novel Author of Glue, Trainspotting and More Connects the Pieces to Make a Whole” 15 June 2009. Web. Phillips, William L. “How Sherwood Anderson Wrote __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio __ ” Anderson, Sherwood. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio ____ Text and Criticism __. Ed. John H. Ferres. New York: Penguin Books, 1966. Print. Walcutt, Charles Child. “Naturalism in __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio __ ”. Anderson, Sherwood. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio ____ Text and Criticism __. Ed. John H. Ferres. New York: Penguin Books, 1966. Print. The Chicago Evening Post. “The Unroofing of Winseburg: The Tales of Life That Seem Overheard Rather Than Written”. The Chicago Evening Post, 20 June 1919. Anderson, Sherwood. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio ____ Text and Criticism __. Ed. John H. Ferres. New York: Penguin Books, 1966. Print. The New Republic. “A Country Town”. The New Republic, 25 June 1919. Anderson, Sherwood. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio ____ Text and Criticism __. Ed. John H. Ferres. New York: Penguin Books, 1966. Print. The Springfield (Mass.) Rebublican 20 July 1919. Anderson, Sherwood. __ Winesburg ____, ____ Ohio ____ Text and Criticism __. Ed. John H. Ferres. New York: Penguin Books, 1966. Print.