Bildungsroman And Sherwood Anderson's Fiction

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) is a writer impossible to ignore in the twentieth century American literary history with his modern classic Winesburg, Ohio. As a writer, Sherwood Anderson is extremely difficult to evaluate. He is not a first class writer with regard to the whole body of his works. Yet at his best, he has reached that peak. He is not a literary giant, yet quite a number of literary giants stand on his shoulders. Critics hesitate to give a conclusive comment upon the values of his works and his place in the American literary history because it can not be accomplished without a comprehensive and thorough study of all his works: poems (mainly lyrics), novels, short stories, plays, essays, reports etc. The aim of the thesis is not to evaluate, but to shed some light on Andersonian study through a focused analysis of his fiction concerning the growing-up theme. Sherwood Anderson's works are predominated by images of youth. The present paper discusses Sherwood Anderson's fiction in the light of Bildungsroman. Generally speaking, the Bildungsroman or its English equivalent the initiation story is a literary genre about the process of maturation, or the instant of growth of the youth (not excluding adults with strong potential for growth and development). In order to study thoroughly the element of Bildungsroman in Anderson's fiction, the paper analyzes the following aspects one by one: content of growth, different manifestations of growth in Anderson's short fiction and novel, essence of growth, results of the conflict of the two worlds, and the archetype of the initiation story.After the comprehensive discussion of the element of Bildungsroman in Anderson's fiction, the paper narrows its focus on a specific type of Bildungsroman—Kunstlerroman, namely the growth of a youth into an artist. The text to be dissected in this section is mainly Winesburg. Though not a typical Kunstlerroman, Winesburg embodies saliently the molding process of the incipient artist George Willard, the character who appears every now and then in the stories and who weaves the collection of short stories into an organic work. Studying closely George's development in various qualities vital for an artist, we can perceive his rapid progress in the apprenticeship life in Winesburg.After the discussion of Bildungsroman and Kunstlerroman in Anderson's fiction, the paper continues to explore the reasons for Anderson's depiction of youth. The influence of the tradition of Bildungsroman, the influence of Mark Twain and that of his own childhood and adolescence experience all spur Anderson to portray various images of youth; while his portrait of the young man as an artist might be motivated by his wish to display the difficulties a potential artist might meet in a materialistic society and his unconscious desire to rewrite his literary career.Bildungsroman is a genre with which people can recollect the past time, recreate their tracks of growth, and explore the mystery of humanity. Besides that, Anderson's works with the element of Bildungsroman also express the characteristics of the times, the cultural unrest and the conflict of cultures in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century for instance.There are many ways to interpret a text. The present paper interprets Sherwood Anderson's fiction from the perspective of Bildungsroman to try to get new understanding of his works of art. Sherwood Anderson might not be a great writer, but his works have their own distinctions and attractions. Along with the vivid characters that he has created, he will always be remembered by his readers.