Escape and return in Sherwood Anderson's 'Winesburg, Ohio': An existential perspective

The stories that comprise Winesburg, Ohio have traditionally been approached and criticized as an example of small-town angst and puritanical confinement. Escape and Return in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio: An Existential Perspective takes these views further and explores the connection between the beginnings of modernism in the text and European existentialism--specifically as it anticipates the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre.; Although Winesburg reflects a kind of rural Eden on the surface, it is a microcosm of the modern world. The inhabitants manifest several modern ailments such as isolation, loneliness and frustration, all of which find correlation to specific Sartreian principles including existence precedes essence, quietism and responsibility.