In “Loneliness; concerning Enoch Robinson” some scholars have noted the apparent parallels between author and character, since Anderson also left his hometown, married, had children, and worked in advertising to support his family. What Enoch does with charcoal and paintbrush, Anderson did with pen and typewriter.
Yet, biographer Kim Townsend contends, the more obvious inspiration for Enoch is Anderson’s brother Earl, who moved to Chicago with grand hopes but settled for a dead-end job as a restaurant cashier. “To Anderson,” writes Townsend, “his brother always symbolized the sensitive, lonely, vulnerable people of America.” In 1913 Earl disappeared altogether, and Anderson had no idea where his brother was when he wrote “Loneliness,” which may explain why the story is “one of the most moving of the Winesburg, Ohio tales.” Enjoy!
Throughout his adult life, Lovecraft was never able to support himself from earnings as an author and editor. He was virtually unknown during his...
This is the story of an inventor and his invention and its impact on his life. The inventor believed that Negative Gravity would “lighten...
Here we have a gentleman housebound and stuck, just like us. Only he broke his leg. His friend, fearing he might begin to suffer...