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Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) 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,''〔(Anderson, Sherwood (1876–1941) | St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture Summary )〕 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'' (1925), a novel inspired by Anderson's time in New Orleans during the 1920s, was the only bestseller of his career. He may be most remembered for his influential 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.〔(Pear, "Sherwood Anderson bio" ), University of Richmond〕 ==Early life== Sherwood Berton Anderson was born on September 13, 1876 in Camden, Ohio, a farming town with a population of around 650 (according to the 1870 census).〔Rideout (2006), 16〕 He was the third of seven children born to former Union soldier and harness-maker Irwin McLain and Emma Jane Anderson (née Smith). Considered reasonably well-off financially—Anderson's father was seen as an up-and-comer by his Camden contemporaries,〔 the family left town just before Sherwood's first birthday. Reasons for the departure are uncertain; most biographers note rumors of debts incurred by either Irwin〔Schevill (1951), 8〕〔Howe (1951), 12〕 or his brother Benjamin.〔 The Andersons headed north to Caledonia by way of a brief stay in a village of a few hundred called Independence (now Butler). Four〔Townsend (1987), 3〕 or five〔Rideout (2006), 18〕 years were spent in Caledonia, years which formed Anderson's earliest memories. This period later inspired his semi-autobiographical novel ''Tar: A Midwest Childhood'' (1926).〔Rideout (2006), 20. For connection between ''Tar'' and Caledonia, also see Anderson (1942), 14-16〕 In Caledonia Anderson's father began drinking excessively, which led to financial difficulties, eventually causing the family to leave the town.〔 With each move, Irwin Anderson's prospects dimmed; while in Camden he was the proprietor of a successful shop who had an assistant, by the time the Andersons finally settled down in Clyde, Ohio in 1884, a frontier town, Irwin could only get work as a hired man to harness manufacturers.〔Townsend (1987), 4〕 That job was short-lived, and for the rest of Sherwood Anderson's childhood, his father barely supported the family as an occasional sign-painter and paperhanger, while his mother took in washing to make ends meet.〔Howe (1951), 13-14〕 Partly as a result of these misfortunes, young Sherwood became adept at finding various odd jobs to help his family, earning the nickname "Jobby".〔Rideout (2006), 34〕〔Townsend (1987), 14. The chapter about Anderson's early life is called "Jobby".〕 Though he was a decent student, Anderson's attendance at school declined as he began picking up work, and he finally left school for good at age 14 after about nine months of high school.〔Howe (1951), 16〕〔Rideout (2006), 39〕 From the time he began to cut school to the time he left town, Anderson worked as a "...newsboy, errand boy, waterboy, cow-driver, stable groom, and perhaps printer's devil, not to mention assistant to Irwin Anderson, Sign Painter..."〔 in addition to assembling bicycles for the Elmore Manufacturing Company.〔Townsend (1987), 25-26〕 Even in his teens, Anderson's talent for selling was evident (he would later draw on it in a successful career in advertising) . As a newsboy he was said to have convinced a tired farmer in a saloon to buy two copies of the same evening paper.〔 With the exception of work, Anderson's childhood resembled that of other boys his age. In addition to participating in local events and spending time with his friends, Anderson was a voracious reader. Though there were only a few books in the Anderson home (''The Pilgrim's Progress'' and the ''Complete Poems'' of Alfred, Lord Tennyson among them),〔 the youth read widely by borrowing from the school library (there was not a public library in Clyde until 1903), and the personal libraries of a school superintendent and John Tichenor, a local artist, who responded to Anderson's interest.〔Rideout (2006), 37-38. See Anderson (1924), 155-56 for list of authors enjoyed by young Anderson〕 By Anderson's 18th year in 1895, his family was on shaky ground. His father had started to disappear for weeks on end prior to that year,〔Townsend (1987), 11〕 Karl (Sherwood's elder brother) had left Clyde for Chicago in 1893,〔Spanierman Gallery, LLC. (KARL ANDERSON (1874 - 1956) ). Accessed 26 May 2013.〕 and Sherwood boarded at the Harvey & Yetter's livery stable where he worked as a groom - an experience that would translate into several of his best-known stories.〔Townsend (1987), 28〕〔Rideout (2006), 59-61〕 On May 10, 1895, his mother succumbed to tuberculosis. (Irwin Anderson died in 1919 after having been estranged from his son for two decades).〔Townsend (1987), 30〕 Anderson had signed up with the Ohio National Guard for a five-year term in March 1895,〔Rideout (2006), 50〕 was going steady with an attractive girl (Bertha Baynes, possibly the inspiration for Helen White in ''Winesburg, Ohio''),〔Rideout (2006), 47〕 and working a secure job at the bicycle factory, but it was his mother's death that precipitated the young man's leaving Clyde.〔 He settled in Chicago around late 1896〔Townsend (1987), 31〕〔Howe (1951), 27〕 or spring/summer 1897, having worked a few small-town factory jobs along the way.〔Rideout (2006), 69-71〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sherwood Anderson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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