There is within every human being a deep well of thinking over which a heavy iron lid is kept clamped. Winesburg, Ohio (1919) is Sherwood Anderson's masterpiece, a cycle of short stories concerning life in a small Ohio town at the end of the nineteenth century. At the centre is George Willard, a young reporter who becomes the confidant of the town's 'grotesques' - solitary figures unable to communicate with others. George is their conduit for expression and solace from loneliness, but he has his own longings which eventually draw him away from home to seek a career in the city. He carries with him the dreams and unuttered words of remarkable characters such as Wing Biddlebaum, the disgraced former teacher, and the story-telling Doctor Parcival. The book has influenced many American writers, including ernest hemingway, William Faulkner, John Updike, Raymond Carver, and Joyce Carol Oates. It reshaped the development of the modern short story, turning the genre away from an emphasis upon plot towards a capability for illuminating the emotional lives of ordinary people. This new edition corrects errors in earlier editions and takes into account major criticism and textual scholarship of the last several decades.

舍伍德·安德森（Sherwood Anderson，1876-1941），1876年9月13日出生在中西部俄亥俄州克莱德镇的一个贫寒家庭。为了帮助家里，安德森从小就干过各种各样的活，没有受过多少正规的学校教育。短暂的参军后，他开始下海经商。在过着生意兴隆的商人生活的同时，他也在悄悄地写小说。由于被生意中、个人生活中和艺术生活中的种种问题所困扰，在1912年的一天，他突然离家出走，决心用自己的笔过另一种更有意义的生活。到了芝加哥后，他加入了芝加哥的文人圈子。1916年，安德森发表了带有浓重自传体风格的小说《饶舌的麦克佛逊的儿子》（Windy McPherson's Son），从此一发而不可收拾。1919年《俄亥俄州的温斯堡》（Winesburg，Ohio）的发表使安德森获得极大的成功，奠定了他在美国文学史上的地位。安德森其它的主要著作还有：1917年的《前进的人们》（Marching Men）；1920年的《穷白人》（Poor White）；1921年的短篇小说集《鸡蛋的胜利及其它》（The Triumph of the Egg and Other Stories）；1923年的《多种婚姻》（Many Marriages）和短篇集《马与人》（Horses and Men）；1925年《深色的笑声》（Dark Laughter）；1933年他发表了他的最后一本重要短篇集《林中之死及其它》（Death in the Woods and Other Stories）。他的短篇小说颇受重视，对后来的一些现代派作家有一定的影响。他还是文学现代文体风格的开创者之一。