Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Published in 1919, and listed on the Modern Library roster of the 20th century's 100 greatest novels in English, Winesburg, Ohio presents a series of loosely related character studies of the inhabitants of a fictional Midwestern town that together form a novel of unusual unity and vision. The inarticulate and lonely citizens of Winesburg, each with his or her own secret tale to tell, frequently relate those tales to, or through their interactions with, the character of George Willard, a young Winesburg citizen on the cusp of manhood with dreams of becoming a writer. Thus Winesburg tells the story of the townspeople's loneliness and alienation in parallel with the tale of George's own coming of age. The citizens of Winesburg are described obliquely as "grotesques," but as the introductory chapter makes clear, "The grotesques were not all horrible. Some were amusing, some almost beautiful . . ." (Description by Stewart Wills) (7 hr 21 min)
Chapters
Book of the Grotesque, The | 8:08 | Read by Stewart Wills |
Hands | 15:22 | Read by Stewart Wills |
Paper pills | 7:20 | Read by Rosalind Wills |
Mother | 23:43 | Read by Lucy Burgoyne (1950 - 2014) |
Philosopher, The | 15:17 | Read by David Rowland |
Nobody knows | 8:26 | Read by Patti Brugman |
Godliness | 23:23 | Read by Gigi Minden |
Godliness, Part II, also concerning Jesse Bentley | 23:20 | Read by webslog |
Godliness, Part III Surrender, concerning Louise Bentley | 19:01 | Read by Stewart Wills |
Godliness, Part IV Terror, concerning David Hardy | 12:45 | Read by David Barnes |
Man of Ideas, A | 17:50 | Read by Craig Summers |
Adventure | 17:32 | Read by Sandra |
Respectability | 16:00 | Read by Steve Karafit |
Thinker, The | 32:36 | Read by John Lieder |
Tandy | 7:27 | Read by Betsie Bush |
Strength of God, The | 18:32 | Read by Chris Hughes |
Teacher, The | 19:40 | Read by Chris Hughes |
Loneliness | 22:27 | Read by Betsie Bush |
Awakening, An | 18:12 | Read by J. M. Smallheer |
Queer | 20:38 | Read by ML Cohen |
Untold Lie, The | 16:55 | Read by Martin Rink |
Drink | 19:58 | Read by Miguel Rodriguez |
Death | 26:33 | Read by Cori Samuel |
Sophistication | 23:27 | Read by Val Grimm |
Departure | 6:36 | Read by ranchmutt |
Reviews
The most well known 20th Century short story collection.
Allan C
This book was an extremely influential short story collections. Several of the readers are excellent. Others aren't. The setting of the stories is the American Midwest. it sounds weird when a British or Irish reader tries their hand at it.
GRIM Doesn't Come Close
zobert
I couldn't listen to more than a third of this story. Supposed to be one of the top 100. Everything was grim or grim coupled with pain. Very well written. The authour had me THERE with him, but I had to leave.